New Tolkein book emerges!

[stickarts]

For me, LOTR was not long enough! I always put it down at the end wanting more and feeling a bit sad that its over.

I just got my copy of the newest book. Can't wait to start it tonight!

 

[hrlmonkey]

am i doing something wrong? i'm a lifelong fantasy fan, but i've never enjoyed tolkiens work. i found the hobbit to be the only one that had any redeeming qualities to it.
but then i think that terry goodkind is untalented, and robert jordan is brain ache extrordinaire.

any serious thoughts on the matter? perhaps i dont have the correct approach to them?

 

[exile]

am i doing something wrong? i'm a lifelong fantasy fan, but i've never enjoyed tolkiens work. i found the hobbit to be the only one that had any redeeming qualities to it.
but then i think that terry goodkind is untalented, and robert jordan is brain ache extrordinaire.

any serious thoughts on the matter? perhaps i dont have the correct approach to them?

I don't think you need to adjust your attitude, hrlm. If they don't work for you, they don't work, period! I know what it's like to be a minority of one—I happen to think that Beat the Devil, with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Gina Lollobridgida, Robert Morley and a host of others is the funniest movie ever made, and consistently get nothing but sneering contempt from movie buffs when I tell them this. So I feel your pain... :wink1:

But I'm very curious as to just what it is you don't like about LoTR. I'm just curious. Sometimes it's hard to put one's finger on why one has a particuar response to something, but if you can identify where you find it falling short, I'd really like to know about it...

 

[Steel Tiger]

am i doing something wrong? i'm a lifelong fantasy fan, but i've never enjoyed tolkiens work. i found the hobbit to be the only one that had any redeeming qualities to it.
but then i think that terry goodkind is untalented, and robert jordan is brain ache extrordinaire.

any serious thoughts on the matter? perhaps i dont have the correct approach to them?

I can understand where you're coming from. LoTR is something of a grind, and I usually read it at least once a year! The Hobbit is much more reader friendly with good reason. It was written to entertain JRR's children. Personally, I like the Silmarillion because I like the epic saga nature of it. The rest are pretty much the notes and background for the Silmarillion so are tough to read.

As to Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan. I don't know Goodkind's work so can't comment, but I agree whole-heartedly about Jordan his writing is brutal, though not as turgid as, say, DH Lawrence (just try reading The Rainbow Serpent I dare you). And he appears to have mastered the art of the never-ending story.

 

[hrlmonkey]

it took me year just to read the hobbit, and i found that to be the most rewarding of them.
i dont think its the writing style itself, as i adore lovecraft and i find the styles very alike.
tolkiens somebody that i'd like to explore more than i have, as i find the ideas interesting. the reality of the read just turns me off though.

just as a silly aside, the national karate association offices, are just across the road from the tolkein nurseries, in rivendell of all places!
if any of you are from the uk, its between blackminster and offenham, by evesham, worcestershire. i originate from a few miles down the road from there.

 

[mrhnau]

I just finished up the Hobbit and starting the Simarillion. It's pretty good so far I might pick up the Children of Hurin if I enjoy Sim.

 

[Sukerkin]

Oooh ... that's a risky proviso to set there, Mrhnau . The Silmarillion, as this thread has attested is hardly a 'thriller' . Still, if you approach it as a history book then it shouldn't be too bad :tup:.

 

[Flying Crane]

That has just made me think. The Children of Hurin will be at least the third version of the story. There is a version in the Silmarillion and a somewhat different, extended version in the Book of Lost Tales. I can't recall if there is another version amongst the other five tomes.

I believe there are others, as their are over a dozen volumes now pubished by Christopher. JRR wrote and re-wrote his stories many times over, developing them and adding layers to them and changing them up. Many of these stories were never really finished, but instead existed in several different versions. This is why the Silmarillion was never pubished until after his death. He just couldn't finish the stories. So what was finally published as the Silmarillion, was basically Christopher's best effort to put it together as completely and fully as possible in a way that made the most sense. But there are definitely inconsistencies. Mr. Tolkien's writings spanned several decades, and his notions of how everything fit together in the greater Middle Earth changed and altered often.

 

[Flying Crane]

Oooh ... that's a risky proviso to set there, Mrhnau . The Silmarillion, as this thread has attested is hardly a 'thriller' . Still, if you approach it as a history book then it shouldn't be too bad :tup:.

exactly true. Only a die-hard Tolkienophile should read the Silmarillion. If you want a story, it's dull. If you like epic saga, and have an unquenchable curiosity about the ancient history of Middle Earth and all things Tolkien, then it's a great book.

 

[mrhnau]

Oooh ... that's a risky proviso to set there, Mrhnau . The Silmarillion, as this thread has attested is hardly a 'thriller' . Still, if you approach it as a history book then it shouldn't be too bad :tup:.

exactly true. Only a die-hard Tolkienophile should read the Silmarillion. If you want a story, it's dull. If you like epic saga, and have an unquenchable curiosity about the ancient history of Middle Earth and all things Tolkien, then it's a great book.

I tend to enjoy the epic saga, and I'm not afraid of histories... so, I'm looking forward to it. Right now, its just reading like some religious text...

 

[Steel Tiger]

I have my copy now but am yet to read it. It does, however, appear to be a much longer version of the story of Turin and his sister. There also appears to be a bit more depth in the discussion of Hurin and why his children ended up at an elven court. But with elves, dwarves, powerful magic swords, curses, dragons and dragon-slaying how can it go wrong.

 

[Aikikitty]

I read the Silmarillion a couple of years ago and liked it. I finished reading The Children of Hurin a several days ago and I really liked it. I love the artwork by Alan Lee in it.

Robyn

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Ok...it's been a year since the book came out. Who's read it and what did you think?

I've read it twice and loved it both times. The language is, perhaps, a bit more stilted than LotR...on a level with Sil, I suppose. The depth, though, of the story, was equal to anything else I'd read.

I'll be reading it again soon.

 

[Sukerkin]

I'm ashamed to say that altho' I've had it since it came out I am yet to read it .

I've been working my way through the Honor Harrington series (again ) and some related David Webber works, as well as keeping nibbling at Japanese history texts.

All that has pushed it a little further down the 'reading list'. I shall have to amend that once I've finished the second part of "The Stars at War II".

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Nothing to be ashamed of I like pulp sci-fi, too.