Unfinished Tales: The Lost Lore of Middle-earth

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1. 

   Tuor @ 10:00 pm

   When JRR Tolkien died, he left a massive amount of material that, for various reasons, had not been published. Some of this material was sufficiently comprehensive and consistant with published materials that Tolkien’s son, Christopher, was able to compile it into ‘The Silmarillion’.

   But there were also several stories, polished, but not quite complete, which pertained to the events in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ — things like the story of how Isildur lost the One Ring; like what, exactly, were the Wizards: who sent them and why? Questions like ‘How did Galadriel and Celeborn come to rule Lorien?’ and ‘Just what happened at the Fords of Isen when Saruman attacked Rohan and Theoden’s son, Theodred, was slain?’

   All these questions and many more are addressed in the many unfinished tales that are to be found in this book: tales from all three of the ages of Middle-earth; from heroes such as Tuor and Turin in the First Age, to Bilbo and Gandalf in the Third. Almost every tale is told in a different style, but each is satisfying, up to the point where it breaks off: then frustration and speculation set in, but also a deep appreciation for the scope and grandeur of Middle-earth and the man who created it.

   
2. 

   bixodoido @ 11:45 pm

   This collection of stories is just what the name implies–unfinished tales from both the continent of Middle-Earth and the island of Numenor. These tales are great and rich in detail, but one should be warned that they are not your everyday fantasy story. Both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are complicated and not casually understood, but this book tops both of them in terms of complexity.

   The story of the compilation of the book is this: Tolkien’s son Christopher collected a mass of writings of his father–notes scrawled on scraps of paper, unpublished essays, even letters dealing with Middle-Earth. He edited and organized them, and prepared them for publication, and the result is this book. Because of this, many of the stories are missing detail and have some speculation, and all of them relate to other events related in Tolkien’s other works.

   Because of the relation to Tolkien’s other work, this book should be read AFTER The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, and should only be approached by those who want to seriously study and learn all there is to know of the world Tolkien created. For the casual reader this compilation may be somewhat tedious, for there is much detail lacking and it is assumed that you already have a knowledge of the history of Middle-Earth as outlined in Tolkien’s other books.

   For those who are serious about study, though, this book is a great addition to the already extensive world of JRR Tolkien. Ever wonder where Gandalf and the other wizards came from? Why Bilbo was chosen to accompany the Dwarves in The Hobbit? What the palantiri stones do, and where they came from? If so, then this is the book for you. You will find a collection of stories that will greatly enrich the lore of Middle-Earth (and Numenor).

   For serious readers of Tolkien, this book is highly recommended. No one does fantasy like he does, and even these scattered fragments of narrative are enough to leave you begging for more.

   
3. 

   Mitali @ 2:40 am

   Though Unfinished Tales cannot be read as a book in its own right, any one who comes to it after reading The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion will indubitably find it interesting, as the book gives various nuggets of information about characters, events and places that are only hinted at in the other two books; e.g. the chapter on the Istari. ‘Old’ legends or myths of Middle-Earth, like the actual story of Isildur’s fall in the Gladden Fields, are given in their ‘authoritative’ versions. A number of other tales, like the history of Galadriel and Celeborn or the Black Riders’ hunt for Frodo and the Ring, are told in different versions or from differing perspectives.
   A particular gem is the story of Aldarion and Erendis, the only story of Numenor before its fall. Through it, Numenor becomes a living place, not just a name from legends.
   A map of Numenor is also included in the book.
   A lovely book – no other words for it.

   
4. 

   olorin69@hotmail.com @ 3:33 am

   In this “follow-up” to The Silmarillion and LOTR you find a literal treasure chest of knowledge concerning tales of Middle Earth. The Tale of the Children of Hurin is one of the best stories I have ever read, the essays on the Istari and the Druidain reveal two of the mysteries in LOTR, and The Battle of the Fords of Isen and Cirion and Eorl will give you good insight on the troubles of Gondor and Rohan in the Third Age. It also contains two rarely mentioned parts of LOTR; one being Aldarion and Erendis, a tale concerning a King of Numenor, and the other tells of the entire hunt for the Ring as seen by the enemy. I recommend this book to any Tolkien fan. You will read this book time and time again and simply revel in the quantity of information it gives you.

   
5. 

   Doctroid @ 5:22 am

   “Unfinished Tales” is a must-have for any Tolkien lover with a desire to know more about Middle-Earth.

   It is not, despite what some of these reviews say, a novel. It is a collection of shorter writings, all of them (in case it wasn’t obvious) unfinished, in one sense or another, edited with notes and commentary by J. R. R. Tolkien’s son Christopher.

   It stands functionally somewhere between “The Silmarillion” and the later-published books; the former was presented as a more-or-less complete work (even though Tolkien never really stopped working on it) while the latter are intended more as a study of the evolution of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth universe. “Unfinished Tales” shows some of this evolution, too, with different and sometimes contradictory versions of many of the stories; but the emphasis is on the stories and not their writing.

   Much as I enjoyed “The Silmarillion”, I would not describe it as required reading for all Tolkien fans — it’s stylistically very different from “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”, much less oriented to a popular audience and more difficult for many readers. The first two parts of “Unfinished Tales” likewise. Those who revel in the rich mythology of “The Silmarillion” will find more to treasure here; those whose Tolkien appreciation doesn’t extend to “The Silmarillion” won’t enjoy the first half of “Unfinished Tales” either.

   But the latter half of the book will appeal to any LotR fan. The background on the history of the relationship between Gondor and Rohan; the recounting of Sauron’s desperate search for the Ring; Gandalf’s recollections of how and why he brought the odd couple of Thorin Oakenshield and Bilbo Baggins together — great stuff, and perhaps best of all is the terse and tense recounting of “The Disaster of the Gladden Fields”, when Isuldur lost the Ring and his life, setting in motion the whole War of the Ring centuries later.

   BUT… all this is marred in the 2001 hardcover edition by, let us not mince words, the rape of the map. I bought this book expecting the large, pull-out map, updated beyond what’s in LotR, that was included in the first edition. Instead it’s reduced to the size of two book pages and printed before the title page! Not only does the reduction render it near-unreadable, but of course the binding seam goes right down the middle, obliterating names and locations of some of the most significant places in Middle-Earth from Rivendell to Dol Amroth. Houghton Mifflin ought to be ashamed. With a proper map I would have given five stars; with this atrocity, I can give only three.