Unfinished Tales

By: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien - editor

Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West

Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

JRR Tolkien’s legacy of short stories which inhabit the realm of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, on audio for the first time.

Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the 20th century’s most acclaimed popular author.

The book concentrates on the realm of Middle-earth and comprises such elements as Gandalf’s lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand and an exact description of the military organisation of the Riders of Rohan.

Unfinished Tales also contains the only story about the long ages of Numenor before its downfall and all that is known about such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantiri and the legend of Amroth. The tales were collated and edited by JRR Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the listener to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father’s writings.

©1980 The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien (P)1980 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Another monument to the incredible imagination of Tolkien." (Sunday Telegraph)

"Moments of mythic grandeur." (Sunday Times)

Shaken to the core!

I am reading this in conjunction with the Silmarillion. I have read Lord of the Rings at least a dozen times. This book made me realize that, no matter how well I know the Lord of the Rings, it is just a long, remarkably detailed tale, just a part of the overall story, on which the Unfinished Tales shed much light.

What I find the most profound is in the cases of revealed motives, predecessors, and previous history which illuminate decisions, characters, and priorities.

I am so thankful that Christopher Tolkien decided to go ahead and published this work.

Enlightening and Entertaining

Not for your average mainstream fans unless they are into this sort of thing. An enjoyable listen that fills in lots of gaps you may want to know more about and fills in some gaps you never knew you wanted filled.

So many extra tidbits for Tolkien fans!

My favorite chapter was the one about the palantiri, very cool to learn exactly where they all were located!

amazing.

the DEPTH Tolkien put into his work is absolutely mind boggling. incredible work. and hats off to Christopher Tolkien for compiling all his notes for clarification.

PLEASE DO THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE EARTH!!!

Timothy and Samuel West give outstanding performances with this reading. The roles they take in presenting the narrative and the editor's notes make it very easy to follow.

I deeply hope they consider repeating what they have done here with "The History of Middle Earth" volumes. None of these books have an existing audiobook on the market and I believe the Wests would do justice to the text.

I've heard it suggested on the Texas Tolkien Podcast that making a review such as this might garner a demand for having these texts done in audiobook format, so I'm simply here to lend my voice and say that there is definitely an audience for such a project. So please to whomever it may concern, take heed and consider bringing the rest of Tolkien's works to this format.

Voices brought clarity

Alternating voices portraying Christopher and JRR were pleasant and made a clear delineation between the manuscript and it's background.

More Tolkien Genius

A must read or listen for anyone who has already read The Hobbit, LOTR, and the Silmarillion. After going through The Children of Hurin, and The Fall of Gondolin, I’ve grown accustomed to the 2 narrator approach. However, my one critique would be that in this particular book, Christopher Tolkiens narrative interrupts the story too much to the point of being annoying quite often. Perhaps the raspy voice of Timothy West is also too much of a contrast to the smooth sound of Samuel West. I found myself wishing that Timothy Wests parts (Christopher Tolkien) would either wait till the end of a story line or just be read by Samuel. Overall though thoroughly interesting and enjoyable.

Just Amazing

I started reading it a few years ago and forgot about it, when I got this the story became much more enjoyable and easy to take in (obviously). Having two narrators was a great touch.

Lots of good information

There was lots of good information here that if incorporated in the cannon books would’ve changed them dramatically. Even though I only watched one episode of the Amazon show based on Tolkiens books I can see where they came up with some of the ideas. These stories help enchanted the Tolkien Universe.

Classic

All of Tolkien’s work is a work of art. It is full of complexities of plot and in the characters that is rare even his unfinished tales that contradict some of the other texts of his at times are masterful. And with as much detail that he goes into it’s no wonder there are contradictions at times.