The Children of Hurin

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Christopher Lee

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings. The story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

In that remote time, Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire.

Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.

The earliest versions of this Tolkien story go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed. But long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he revised and greatly enlarged it, enhancing complexities of motive and character. It became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book, Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

©2007 J. R. R. Tolkien Copyright Trust and Christopher Reuel Tolkien (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London, UK

This is every bit as wonderful as you want it to b

Would you listen to The Children of Hurin again? Why?

The Christophers, Tolkien and Lee have between them created a magical product for the Tolkien fan. The tale of the children of Hurin is one of the foundational stories of the Legendarium, beautifully written by J. R. R., masterfully assembled by Christopher and read with love and skill by Christopher Lee.

Any additional comments?

For any lover of the Tolkien works, this is an indispensable performance.

Great story, Lee did ok as narrator

I very much enjoyed the story. I thought the narration was only so so. Recommended.

Amazing performance by Christopher Lee

love it, imaginative, developed, beautiful, and read by one of the best voices ever; I'm amazed

True Tolkien

While the ending is terrible (I was never one for tragedies), the story was incredible.

Tolkien at his best and darkest

Loved the book. Filled with so much sorrow. if you're looking for a happy ending, look elsewhere.

Excellent, Esoteric Entertainment

The Children of Hurin is basically a more fully realized story from The Silmarillion, the Old Testament of Middle Earth, so there are a few things that make this a bit less accessible than Tolkien's more famous works. First, you're getting dropped into the middle of a larger story. For the most part, CoH is self contained, but it references the wider world enough that without a working knowledge of The Silmarillion, the listener will probably feel a bit lost from time to time. Same thing for geography - Tolkien references his geography A LOT, and even as somone who has read the Silmarillion several times, I still wanted to look at a map many times while listening to CoH.

But... the characters, stories and themes are so well developed. Christopher Lee's performance is absolutely priceless. The dialogue between Morgoth & Hurin, is particularly good. If you have read the Silmarillion once or twice, this product is simply fantastic.

Hurin

A lesser story from the silmarillion, great overall recommended for anyone whose a fan of the lord of the rings series

Simply an excerpt from The Silmarillion,

...with a few passages expanded upon some. Narration was very good. I would recommend it to others.

Christopher Lee and the Children of Hurrin!!!

Lee makes Tolkien come alive in a masterful performance. His voice and dramatic delivery paints a tragic tapestry of the Epic of Turin Turambar, the Mormegil, and Nianor in the most vivid of colors. Mr. Lee will be sorely missed; although in the greatest classical sense his work and, therefore, his fame will ever endure.

slow start, but an amazing story

I had trouble following along at first, I couldn't remember names and people, but when it focused on the life of Turin, I was able to understand what was happening. like all of Tolkien's work, the verbiage is very difficult to understand. I definitely enjoyed this book.