-The Children of Hurin-

The Children of Hurin is an absolute must-read. The Children of Hurin is the bringing together of many of J.R.R Tolkien's unfinished works by his son Christopher Tolkien. The Children of Húrin takes place in the First Age, or some 6,000 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. It is a singularly tragic tale. Let me warn you, there is no happy ending, this is tragedy in all its glory. It is beautifully written – a stunningly beautiful story that, despite its overwhelmingly tragic style, must nevertheless go down as a key story in Tolkien’s Legendarium. More than that, however, this book is wonderful on its own. I can’t imagine that it is necessarily overly attractive to non-Tolkien fans – though given just how well written it is, and how captivating the story, I wouldn’t dismiss the idea – it is regardless an absolute must-read for anyone who has even a passing-interest in Tolkien. It is also, for me, a sort of introduction towards the Silmarillion and The History of Middle Earth Series.