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Here's my review of the new Tolkien book. I also posted it at Unqualified Offerings.

(Sadly, my Quenya is a bit rusty, so this book review will be done in English.)

I just finished reading The Children of Hurin. For those who don’t know the difference between Hurin, Huor, and “More Human than Human”, it’s a story from Tolkien’s Silmarillion. OK, maybe I should back up a bit: In addition to writing The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Tolkien wrote a book of legends for his world, talking about all of the things that happened before the novels. That book was called the Silmarillion. He never published it in his lifetime, and actually spent more time on those stories than he did on The Lord of the Rings, but his son pieced it together from various manuscripts and published it.

One of the stories in the Silmarillion was called The Children of Hurin. Originally his son only published an abridged version, as part of the Silmarillion, but this year a longer version was released. It’s 259 pages, pieced together from various manuscripts, and whereas previous versions were mostly narration, this one includes lots of dialogue. In my biased opinion, it makes for a readable novel. You don’t need to know minutiae about Silmarils, Sindar, or the Siege of Angband in order to understand it, and there’s an introduction to explain what little background you should have.

I liked it. When I read the original Silmarillion I found this one of the less interesting stories because it was long and mostly narrated, and it wasn’t as crucial to the history as some of the other stories (e.g. “Beren and Luthien,” “Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin,” and “The Voyage of Earendil.”). However, in novel form, with lots of dialogue, it’s actually fun.

What’s it about? Well, a hero named Hurin is taken captive by the dark god Morgoth. (For those who don’t know who Morgoth is, remember Sauron from the Lord of the Rins movies? Well, once upon a time Sauron was the #2 bad guy, and Morgoth was his boss. But then Morgoth got banished from the world, and Sauron took his throne.) Despite being divine, Morgoth is not omniscient. He really wants to know the location of a hidden Elven city. And he thinks that Hurin can tell him the location. So he tortures uses enhanced interrogation techniques on Hurin. (Don’t worry, Deputy Balrog Alberto Gonzales has written a brief explaining that Hurin, who fought on the side of Noldorin war criminals, is an unlawful combatant and hence not protected by the Geneva Conventions. Besides, as a deity, Morgoth has sovereign immunity from the Geneva Conventions.)

But Hurin won’t break. So Morgoth takes him to the top of a tall mountain, where he has a view of the whole world. And he explains that Hurin will now have to watch his children grow up and suffer under the curse of Morgoth. So Hurin sits atop the mountain and watches as his son Turin grows up and tries to do great deeds in the struggle against Morgoth. But he keeps getting in trouble, being chased from one place to another, and suffering all sorts of horrible misfortunes. He gets in trouble for a death that wasn’t his fault, he flees, and even after being pardoned he is too proud to return and accept sympathy. So he joins various outlaw groups to fight Morgoth’s Orcs. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. He’s betrayed. He eventually returns to a position of honor in service to the Elves, only to suffer a defeat. His friends keep dying; he even kills one of his friends by mistake when they try to rescue him from Orcs. (Those who read Radley Balko’s works won’t be surprised to learn that the rescue mission is a night-time no-knock raid on an Orc camp.) The few women whom he loves suffer misfortune. He is separated from his mother and sister.

Oh, yeah, his sister. Well, she has her own misfortunes. But I won’t spoil one of the biggest twists in the book.

It would be tempting to blame all of this on Morgoth’s curse. But the truth is that Turin, his mother, and his sister are headstrong and defiant. They insist on fighting rather than seeking peace and refuge. They are the makers of their misery, not Morgoth. And if you’ve read the Silmarillion, and you remember the more theological parts, this should make sense: Morgoth is a god, but he’s not the God. He did join in the Music of the Angels (Ainur) at the beginning of time, the music that shaped the world, but humans (unlike Elves, and even the gods) are not subject to fate in Tolkien’s novels. While the immortal Elves are stuck in this world, humans stay for a brief time to get started on their existence and then die and pass on to other destinations. Morgoth holds no power over humans, which is why he fears and hates them. When Elves go bad it is fate. When humans go bad it’s choice.

So I recommend it.

BTW, if you think this geeky stuff sounds interesting, given the foreign policy proclivities of this crowd I would suggest that you read Akallbeth, a chapter in the Silmarillion. (Yes, nitpickers, I realize that it is not part of the Quenta Silmarillion proper, but it’s in a book with the word “Silmarillion” on the cover.) It’s all about the fall of a mighty and powerful nation. Suffice it to say that they declare war on Sauron, who obligingly surrenders, agrees to be made a prisoner, and within 2 years he’s the King’s version of Ahmed Chalabi.