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Liked It “Very good inormation.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Very good inormation.”
Brandon Nelson wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“If you've an interest in the Mirkwood or Lothlorien Elves this is the only place to find it. I've not read much beyond the mentionings of Galadriel and Oropher, but interesting.”
Stars wrote this review Thursday, November 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Expected too much? I want to re-read it because I don't even remember it.”
John H wrote this review Thursday, September 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great extension of Tolkien's world - his son, Christopher, went back through his notes to organize and compile, and eventually edit into more novels (Tolkien only saw "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy published in his lifetime). The fanstastical atmosphere that pervades all his work is powerfully evident in this work, as well. There ain't no better way to escape your life than picking up a Tolkien classic.”
Travis wrote this review Wednesday, July 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Mormegil rules.”
Bodan wrote this review Monday, July 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I enjoyed this as an alternative view on some of the tales told in The Silmarillion.”
KB wrote this review Wednesday, July 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I liked some of the stories, but as the title suggests, many of the stories felt like they were still in the rough draft form, which was a little disappointing and distracting. ”
Kara A wrote this review Monday, June 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Such a captivating book at times. It's a treasure for those who want to delve into the world of Middle Earth once more.”
Mohammad wrote this review Wednesday, May 13 2009. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is a great book, but only if you are a diehard Tolkien fan. I say this because while I found it to be compelling and evocative writing, that might not be true for someone less familiar with the Tolkien universe. Unfinished Tales is a collection of writings by Tolkien meant to supplement The Lord of the Rings and the SIlmarillion. It contains Tolkien's thoughts on such mysterious subjects as the Istari and the life of Cirdan, as well as containing the skeleton of what would become Children of Hurin, which was released last year.
Dan Pease wrote this review Sunday, March 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The only real problem I had with Unfinished Tales was the fact that it was all over the place. There was no thread to tie the essays together, and while they seemed to be loosely organized into chronological order, the book jumped from unrelated topic to unrelated topic. However, I am very forgiving of this, as it is a sign that the editor, Christopher Tolkien, tried to keep the manuscripts much as his father left them before he died, and for me (and many other Tolkien fans), authenticity is a priority when it comes to dealing with Tolkien's writing.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read the Silmarillion, although if you have sunk deep enough into the seedy underbelly of Middle-Earth to have read that, you probably would read Unfinished Tales eventually anyway. Therefore, perhaps it makes more sense for me to recommend that anyone who has not read the Silmarillion should not read this book. That being said, I recommend the Silmarillion to everyone, so really what I'm saying is, there is a certain order in which these should all be read.”
“J.R.R. Tolkien's Unfinished Tales is a terrific book for diehard Tolkien fans, in particular, fans of The Lord of the Rings who have not yet read The Silmarillion. Ever wondered what were the exact events that caused Isildur to lose the One Ring? Or the origins of Wizards? Or what Middle-Earth was like during its First Age? Unfinished Tales helps to shed light on the complex creation of Middle-Earth and the many tales and legends that relate the events in its long and largely tumultuous history.
Kevis Hendrickson wrote this review Saturday, January 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I found this book to be very interesting with a number of wonderful never before told tales from Tolkien's furiously hoarded safe box of writings such as "Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin", "The Disaster of The Gladden Fields" and my personal favorite "Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife". Even in their sometimes incomplete state, the archaic nature of the tales contained in this book add to the mystique that Tolkien discovered a trove of ancient manuscripts in some dark and remote cave recounting a lost and forgotten age of our world rather than merely conjuring it up out of his vast and unfettered imagination.
My only complaint about Unfinished Tales is that like the other history of Middle-Earth books, Tolkien's son and literary executor Christopher is too enamored of trivial events in his father's creation of Middle-Earth and seems too driven to point out every single nuance (and sometimes meaningless facts) about the many versions of the tales his father wrote before they came to their final, but incomplete forms. This makes for some rather unnecessarily confusing, if not, at times, dull reading.
Even so, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about how Tolkien created the world behind The Lord of the Rings and the many wondrous and previously unpublished tales that we could only guess had existed. ”
