Tolkien does it again! The Children of Hurin

Another Christmas gift book checked off the list! The first official finished read of 2022 (even though I started it last year ;) ) Such a light hearted read that took me back to one of my favorite places to be, Middle Earth!

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The Children of Hurin: 3.5/5

Synopsis:

Long before the One Ring was forged in the fires of Mount Doom, one man—Húrin—dared to defy Morgoth, the first and greatest of the dark lords to plague Middle-earth. Thus did he and his children, Túrin and Niënor, earn the enmity of a merciless foe that would shape the destiny of all the ages to come.

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The Children of Hurin was honestly a very cute and light hearted read. Very similar to the Lord of the Rings books, or the Hobbit. It's set within Middle Earth and takes place thousands of years before we come to meet Bilbo, Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, or any of our other beloved characters. This was one of the things I actually adored about the book. It was in a familiar place with familiar types of characters, elves, dwarfs, humans, dragons! But a whole new cast of characters! This kept me interested as I started to learn more about the new people as well as drawing connections to the "original" story we all know and love! Turin, one of Hurin's sons was our main character. As Tolkien is known for, the pov did jump around a lot to further the plot or to make up lost time with other characters he had introduced. The book holds very true to what Tolkien is known for...surprising twists and turns and epic heroes journeys. Hurin, is a glorious human warrior who gets captured by Morgoth and sadly leaves his family at home. The story is one of his sons Turin and his daughter, Nienor and basically their journey during this time.

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Turin was a...very interesting character. I loved him but I also hated him at times to be quite honest. He was at times very impulsive. Literally listening to no one and then getting upset when he found himself in a worse off predicament than before. But then some other times he would be this great hero, living up to his name, that I would rally behind him and love what he was doing. It was interesting to have a character that was so driven by revenge and impulse but at times was also just so tired, and wanted to settle down.

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His sister, Nienor, was also very interesting. Very innocent but still strong willed girl who unfortunately gets so traumatized by the dragon that she forgets everything about herself...including her name and that Turin is her brother...and then they eventually find each other and get married...

To be real, after that I was just so weireded out. I understand that she doesn't know and he doesn't know who she is either, so classic Luke and Leia moment right here, but still it was just weird. Especially given the age difference too. It wasn't romantic. It was just odd.

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After trying to look past that point...I enjoyed the book. I wouldn't say it's hands down the best book I've ever read, but a good one! I like J.R.R Tolkien and his writing and his books have an increasing amount of metaphor and symbolism, but I didn't really want to use that much brain power to really think about it. So at face value it was a riveting classic fantasy novel that was an easy but nice read!

Minus the incest...just why Toklien, why!

xoxo,

paige :)