Well, if it escaped anyone's attention, there is a "new" Tolkien work out, Children of Hurin, and of course, I had to read it. It was compiled by Tolkien's son, Christopher, from partially finished material. I have read a few of Christopher Tolkien's Histories of Middle Earth, at least the ones that dealt with the writing of the Lord of the Rings books. He's obviously the person to do something like this, he's spent his life immersed in his father's work to an astonishing degree.
So the story line of this work was already partially told in the Silmarillion, and told in much greater depth here. (Been a while since I read the Silmarillion, too...) That said, this sure is a downer. I'd warn about spoilers here, but I can't imagine more than two people I know reading this anyway, so I'll go ahead. This reads really like a historic epic or Shakespearean tragedy - fathers going off to war, people killing their best friends accidentally in the dark, mistaken identities leading to incest, and suicide. Anyway - wouldn't recommend this to anyone other than Mich. I doubt Ashley reads this (might have to send it to him) but he's probably already read it anyway...
Book 24
