Book Review "The Children of Húrin"

As far as I can tell J.R.R. Tolkien has been dead for just over 35 years, but he just had a book come out last year. How is this possible? Did he write it from beyond the grave? While legend says that he loved Middle Earth so much that not even death himself could stop him from adding to its rich history and lore, others claim that it was far less creepy and had a lot more to do with a son that inherited a sweet money milking world from his father. Honestly that is a sweet gig. Whenever you are strapped for cash or simply want more just publish something with your daddy's name on it and watch the nerds gobble it up. So his son, Christopher Tolkien, took previous writings, mostly from the Silmarillion, and published them in one book here. Then they went and got Alan Lee to make some illustrations for it just to sweeten the deal some more. Well it worked. I gave it a read. I knew the story all ready (really its the only one I remember from the Silmari-whatever). It is sort of about a slightly more civilized Conan of Middle Earth called Túrin and his cursed family. It's a tragedy of sorts. He's got a little bit of a Luke and Leia thing going on with his sister (actually a lot of one). Oh and there's a dragon. A big, jerky dragon, but he gets his. Alan Lee is still the best Tolkien illustrator. It was a good read. Sort of sad that I might know more about Middle Earth history than actual history, but a quick look at Wikipedia and the internet in general would show that I am not alone.