The Children of Hurin is a novel from Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and edited by his son, Christopher. It's a prequel type story that takes place before the events in Lord of the Rings, and it serves to fill in some of the gaps that were mentioned in passing in other stories. Personally, I think it is meant more for die-hard fans than casual readers.

This story is, as the title suggests, about the children of Hurin, who had taken on a dark lord named Morgoth. The children, named Turin and Nienor, find themselves hunted and must enlist the help of elves and dwarves before it is all over. There's even a brief fight with a dragon before it's all over. The story briefly tells of the background of Hurin and how he brought all this upon his children, then it goes into the individual stories of Turin and Neinor as they are separated early on in the book.

To help prepare the reader, Christopher Tolkien wrote a lengthy introduction to this story by going into a lot of the history and origins of the characters and places here. I found this to be somewhat helpful in understanding what I was getting into. I also liked how Tolkien discussed his father's notes and how J.R.R. had put everything together. We all know a tremendous amount of work went into creating the Lord of the Rings story, and this book is part of that background.

I did somewhat like this book, but I had to push myself through parts of it. The writing style is a little odd in how it seemed to lack a lot of physical detail. There isn't much action, and what you get is very briefly described before it's over. Although there is some dialogue, I just never really got a feel for the characters of Turin and Nienor. I still had a general idea of what was going on, but I never got fully invested in this story before it was finished.

You should also know that this is more of a novella than a full length novel. It features a nearly thirty-page intro from Christopher Tolkien, plus over fifty pages containing an appendix, family trees, a pronunciation guide, and a full list of names for everyone who appears. The actual story part of this book is just little over 200 pages long, so you can read it very quickly.

Both the hardcover and paperback editions of this book contain many illustrations by artist Alan Lee. I liked having the artwork to go along with what I was reading, and I think it did actually enhance the story to some degree. There is a full page color drawing about every 30 pages.

I am definitely a Lord of the Rings fan, but I'm not a disciple of J.R.R. Tolkien's work. I don't have the whole backstory of the land and history of all the characters committed to memory, so for me this book was a little too broad in scope. I liked it, but I wasn't blown away by it. This is why I feel like The Children of Hurin was written mainly to appease the die-hard fans of Tolkien's work, but casual readers may find it kind of ho-hum as a standalone story.

Recommended: Yes