Apr. 27th, 2007

arontius: (Earendil the Mariner)
…..Yes, I feel like a dork. :-) Seems that Spamazon delivered my book several days ago to my front door, and because I always seem to enter the house through the garage I didn’t know that I had the book until I tripped over it last night going out the front door at 9PM. :-) Suffice it to say that I was up WAAAAAYYYYY too late last night devouring said book! :-)

…..It is GOOD!!!! Turin’s story is told in The Silmarillion. But it is told there as more of a third person narrative. In this re-telling, there is more depth to it and more continuity and a telling that is closer to first-person. The parts that Christopher has included to bridge gaps left by his father are invisible for the most part. Christopher has really progressed far since his first forays into editing his father’s works. He’s a lot more confident about it and it shows.

…..The story is very much a tragedy. This is not Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. It is much closer to the style of The Silmarillion, but in reality easier to read. I know that a couple of reviewers have described it as akin to a Shakespearean tragedy. But I think a more accurate description would be a Scandinavian or Pre-English Tragedy, along the lines of Beowulf. There is a curse at work and all connected with it must suffer, and perish in the end. But there is a nobility to it that makes the tragedy that much more heart-wrenching.

…..I’m about two-thirds of the way done with it, but I can tell you now that it is way too short. I wish that Christopher had been confident enough to ADD material to it. Namely, I would have liked to have seen more of the outer world of Beleriand brought into the story and how the tragedy of Turin and Nienor affects the larger picture of the spider webs of Melkor’s machinations.

…..I also have to say that I’m starting to warm up to Alan Lee as an illustrator as well. His first Tolkien illustrations were really no better than the garbage that the Brothers Hildebrant release regularly upon the world (to my gut-wrenching distaste). But you can really see a little growth in how he is starting to see into the story that Tolkien is relating.

…..Need more. :-) I hope that Christopher starts training HIS son Adam now so that the family tradition can be continued. :-)

…..Sigh, now finishing Harry Potter is going to be difficult. :-) And I’m only half-way through the third book! :-)

…..Aaron / Arontius.

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