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The Children of Hurin cover art

The Children of Hurin

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Christopher Lee
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Publisher's Summary

There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings. The story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

In that remote time, Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire.

Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.

The earliest versions of this Tolkien story go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed. But long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he revised and greatly enlarged it, enhancing complexities of motive and character. It became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book, Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

©2007 J. R. R. Tolkien Copyright Trust and Christopher Reuel Tolkien (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London, UK

What listeners say about The Children of Hurin

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Brilliant

No matter how bad life gets, it will never be as bad as Turin! Brilliant stuff!

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1 person found this helpful

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Authentically Tolkien

I loved Christopher Lee's performance of The Children of Hurin - it was so authentically Tolkien. It's not always the most riveting of Middle-Earth stories, but still a valuable addition to the prequel canon.

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3 people found this helpful

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Tragic

Made me cry could go to sleep after I finished the book. Super tragic story. Grest characters, great narration from Christopher Lee himself!

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Narn I hin Húrin

Brilliant story. Christopher Lee: a better reader and lay teller of Tolkien I have not heard. Tragic that this is the only Tolkien he performed. Probably the best performance of an audio book ever

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3 people found this helpful

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Best narration I've ever heard, RIP

Christopher Lee nails the tone of the prose, bravo. Basically like having Saruman from the film version tell you an epic and tragic tale

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Tolkien Gold

I love anything Tolkien, and this book was excellent, loved Christopher Lee as the reader pure genius 10/10

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Headline

Greatest tale of all time. I don’t think this requires further discussion. Thank you very much Professor

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More epic lore from Middle Earth

As a fan of Tolkien's Middle Earth Lore, I thoroughly enjoyed the reading of the longest 'Lay of Beleriand' by none other than Sauruman (Christopher Lee) from the 'Lord of the Rings' movie trilogy!

Christopher's narration is evocative of a lore master teaching classical history, although others could potentially find it monotonous & joyless

The use of a short musical melody to separate chapters adds an appropriate grand ambience fitting of this epic piece of Middle Earth lore.

I recommend this audiobook to Middle Earth fans who enjoyed reading the appendices of the 'Lord of the Rings' or 'the Silmarillion'.

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Pretty decent

It was pretty good if you like this sort of stuff. although I had to do some Google searching to get my head around the different characters and places.

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Amazing Performance

This was my first audiobook. Hearing the voice of Sir Christopher Lee in all its magnificence tell the Tragic Tale of The Children of Húrin really brings tears to my eyes. An incredible listen and an amazing read by one of the best Authors.

“HAIL! WORM OF MORGOTH! WELL MET AGAIN! DIE NOW, AND THE DARKNESS HAVE YOU! THUS IS TÚRIN, SON OF HÚRIN AVENGED!” - Túrin Turambar, Golden Dragon of the North, The Black Sword of Nargrothond.

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