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Unfinished Tales cover art

Unfinished Tales

By: J. R. R. Tolkien,Christopher Tolkien - editor
Narrated by: Timothy West,Samuel West
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Summary

JRR Tolkien’s legacy of short stories which inhabit the realm of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, on audio for the first time.

Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the 20th century’s most acclaimed popular author.

The book concentrates on the realm of Middle-earth and comprises such elements as Gandalf’s lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand and an exact description of the military organisation of the Riders of Rohan.

Unfinished Tales also contains the only story about the long ages of Numenor before its downfall and all that is known about such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantiri and the legend of Amroth. The tales were collated and edited by JRR Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the listener to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father’s writings.

©1980 The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien (P)1980 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Another monument to the incredible imagination of Tolkien." (Sunday Telegraph)

"Moments of mythic grandeur." (Sunday Times

What listeners say about Unfinished Tales

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FIX THE CHAPTERS

Other Audible audiobooks consisting of short stories manage named chapters in the app to allow easy navigation so why can’t an important book by a major publisher?

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55 people found this helpful

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Deleted scenes and outakes

Reading or listening to this is akin to working your way through a reel of deleted scenes and out-takes from a favourite movie. Individually these are interesting pieces, and of course they are suffused with genius artistry and world building of Tolkien, but they make an unsatisfactory whole, and for me did not work as an audio book. The Wests do their usual incredible job of narration. West Jr tells the tales with sympathetic gravitas. His Dad interjects with scholarly footnotes (reading Christopher Tolkien's comments on his Dad's work). Tales include the first phase of the Fall of Gondolin, much of the Children of Hurin, some tales from the history of Numenor, the Rohirrm and Gondor, Stewards, Wizards and Palantir.
It's for those already baptised in the lore of Middle Earth and able to swim confidently in its waters. It is not a jumping in point.
An amazing work, but not the best material for an audio book. Some of the tales don't have many hooks, and the scholarly interjections can be frustrating if you are getting into a particular tale.
But nevertheless this is Middle Earth, and expertly narrated.

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16 people found this helpful

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Excellent Narrative Duo

If you want to have a further exploration into Tolkien's writings beyond the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, this should be priority. Excellent narrative duo helps immensely with the two-author-editor nature of the book. Buy it, and you will not regret!

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7 people found this helpful

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Great pair of narrators!

Some minor mispronounciations my only complaint. I want them to do all the other books!

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5 people found this helpful

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Awesome Tolkien

Expands&explains details in the Hobbit, LOTR and Silmarilion. Loved it and will read it again.

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4 people found this helpful

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offcuts from world of evergreen modern classic

The first half of this collection of snippets of work that never made it into the final works of Tolkein offers little that isnt a (highly readable) precis of the denoument of the tragedy that is The Sons of Hurin.

This collection is only suitable for those already entranced by the epic of the ring that binds them all. (a little like me) we hear a little more of the often mentioned Numenoreans. i enjoyed some beautiful pastoral descriptions of the early days of idyllic Numenor......and once more see Tolkein illustrating how easily conflict born of envy begins...as also towards the end of the work similar strife is awakenened within Istar Saruman when it is in fact Istar Mythril who recieves one of the Elves three rings from Cereborn rather than himself.
Best of all is written the disaster of Gladden Fields where the war is all but lost....isildur killed unarmed exhausted and drenched having lost The Ring ,been forced by his doomed son and heir to forsake the field of battle ,and dessert.
There are plenty of other gems..a different working of Thorin Okenshield being persuaded by Gandalf to re take Erebor...how and why.....The battles for Isen and the painful ominous and unguliant movement of Saurons forces ever westward...evever closer to and by default The Shires.
Although they are mentioned fairly regularly .there is disappointingly little detail about a relationshilp between Galadriel and Cereborn.

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Fabulously presented

This book is for the more “hardcore” Middle-Earth fans. As more of a Silmarillion reader, I nevertheless enjoyed myself immensely when listening to stories and anecdotes set in the later ages.
The narrators are superb. Father and son wrote and edited the book. Similarly, father and son narrate the book. The older narrator reads Christopher’s footnotes and comments, as a lovely tribute to the editor who recently passed away at the advanced age of 96 (the book is published in 1980 though). Samuel West has the voice for the ageless, eternal storyteller and scholar, the real-world Illuvatar.
I would really love to listen to their version of Nature of Middle-Earth.

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A Brilliant Format for an Audiobook.

Presenting this father and son team to deliver this audiobook of a father’s work edited by his son is a work of genius. It would be wonderful for the whole of The History of Middle-Earth series to be presented in this way. It was also wonderful to be reminded in listening to this that some of JRR Tolkien’s most beautiful writing is here in this book.

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spoilt by Christopher Tolkien

some interesting stories but why did Christopher Tolkien have to keep going on and on explaining things ruining the story threads. I had to give up...

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unable to follow

Would have been great if it wasn't for the constant abrupt Christopher Tolkien remarks.

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1 person found this helpful