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Unfinished Tales

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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 twentieth 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 organization 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 reader 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 Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Military War & Military Feel-Good
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Critic reviews

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

"Moments of mythic grandeur." (Sunday Times)

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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.

Deleted scenes and outakes

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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!

Excellent Narrative Duo

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

Great pair of narrators!

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Great collection of Tolkien history, that is well curated and expertly narrated. Great to always learn more.

Great collection of Tolkien history.

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Really enjoyed this as further reading to the world of middle earth. Loads of extra little details although, by very nature, it is a little disjointed at times. This was always going to be the case in a book like this and Christopher Tolkien has done a masterful job of making it into a single collection of stories.

I would not start with this book if you are new to the world of middle earth. But for fans that have read many of the other books, this is a true gem.

Good follow-on

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