9:53 AM - Review: Children of Hurin

O.K. here we are with another blog/review. It has been a long time. In fact I wrote this review on paper over a month ago! I just haven't made the time to sit down and type it out. Pretty lame eh? As most of you know by now we also recently had a new baby (Jan 28th), so hopefully very soon I will post a blog about that experience. Alright, on to the review.

The Children of Hurin

by: J.R.R. Tolkien  edited by: Christopher Tolkien

Return of THE King     5 stars

Finally, the long wait is over. I have anticipated reading this book for more than a year and a half. Since the first time that I read on the Internet that our beloved Christopher was working on this project. Counting off the days to its release, (which also happened to be my wife's birthday,) I realized that I probably would not be able to afford the book for some time. It felt kind of lame trying to justify buying it for my wife's birthday, as it would obviously be for me, (although she is almost as big a fan as I am). So I waited. But not to worry, my own birthday was only a short three and a half months away, and I could usually count on at least one or two books. Well the birthday left me with many books about Tolkien, various commentaries on his works that were part of the general explosion of all things Tolkien a few years back, but not the one that is the subject of this review. So with much new reading awaiting me, my desire to read the Children was temporarily sated and put in the back of my mind. After all I reasoned, I already know the story, having read all the various and shorter published versions. So I could wait. 

Enter Christmas 2007. I was excited that I had finally received a copy, but the excitement was somewhat overshadowed by also receiving a copy of an "almost" final draft of my best friend's book. Now that I had a copy in my possession, I started reading it almost at once. Feeling like a child with one of those large candy cane sticks pulled from a stocking, I decided to take my time, savor it, make it last.  Well, I did pretty good. I made it go for about two weeks. And let me tell you. It was worth all the anticipation. I enjoyed every word of it.

Now that I have went on long enough about me and my relationship to this book, I shall proceed to write about the book itself, and the history of its creation.

To start, I must say this. This is a tragic tale. While most of his works on Beleriand (the land where this takes place) are tragic in nature, this one is the most so. It is very personal, following the life of Hurin and his sister Nienor, whereas the other tragic works of Tolkien tend to follow more along the lines of a race, a people or nation, battle or series of battles.

The first writings of this tale can be found in The Book of Lost Tales Vol II pg69. The title of this early version is called Turambar and the Foaloke. Here we see that most of the events in the Children are present in Tolkien's mind, although the order in which things take place have changed quite a lot. Another major difference is the names of people and places. Very few of the names that become familiar to the reader of the Children are the same here. Some have minor changes in structure and pronunciation, but others are totally different. To Tolkien the evolution of his languages was as if not more important to him as the evolution of his stories.

The next major development can be found in The Lays of Beleriand, the third book in the Histories of Middle Earth. This is called the Lay of the Children of Hurin, and it begins on page 3. This version is my personal favorite. It is an excellent tale put into the format of a long poem or lay. Sadly it is only about two-thirds completed. For me this portrayal is the most visual, leaving in the mind many details that are not to be found in his prose.

Throughout the rest of the Histories there are references to slight and minor changes that were made to the text and storyline. But it is not until we encounter Unfinished Tales that we find the next major step in the evolutionary history of the Children. This can be found on page 57 and is titled Narn I Hin Hurin. Though far from finished, this contains the narrative that Tolkien was working on before his untimely death. This is the rendering that was meant to be the "final" version, and is what we would be reading right now instead of the book that I am now reviewing. There are many elements missing here, but they are from all over the story, as he was rewriting portions here and there. In fact the most complete section is probably the ending.

From here we move on to the Silmarillion, the sourcebook if you will, of all things elvish. This book contains all the short, condensed versions of stories from the First Age. In this version of Turin, Christopher had to delve through all the different versions to come up with a quick cohesive narrative, showing little more than the highlights of the story. Nonetheless it is well done. Reading even just this short version conveys almost as much tragedy as the novel version does.  And as this was the first published version, it was all the public knew about Turin for a number of years.

Now Christopher, who has worked very hard to have most everything his father wrote published, has taken from all these various sources, and created a new and comprehensive work. Editorially this was a huge task. Trying to pick through them all to find the right word, sentence, paragraph, or passage and put them all into a flowing readable narrative could be nothing more than a labor of love that is usually reserves for the author. So I am sure he made some choices about narrative that his father might frown upon, but we are also given a novel that offers us a full look at one of Tolkien's most important stories from the Eldar Days when Men where much more than the men we see in The Lord of the Rings, (excepting Aragorn of course, who was modeled after the great Men from before).  

All that I can really say is that if you are a fan of Tolkien then you should buy this, read it, and hopefully love and enjoy it as much as I have.

Currently reading : The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements By Sandor Ellix Katz Release date: 01 November, 2006

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11:12 AM - a new review for you to view!
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Writing and Poetry

Well, since I haven't put much time into writing blogs I thought that I would post a review I just did for Amazon here, just so my huge fan base knows that I am writing something. Maybe soon some real blog writing will once again grace this profile! Now this review is over 1,100 words long, so we will have to see if Amazon rejects it. If so my darling readers, then you will be the only ones to read this full review! Oh whatever, just let me know what ya think, eh.

Dragonlance Chronicles

Annotated Edition

By: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

My return to Anaslon 3stars

  Before I actually review this book I would like to give a little background history of why I read it. Many years ago (I believe it was 1989) in my early teens, I began getting into Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' gaming system. I was happy, loving the game and all the rulebooks, even though there were few people around that played, (at least that I knew) and getting those few together was difficult. In need of some action, I soon found some satisfaction in TSR's line of gaming novels. Greyhawk was hard to find, and it seemed a bit outdated. Forgotten Realms was pretty cool but never really caught my full interest. But then there was Dragonlance. By the time I got to the series TSR was beginning to hit its spin-off phase pretty hard. Much like the huge line of Star Trek novels, there were a lot, and most of them not worth reading unless you were a Trekkie or an AD&D geek. Most of these novels were Dragonlance and I bought them all, and yes, I think I even read them all. There were even a few gems in the line, although most felt like filler material, trying with varying degrees of success to flesh out a semi-realized world.

   Many years later, after not having read much in the way of fantasy for a long time, I had the urge to reread the Chronicles. And after a bit of looking around on the Internet, I found and thought I might read the Annotated Edition. As someone who enjoys writing I like to read about the evolution of a book and also pick up any little details that couldn't fit in the published novel. (For the best example of this check out Tolkien's Histories of Middle Earth, compiled and edited by his son Christopher.) So I ordered a copy, and at the same time getting a copy of the Annotated Legends, the direct sequel to Chronicles.

   What I would like to do is a brief review of each book in the trilogy, as each one has a different feel, and rating each individually. Then I will write about the trilogy as a whole, and this edition in particular.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight-4stars

  This is the best of the three, indeed I think it might be the best of the whole Dragonlance line. This one, above all others, feels like you're in an adventuresome  AD&D game. It is an interesting cast of characters that is based on the game system's recommended party. You've got your half-elven ranger (Tanis), your cleric (Goldmoon), barbarian (Riverwind), thief (Tasselhoff Burrfoot), fighter (Caramon), wizard (Raistlin), dwarf (Flint), and your knight or paladin (Sturm Brightblade). Not much room for improvement there, at least from a role-playing standpoint. The storyline is something like this: 300 years ago the gods "abandoned" the world of Krynn, because mortals dared to believe they knew better than them. Oh yeah, and on their way out they left plenty of destruction that was called the Cataclysm. Like hurling a fiery mountain down upon the center of moral purity, Istar. Now we have a cleric who doesn't know she is heralding their return, and our merry band of adventurers must help her (although most of them are not doing it willingly,) to find some sort of holy relic in a ruined city that is very reminiscent of an AD&D dungeon. And guess what! Dragons are back. At least a black one is. They exiled themselves through mutual consent of both the good dragons (metallic- gold, bronze, silver, etc.), and the evil dragons (colored- black, red, green, etc.), close to a thousand years before. After that the companions attempt to figure out what is going on and trying to spread the news, both the good (the gods are returning!) and the bad (yet so are the dragons!). After some more adventures we see one of the elven capitals, meet the bumbling old wizard Fizban (one of my personal favorites), and a man with a large green gem stuck to his chest who seems to have a problem with not being able to die.

Dragons of Winter Night- 3stars

  This book feels more like a novel and less like you're in the middle of a role-playing game. The companions are splitting up, trying to do their part in discovering what is going on and what they can do about it. The reason for three stars on this one is that the plots don't really seem to flow together that well. Most of the time you could care less when you skip to the next character off in a different place, as the suspense doesn't really seem to build up in between scenes.  But there are some interesting things in this book. One of my favorites is when they are looking for the fabled port city of Tarsis. After the Cataclysm the oceans were moved around, and now they are faced with a landlocked city surrounded by rotting ships on a sea of sand, which of course upsets the party's plan quite thoroughly. We also see what happens when you walk into a forest kingdom that is ruled by an elf going mad from being controlled by a green dragon.

Dragons of Spring Dawning- 3stars

  Well here we are, the last one, and it doesn't get much better than the last. Not bad mind you, but any excitement that you might expect from the ending is demolished by the fantastical, superhuman feats that are necessary for the companions to go through in order to save the world. Although I will say that they do a nice bit about how love can conquer all. And I must admit that the aerial battles between dragons were done very well. In the end we are left with a world returning to brightness, and our heroes must now live up to the status Heroes of the Lance.

 As far as the series as a whole, it is a fun read, especially if you have never read it before. If you have then it might leave you feeling slightly disappointed, although for me it wasn't nearly as much so as watching my old favorite 80's movies. Now for the annotated edition, it was ok. There were some interesting things that they made notations of, but most of it seemed like plugs for the other Dragonlance books. And the most annoying thing was that they would say almost the same thing over and over again in each book, like you had never read that particular note before. Maddening!

 Anyhow, I am glad that I reread it. I just hope the experience is as good for you if you do decide to read this for the first, or even fifth time.

Currently reading : KGB : The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev By Christopher; Gordievsky, Oleg Andrew Release date: 1991

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10:24 PM - Here Weee Go!
Current mood: excited

Well this is it. The big move is finally here. Tomorrow morning I have to be in Durango to pick up the 15 foot Budget rental truck. Then it is come home and load it up, figure out what to put in the van to use while traveling and where, and get the house all cleaned up. ( Actually Dawn will probably do most everything, while I just walk around in circles holding a box.)

The place we are leaving. Pagosa Springs, Colorado. My home for about eighteen years now, and the place where Dawn has spent all of hers. We want to come back. I doubt that we will find mountains that we will love to hike in as much. So hopefully we can come back during "vacations" to climb some peaks and see all the friends and family. I am rather tired of working in the best restaurant in town and feeling like I have "peaked out" my learning experiences. Don't get me wrong. I love my job, (or rather what used to be my job, tee hee) and the people that I work with, but Pagosa just can't support a really high class place where I can continue learning. I try and make something special and unique for the rotary lunches and they just pick at it, where as if I do something like burgers for them, they are licking their plates clean! I need more than that.

The place we are moving to. Eugene, Oregon. A little strange considering how I detested that name being taunted at me while growing up. And yes, it says Gene on my birth certificate, so no dumb comments on this!!!!!

Anyhow, we should arrive there on the sixth or so of May. We will probably be camping out until we can find a nice rental, or affordable RV to buy. I have four job inteviews set up for the seventh as well. And at least two are really nice, classy places! And not only will there be some nice hiking spots, but we will only be an hour from the coast as well! Fun, fun, fun.

Well everyone, I will try to keep you all posted with my blogs, but don't expect consistancy. And please refrain from expecting me do blog even a tenth as much as my Blog crazy friend the Vance. And I do truly welcome your comments.

GOOD BYE PAGOSA

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12:55 PM - Books & Movies 2/20/06
Current mood: cheerful

Well here we are again ,trying to type a new blog. Lets see how far we get today!

So as far as books go, I finished A Feast For Crows a while back and am now working on reading a book that Tad let me borrow. Eragon by Christopher Paolini, which I am about half way through. It was written by Christopher at the age of fifteen I believe, and it shows. For what it is it is an excellent book, but being aged as I am and reading works by more mature authors, it can be frustrating. Sometimes I just want to reach out and smack the lead character upside the head, saying "Hello, anybody in there?" But if I were still a teen I would probably love it. As it is I am enjoying it, and will read the whole series. (Book 2, Eldest, has already been released and the third is being written.) Also I think taht this is an author to watch as his writting matures.

I am currently about a third through Lilith, by George MacDonald, which I am thouroughly enjoying. I read his first novel about the land of Farie, Phantastes, which I enjoyed, but this one, written in the twilight of his life, blows it away. Not even near finished and I would highly recomend it. This is a writer that has influenced a great many others, most notably C.S. Lewis and Auden. Possibly even Tolkien, although he said not, his own stories of Farie bore a close resemblance.

We recently watched an awesome documentary called The Long Way Around, with Ewen McGregor  and Charley Boorman. Basically it follows these guys travelling around the world on motorcycles.  They start from London, travel through Europe into Uzbekistan, up into Russia to Mongolia, back into Russia and up the Road of Bones to catch a plane ride to Alaska. From there it is into the Canadian backcountry, down into Montana, and then a drive across the States to New York. Very well done indeed. A deep look into the lives of two men, showing the strength and personal character that you wouldn't normally expect from a couple of "hollywoods".

Oh yea, and this is for Ian. It was a Howard Shore cameo doing the  conducting near the end of King Kong.

Currently reading : Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) By Christopher Paolini Release date: 26 April, 2005

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7:44 AM - Reading
Current mood: tired

Well, I finished two books a few days ago. And both of them are books that I have borrowed from Ian. The first is George RR Martin's A Storm of Swords. Ittook me about two weeks of reading a few minutes here, a hour there, and viola, another book that I can return to the Vance residence.

 The other is a book that I have had for so long that Ian has probably forgotten about it.(embaresment). E R Eddison's The Worm Ouroborous. I started it back near the begining of summer, read about a third of it, then put it down and forgot about it. i finally found it and resumed (slowly) reading this epic book around december.

Ihave to post this now, will finish when the kids give chance!

Currently reading : Lilith By George MacDonald Release date: August, 1981

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9:43 AM - Kids, Dishes, and Google Earth
Current mood: productive

Well here I am on this lovely monday morn, feeling a wee bit useful today.  Home alone with the children for a few hours, so I decided to be productive and get some things done. Here is my list for the day:

   Do the dishes and some other small household upkeeps ( wouldn't want to take to much of Dawn's fun).

  Writing a blog

  Make lunch

  Play softball with the kids (the snow season here is so bad that even mud is getting scarce).

  Work out some technical problems my computer is having with Google Earth. (which I did before writing this blog)

For those of you who haven't yet checked it out, I would highly suggest downloading Google Earth. It is a very fun program that lets you view digital sattelite images. You can zoom out to see the earth as a small ball surounded by stars, or zoom in to see (where the images are good enough) vehicles, houses, and even some very fuzzy people! The higher your conection speed the better as it can take a minute or two to download images. It took me awhile to figure it out, but my problem was that my McAffey privacy service was blocking it from downloading images. strange because it was working, then it wasn't, then it was , then, well you get the idea.

Well, I had better go to work on lunch.

On a side note, my blogs will get more interesting and better written the more I write them, so just hang in there.

Currently reading : A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) By George R.R. Martin Release date: 04 March, 2003

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