Rating: 
Summary: Interesting. Helpful for Tolkienien Studies.
Review: The information around the Istari, Galadriel and Celeborn, and Eorl are particularly interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: kudos to Christopher
Review: What can I say? This book is excellent. Christopher starts a winning pattern ot commentary with this book that he eventually carries over into his "Histories". He does a wonderful job tying up loose ends and showing how things fit into (or in some cases changing) the published works. (ie. hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion.)
The actaul stories are beautiful. My personal favorite is "Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin", which is much more in depth than what is in the Silmarillion. Alas, it ends only with him just reaching the city. the only way to get a true look at the city is to look past the Silmarillion deep into the early mythology to the Book of Lost Tales vol.2.
The other stories are all great esp. the ones in the Third Age.
This book is for people who mostly want to study middle-earth and the last thoughts of its creator.
Rating: 
Summary: The Dead Sea Scrolls for the True Tolkien Fan
Review: This book, in my opinion, is just a continuance of The Silmarillion, with some added commentary from Christopher Tolkien. It is, as the title claims, unfinished and previously unpublished works of Tolkien's now combined in a single collection. I found that I could never keep my place--I constantly had to flip back and read over things again because I either missed them, or just plain didn't understand them the first time. There also was a lack of general plot structure. Each individual story had its own plot, of course, but the book as a whole was lacking transition. Starting a new chapter was like starting a new book. I was also frustrated by Chris Tolkien's commentary at the end of every section. It ruined the whole grace and finesse of a well-crafted piece of literature. On the whole, however, the book did an excellent job tying up some loose ends left for you in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. It went into more depth about the origin of Aragorn's people (though not actually mentioned as Aragorn's ancestors, they are as such); where the wizards Gandalf and Saruman came from and WHY they came; as well as a greater look into the War of the Ring.
I rate Unfinished Tales as a 3-star work because my feelings on it are neither good nor bad. The layout and general plot structure was a disaster, but the basic principle of the stories told within were excellent fillers. Overall, though this book did not thrill me, it is a must-have for any diehard Tolkien fan and a great help answering any "why?" question you may have regarding the nuances and details of The Lord of the Rings.
Rating:
Summary: lovely book
Review: Though Unfinished Tales cannot be read as a book in its own right, any one who comes to it after reading The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion will indubitably find it interesting, as the book gives various nuggets of information about characters, events and places that are only hinted at in the other two books; e.g. the chapter on the Istari. 'Old' legends or myths of Middle-Earth, like the actual story of Isildur's fall in the Gladden Fields, are given in their 'authoritative' versions. A number of other tales, like the history of Galadriel and Celeborn or the Black Riders' hunt for Frodo and the Ring, are told in different versions or from differing perspectives.
A particular gem is the story of Aldarion and Erendis, the only story of Numenor before its fall. Through it, Numenor becomes a living place, not just a name from legends.
A map of Numenor is also included in the book.
A lovely book - no other words for it.
Rating:
Summary: A little review for a big book
Review: This a great book for those that read (and liked)Lord of the Rings and the silmarillion. It gives the extra details we want to know-that weren't in those books. The storys are very good, and fun to read even if you haven't read all tolkiens work.
It goes in order of events by time. You start with the story of Tuor in Numenor.My fav story was about Tuors cousin Turin(they didn't know one another).
I think every Tolkien fan will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for LOTR fanatics
Review: This was a real surprise for this fanatic who read The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings 50+ times (so far), but only recently finally waded through the fascinating but dry Silmarillion. Wonderful narrative stories fleshing out the sketches in the Silmarillion, plus background on the War of the Ring. My favorite parts had to be the material from the Third Age- who wouldn't thrill at reading detailed dialogue of the rivalry between Gandalf & Saruman, or how Bilbo actually got chosen for his adventure, & Thorin's disdain about the whole thing. Best book I've read since Tolkien's trilogy itself!
Rating:
Summary: THE GREATEST BOOK OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Review: WELL I AM JOKING. BUT IT IS STILL A GREAT BOOK!!!!! YOU GET SOME GREAT STORIES OUT OF IT, TURIN BEING MY FAVORITE. AND YOU GET ALTERNATIVE VIEWS OF THE EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE IN MIDDLE EARTH A GREAT BUY AND WORTH YOUR MONEY.
Rating:
Summary: For Die Hards Only!
Review: This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to get deeper into the Silmarillion and LOtR. NOT for the casual reader, though, who will be daunted by the time he reaches the halfway point of "Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin". And certainly not for anyone who hasn't read the Silmarillion yet. If you were captivated by the tales in the Silmarillion and want to know more, I highly recommend this book--it gives more in-depth tales of characters like Tuor, the Istari, and Galadriel, and there is a particularly lovely story about Aldarion and Erendis that you don't find in the Silmarillion. In all a perfect complement to the initial tales, but not for those unprepared to explore.
Rating:
Summary: Fills in the blanks
Review: This really goes along way to wrapping many questions you'll have as you read any of Tolkien's material.It never ceases to amaze me at the depth Tolkien's mind went as he wrote. If you fould The Silmarillion and Trilogy boring pass on this otherwise this is a must have.
Rating:
Summary: One final scene of Gandalf and the Hobbits...
Review: This isn't the beautifully told saga of Lord Of The Rings or even the epic, coherent mythology of The Silmarillion. As the title implies, it's a collection of fragments. Some are remarkably detailed, beautiful narratives of the episodes which were only summarized in the huge history of The Simarillion. My personal favourites among these are the longer versions of the Lay of Luthien and Beren, and the Song of the Children of Hurin. But the highlight for most will probably be the final scene you'll ever read of Gandalf and the Hobbits, whiling away some time in Minas Tirith after the war of the Ring. This was intended as an additional chapter of Lord of the Rings, but was finally left out. It's worth getting the book just to read it.
|
