The Children of Hurin. By Jrr. Tolkien.

The Children of Hurin
By J.R.R. Tolkien
Hardback. 

There seem to be an awful lot of books being released after someone dies. Here is a short list of authors and how long after they died a new book was release. Below is a small list of authors and the years after their deaths were the books published. 
1. Michael Crichton, 1 and 3 years. 
2. Stieg Larsen, 4, 5 and 6 years. 
2. Truman Capote, 20 years. 
3. Frank Herbert, 21 years. 
4. J.R.R. Tolkien, a whopping 31 books from 2 to 36 years. 
5. Mark Twain, 91 and 100 years. 

I call this the Tupac syndrome. He died in the mid 90's and is still releasing albums at a rate that caused people to think that he faked his death. 
Several authors left outlines or unfinished novels which would have been sequel to their masterpieces.  Bram Stoker and Frank Herbert are two of note. 

The Children of Hurin was pieced together from different sources and notes of Tolkien's... and it felt like it. The story took place 6,000 years before the Hobbit and mainly featured elves, humans and ogres. 
Morgoth, the evil lord who teaches Sauron, captures Hurin, the human leader of an army sent to overthrow him. Hurin so angers Morgoth that in retaliation he curses him to forever see what will happen to his children but be powerless to react or intervene.
Turin (Hurin's son) leaves home and starts a series of adventures where he goes from nothing to a leader or royalty. But always his anger cost him everything. He did this for about 30, leaving his mother and sister in destitute. 
At it's core it is a good story but it lacked the refined feel of a finished novel. Other then the elves, it didn't really feel like it belong in the Lord of the Rings series. 

Taylor

6 of 10.