It is hard to review this book. Especially because I’m not quite sure I enjoyed it. Not because it was a bad book, mind you, but because of how depressing it is. It’s a tragedy from beginning to end and it’s very sad in a hundred different ways.

I like Tolkien’s style because it is very much archaic and it works so well with his subject matter. The tragedy of the children of Hurin is pretty much like something you can find in Norse sagas and classical plays. In that sense, it works pretty well as a mythological work.
As a hero, Turin (because the book is called The Children of Hurin but he’s the one who gets most of the spotlight, is quite annoying. He’s a mighty warrior, he’s smart and so on, but his pride… It is hubris in its best expression. I cannot count all the times I wanted to kick this guy’s butt throughout the book.

Of course, we can explain all of Turin’s bad luck because of the curse Morgoth placed in Hurin’s family. But I like the fact that Tolkien was pretty much ambivalent as to what caused everything. It could have been the curse, or it could have been plain bad luck, fueled by Turin’s utter pride. And to be honest, I’m inclined to the second option. It seems a lot more dramatic than just a curse.

So, what does Turin do in this book that made me want to kill him? Well, he begins like a sweet kid; he loves his family and takes care of his little sister. But then things go sour quickly after Lalaith dies. Soon, Hurin leaves his family to go to war and is taken prisoner by Morgoth. And then orcs invade his lands, leaving Morwen and Turin trapped into their own house.

However, Morwen is a cool mom. And she manages to get her son to safety (the elves’ woods), before she gives birth to a third child: Nienor. While Turin is living with the elves (under the care of Thingol, Luthien’s dad, if you’ve read The Silmarillon), he learns all the skills he needs to be a mighty warrior.
But then, he messes it all up. One elf who wasn’t particularly friendly, Saeros, decided to mess up with him. Of course, it turns up to be a very bad idea, because Saeros ends up dead. Understandably, Thingol gets angry and banishes Turin, before listening to his part of the story. When a elf-girl who was friends with Turin comes up and reveals what happens (Saeros fell to his death on his own), Thingol forgives him and sends Beleg to look him.

In the meanwhile, our hero has joined a group of outlaws. When Beleg finds him, they both join forces to fight over the invaders in the land. However, this being the kind of story it is, things go bad again. Turin is caught by the orcs, and when Beleg goes to rescue him, Turin ends up killing his friend by mistake.

And then, a lot of things happen. Turin goes back to the elves (though another group of them , lead by Orodreth), a elf-princess falls in love with him, but then gets killed by the orcs after being captured by a dragon, Glaurung. So, this guy has really bad luck.

Finally, he meets a pretty and naked girl in the forests, who seems to be a little lost. He takes her to where he’s staying and ends up falling for her. They get married and she becomes pregnant. Things seem to be getting better for poor Turin.

Do you remember that bit about his bad luck?

Yeah. That comes up again to bite him. After a fight with Glaurung, his wife, Niniel, comes looking for him. Her husband is in the floor, fainted after being in contact with the poisonous blood of the dragon. Glaurung undoes the spell with he had placed some time on her. And… she remembers she’s Turin’s baby sister.

Yeap.

So she decides to kill herself. And when Turin learns the truth, he also kills himself.

I told you this was depressing.

And in the very end, Hurin is freed by Morgoth and finds the grave of his children. There, he also meets his wife, Morwen, who dies in his arms.

I’ll admit I was crying like a baby when that part came. It’s so sad and so beautifully written that it made me feel a little depressed because I can’t write like that.

I’d recommend this book mostly to Tolkien’s fans. I don’t think that if you’re not a fan of Tolkien’s work you’d enjoy this, as it quite complicated to read (he has a style that’s pretty much old fashioned, as I mentioned before, so I think is harder to read him if you never had). I love how he expands the world he created and how it makes it all become alive here.