Book three of 2008 is The Children of Hurin by J.R.R Tolkien.

Ok, it's really only kinda written by Tolkien, especially since he's been dead since the 70s. This, like the Simalrilion was cobbled together by Tolkien's son Christopher from unfinished writings Tolkien left behind. I don't actually have a problem with this, if you're named the executor of your father's literary estate, why not try to continue to publish as much stuff as you can? Although sometimes, it does make me wonder if Christopher does this because he has a gambling problem or something and needs an influx of cash every now and then.

I jest. Anyway, the Children of Hurin is a collection of stories Christopher basically took from an unfinished epic poem Tolkien had been writing. And not only writing, but he was writing it in the meter that was commonly used by Old English epic tales such as Beowulf or the Battle of Maldon. There's an excerpt of the poem in the book's appendix, and I was shocked at how well Tolkien was able to mimic the style of those poems. Although, I now realize I shouldn't have been shocked, after all, the man was a scholar in Old English.

But yes, reading this book was like a journey back to John Chamberlain's Old English class in second year university. I felt like I should be translating these lines as I read them, full as they are of strange (yet tantalizingly familiar) place names riddled with awkward combinations of consonants and vowels. The pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book was pretty much identical to the one at the beginning of my Guide to Old English. Of course, this means I knew I was pronouncing all those names correctly.

This book is not for fans of sword and sorcery fantasy. Heck, I wouldn't even completely recommend it to those who usually read high fantasy, the very genre Tolkien himself pretty much invented. The Children of Hurin is more like an epic historical legend, something from the Icelandic or Norse sagas, complete with ogres and dragons and tragic heroes who are at once noble and brave, but oh so flawed as well. They win the day, but are still brought low by much adversity.

There's actually lots of characterization in this book, but its almost hard to discern because you're tripping over so many names. Names of people, places, things. Damn Tolkien liked to name things. And he had a name for everything. But hey, you develop your own language, you should be allowed to show it off. I say there is characterization because the main child of Hurin, Turin, is almost unlikeable. He's such a prat sometimes you just want to slug him. He comes across as self righteous and with absolutely zero ability to take criticism. Unfortunately, he's also right a lot of the time, and somehow, he does manage to inspire loyalty and love from followers. Of course, he also manages to piss people off nearly as often as he gains respect though. He meets a suitably tragic end, although its also one that's very uncomfortable, but completely in line with type of legends that Tolkien was trying to write here.

As a literary work, The Children of Hurin is a masterpiece. I don't think it ever aspired to be anything else really. It certainly isn't like the majority of fantasy fiction out there, inspired by the author's earlier works. I know people often complain that the Lord of the Rings is nearly inaccessible, well, The Children of Hurin make LotR look like Harry Potter.