I see from The Indie that Christopher Tolkien has finished of his father’s story The Children of Húrin. According to the article, the contents of the book “are being jealously guarded by publisher HarperCollins”. But we do kind of know the story already, both from the Silmarillion and from other books which Christopher Tolkien has been publishing from his father’s writings for many years now. I believe that the story features in Unfinished Tales, so I rather doubt whether we’re going to be getting anything significantly new. The article claims there’s a major twist (don’t tell me, Morgoth is Túrin’s real father), but I smell the puerile hype of a greedy publishing company that’s milking this one for more than it’s worth.
Some of Christopher Tolkien’s earlier volumes are worth having, but I felt that the later ones about early versions of the Lord of the Rings were pointless because you were getting into the world of
Final version: The orcs had shot Boromir with many arrows…Draft version: Orcs had shot Boromir with many arrows…
Perhaps as a source for scholarly investigations of the evolution of the text such volumes might have a purpose, but otherwise what’s the point?
If you think about it, in a modern-world version of the Lord of the Rings, Sauron’s ring would be on offer to the highest bidder.
“What is it, Sam?” said Frodo sitting up sleepily in bed.“Another message, master,” said Sam handing him the envelope.Frodo opened it and read the letter inside while Sam bobbed about the room pretending to be busy.“It’s from Saruman, Sam. He’s offering me a palantír and another suit of mithril chainmail.” Frodo cast the letter indifferently on to the bedside table along with all the others he had received. “Wake me up when we get a serious offer.”
Green Bamboo 