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Unfinished Tales

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Unfinished Tales

Written by: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien - editor
Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
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About this listen

 JRR Tolkien’s legacy of short stories which inhabit the realm of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, on audio for the first time.

Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the twentieth century’s most acclaimed popular author.

The book concentrates on the realm of Middle-earth and comprises such elements as Gandalf’s lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand, and an exact description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan.

Unfinished Tales also contains the only story about the long ages of Numenor before its downfall, and all that is known about such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantiri and the legend of Amroth. The tales were collated and edited by JRR Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the reader to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father’s writings.

©1980 The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien (P)1980 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Military

What the critics say

"Another monument to the incredible imagination of Tolkien." (Sunday Telegraph)

"Moments of mythic grandeur." (Sunday Times)

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If you’re a LOTR fan it’s worth every minute if you aren’t it might seem tedious. But it was excellently done and really good

Worth the read/listen

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I say long, because there was a 5-hour chapter (with an hour-long appendix afterwards), of a story that had featured in the Silmarillion. The rest of the book was wonderful, and mostly new stories or information I hadn’t heard in other Tolkien books.

The main reason I downloaded this audiobook was for the story of Galadriel and Celeborn. I was a little disappointed in their story, as it wasn’t as straightforward as I would have liked, but I did enjoy it nonetheless.

I think the surprises in this book came from the information about Gandalf’s travels and his meddling when it came to the fight against Sauron, and all the background information we got about Gondor and Rohan. I really enjoyed listening to this chapters!

This was a wonderful book for those who love the world of Tolkien. The narrators divided the narration perfectly - one distinct voice for the bits of story, and one voice for the real-world information and commentary.

This audiobook was somewhat long at times, but very enjoyable!

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It provides a good bit of background on the originalbooks and some good stories but there is also a lot of academic discussion on trivia about the imagined world, languages, histories and on the development of the books.

some good stories, much academic background

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*ONLY for hardcore Tolkien and Middle Earth fans* Should only be read or listened to if you’ve already read The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, and are still hungry for more Middle Earth stories and content. Then this is the book for you! Amazing stories and writings from Professor Tolkien, edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. This next entry, after the Silmarillion, brings you deeper into the world of Middle Earth with more stories, notes and context added into already established tales of Middle Earth. The narrator does a fantastic job. The audiobook switches between narrators for when it is the words and writings of Tolkien himself versus interjections and footnotes by Christopher Tolkien. Makes it very clear. The notes by Christopher tend to be more academic interjection, clarification and asides in general. Although the stories and writing can be rather dry and academic at times, since these are incomplete works (as the title suggests). But to be expected with a novel based on incomplete stories and notes. Overall an incredibly satisfying, thoroughly enjoyable listen for the hardcore Tolkien fan. Adds so much more richness and depth to the world of Middle Earth. Loved the story The Children of Hurin and Turin Turambar. EPIC.

Deeper into the World and Lore of Middle Earth

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These two narrators are PERFECT. I said it in review of the Fall of Gondolin as well. Please do the History of Middle-earth series. Myself and many many others would absolutely love it. The Tolkien community needs more and more audio!

Please do History of Middle-earth!!

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