J. R. R. Tolkien's son completes 4th LOTR book

[Tanjo]

Tolkien Jr completes Lord of Rings
The last, unfinished book by the 'Lord of the Rings' author has been completed by his son. Can a film version be far behind?
By Jonathan Thompson
Published: 25 March 2007

The first new Tolkien novel for 30 years is to be published next month. In a move eagerly anticipated by millions of fans across the world, The Children of Húrin will be released worldwide on 17 April, 89 years after the author started the work and four years after the final cinematic instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of biggest box office successes in history.

The book, whose contents are being jealously guarded by publisher HarperCollins - is described as "an epic story of adventure, tragedy, fellowship and heroism."

It is likely to be a publishing sensation, particularly as it is illustrated by veteran Middle Earth artist Alan Lee, who won an Oscar for art direction on Peter Jackson's third film The Return of The King. Lee provided 25 pencil sketches and eight paintings for the first edition of the book, one of which is reproduced here for the first time in a national newspaper.

Tolkien experts are already tipping The Children of Húrin - which features significant battle scenes and at least one major twist - for big budget Hollywood treatment. Takings from the Lord of the Rings trilogy box office takings to date total some £1.5bn.

Chris Crawshaw, chairman of the Tolkien Society, said: "It would probably make a very good movie, if anyone can secure the film rights.

"Tolkien saw his work as one long history of Middle Earth: from the beginning of creation to the end of the Third Age. The Children of Húrin is an early chapter in that bigger story."

The author's son Christopher, using his late father's voluminous notes, has painstakingly completed the book, left unfinished by the author when he died in 1971. The work has taken the best part of three decades, and will signify the first "new" Tolkien book since The Silmarillion was published posthumously in 1977.

"It will be interesting to see how it stands up today alongside all the Tolkien-alike literature that we've become familiar with," said David Bradley, editor of SFX magazine.

[ConkerKing]

What happend to my post?
Anyway,I don't like his books that much,but I suppose the Lord of the Rings series was alright..I might check it out.

[Hylian1]

OH....MY....GOD!!! Must have that book! NOW!! I've read the Hobbit and the LOTR books 4 times each and it's my favorite movies. This is just....

[Gruntling]

Let's hope the book stands up to Tolkien Sr.'s literary masterpieces.

[Hakey Wake]

Bleh, The Silmarillion was baaaaaaad, so I don't have high expectations for CoH...knowing me I'll still rush out and buy it sometime though.

[lamentofking]

Lord of the Rings is appealing and this book should be interesting.

[BanjoKazooieSNS]

Huh, the books he writes uses big words that hurt my brain... (I need to pay attention in english ) but I like movies! I would definately read the book if it had stop n swop in it !

[BoltDragoon]

Meh...I got bored halfway through Return of the King--I couldn't stand to read about Frodo and Sam's love affair any longer. And it's a pity, being that I completely devoured The Two Towers. The last chapter in that one was simply brilliant.

[MikeHive]

Come on, we all know that book is going to be terrible.

[Gold Jinjo]

Hmm. Deathly Hallows will satisfy my book cravings for this year...

[Tanjo]

I don't even care about the book, i wanna see the movie!

[Hakey Wake]

Peter Jackson still has to get on board with The Hobbit first!

Assuming MGM get the movie license from New Line...eventually.

[pinkbull]

Let's hope JRR Tolkin's son can put some quality in the book series to actually make it from a disappointing fantasy series to something that can actually entertain...

[Mandolin]

I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. A fourth "Lord of the Rings"? I guess I'll want to have that, buy it I mean, even though I haven't even begun reading the first three. But I guess a lot of questions are to be asked even before the book really starts to pick up. Primarily, isn't the ring... gone? At the end of the third movie, it gets dumped into the lava along with its sociopathic little helper. Just what kind of a turn will this (final? I hope so, I would hate to see the ol' Lord spiral into the cheapie fantasy kingdom) installment take? Only time will tell.

Jeez, this is so (censored) unbelievable...

[jumbo mumbo]

I don't think I'll be able to read this one... RotK pretty much put me to sleep... So unless this one is 100 times better, I probably won't read it, just see the movie (if it's ever made, that is... It better be made.)