Last night I finished reading Tolkien's The Children of Hurin. I wish that Tolkien had made more honorable characters, especially Turin. Sometimes (just as I wanted to in the Silmirillion) I wanted to strangle him for being so dishonorable, rash and cruel. I had forgotten, too, that Turin unwittingly married his sister.
But, though the plot is a bit depressing, I have always been a big fan of Glaurung the dragon. It struck me while reading this new book, that Tolkien never intended for his dragon to be envisioned with wings. In the chapter 'death of Glaurung' the beast had to leap over the river, not fly. I guess wings would have given him too great an advantage over Turin.
This book joins my favorites, in part due to the wonderful illustrations by Allen Lee! There is some good dialogue and action, but the story will not come as a surprise unless you have not read The Silmirillion or if--like me--you forgot many of the details.
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WELCOME TO THE WRITING SITE OF SCOTT APPLETON
"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." -Proverbs 16:24
In a world where morality is forsaken and Christ neglected, wholesome books are uncommon. The themes of my writing are love, self-sacrifice, and honor.
I see my generation turning from God to the gods of this world. I see homes torn apart in the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification. Children are murdered by the millions every year . . . without ever seeing the world outside their mothers' wombs. Through fiction I strive to encourage those who are willing, to stand against these things and be heroes and heroines; chivalrous, gentle, full of righteous indignation, and the fear and love of their Creator.
In a world where morality is forsaken and Christ neglected, wholesome books are uncommon. The themes of my writing are love, self-sacrifice, and honor.
I see my generation turning from God to the gods of this world. I see homes torn apart in the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification. Children are murdered by the millions every year . . . without ever seeing the world outside their mothers' wombs. Through fiction I strive to encourage those who are willing, to stand against these things and be heroes and heroines; chivalrous, gentle, full of righteous indignation, and the fear and love of their Creator.
1 comment:
Turin, a figure of Homeric proportion, struggles with Morgoth's curse upon his family. The almost Macbethian doom beat running through the prose makes this tale powerful, but sad. The conversations with Morgoth and Glauring the Dragon are riveting.
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