"The Children of Hurin" - J.R.R. Tolkien's "latest"

My friend and fellow Tolkien enthusiast Geoffrey DeWeese was surprised and upset when I expressed skepticism about the upcoming release of a “new” story by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I confess, I was feeling really cynical about the whole affair. I’ve never found the immeasurable amount of extra Middle-Earth material to be compelling or even very interesting. Give me the enthralling narratives of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Give me more of his children’s stories, like the Father Christmas letters. But no, I’m not so interested in the minutiae and encyclopedias of Middle-Earth details. It’s fascinating to see how much work he invested in the creation of that world, but no, I don’t want to read all of those background sketches and histories. That’s just me.

Well, it turns out that, in regards to The Children of Hurin, I’ll probably have to eat my hat, after I take my foot out of my mouth. And then, if the hat doesn’t kill me, I’ll have to choke down a plate of crow.

Because it sounds like The Children of Hurin might actually be worth reading after all.

Here’s the CNN review, which Geoffrey just sent me.

So… here’s a question… Can Peter Jackson get his hands on THIS project without any trouble from New Line?

[UPDATE: Here’s a very different perspective, thanks to Douglas Ian Dalrymple.]