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06-22-2022, 02:37 AM | #1 |
Overshadowed Eagle
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"The Fall of Numenor", coming November 2022
Announced today, the Tolkien Estate will be publishing The Fall of Numenor this November: a collection of Tolkien's writings on Numenor in the style of the Beren and Luthien and Fall of Gondolin books. It's described as "collect[ing] together J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings of the Second Age", and like the Great Tales is illustrated with multiple colour paintings and sketches from Alan Lee. It's edited by Brian Sibley, who I confess I know little about.
I'm so pleased with this. ^_^ I've been saying pretty much since the Amazon series was revealed as Numenorean that the Estate should push out a book of what Tolkien wrote on Numenor, and this looks to be exactly that. No word on specific contents, except that they're using the Tale of Years to provide structure for it. Looking through the books, I think the relevant texts go something like this:
Whether they could also work in parts of "The Lost Road" and "The Notion Club Papers" is a bit more difficult; Fall of Gondolin managed by presenting the 1917 Fall entirely separately, but this sounds a bit more cohesive. We shall have to wait and see. (And the timing is pretty good here - it's spot on for people to finish the first series of Amazon's Rings of Power, and want to read "the book it came from".) hS
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06-22-2022, 03:01 AM | #2 |
Gruesome Spectre
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I'm quite on board with additional material on Númenor, as long as it comes from the Professor himself.
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06-22-2022, 02:06 PM | #3 |
Spirit of Mist
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And here's how it is being marketed. "New J.R.R. Tolkien Book Set in Rings of Power Timeline Announced."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainm...31b2550fab3aa1
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06-22-2022, 02:43 PM | #4 |
Gruesome Spectre
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As if we needed a bloody Amazon tie-in to bait the hook.
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06-22-2022, 03:36 PM | #5 |
Spirit of Nen Lalaith
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I am excited to read in depth about Miriel and Phary.
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06-22-2022, 11:45 PM | #6 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
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Thing is... I feel like people who would be super pleased to read this book are unlikely to be super pleased by the series, and vice versa.
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06-23-2022, 01:42 AM | #7 | |
Overshadowed Eagle
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Particularly if they centre it on "Aldarion & Erendis". Having an actual narrative in there, with a detail level closer to LotR than Silm, is likely to snag a lot more readers than HoME did. The Estate has known this for a while - that's why they pushed Children of Hurin so hard. They've also got potential to snag people who read LotR and Hobbit, but were put off by the Silm and avoided things with "Unfinished" and "History of" in the title. I suspect that sort of reader are a large part of Amazon's target market too - it's not like they were ever going to be prioritising people who know the difference between LaCE and the Shibboleth! This is a very sensible move by the Estate, and honestly, if Christopher had lived longer I think "Numenor book" would have been the natural follow-up to the Great Tales for him too. (Next on my wishlist for illustrated releases: "The Line of Kings", collecting all the Third Age material prior to The Hobbit, and a reader's edition of the Book of Lost Tales. I can dream...!) hS
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06-23-2022, 03:50 AM | #8 | ||
Gruesome Spectre
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The question then becomes, will the series be so far departed from its source material that writings produced over 50 years ago will have any resonance to those "introduced" to Tolkien there?
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06-23-2022, 06:44 AM | #9 |
Spirit of Mist
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My concern is a bit different. While I have the same reservations about Rings of Power that others are voicing, from a "business" perspective I understand publisher's (and author's) incentive to link Fall of Numenor to the Amazon series.
My concern is that Fall of Numenor will merely compile and rehash what has already been published in the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, HoME and NoME. While it may be nice to have the material assembled together in one place (particularly for those who do not wish to trudge through 12 volumes of HoME), a lack of any coherent narrative, like Children of Hurin as opposed to Fall of Gondolin for example, would be disappointing, at least to me.
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06-23-2022, 09:27 AM | #10 | ||
Overshadowed Eagle
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The release says it's being structured using the Tale of Years. I guess it'll be something like the Annals from various parts of HoME, with some years or periods being skimmed over, and others going full narrative (Aldarion). So not like any of the three Great Tales, but something different again. hS
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06-23-2022, 06:08 PM | #11 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
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06-24-2022, 09:45 AM | #12 |
Loremaster of Annúminas
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This is nothing more than a repackaging of previously-published material. It appears to be a HarperCollins initiative, and no unpublished manuscripts are involved.
I also expect that "Lives of the Numenoreans" and other NoME material will not be included, simply because it's too abstruse and hardcore. The one silver lining from what to me looks like a quick cash-grab, is that the more people who read what Tolkien actually wrote about the Second Age - and presumably the target audience is potential Amazon viewers - the more will realize how much the TV show has absolutely nothing to do with it.
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06-24-2022, 05:41 PM | #13 | |
Gruesome Spectre
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Tolkien had a distinctive writing style, of which I am highly enamored. His phrasing and word choice has always been one of the things I enjoy most when reading him. It could be seen as rather archaic to the modern reader, though. I can picture a first-time reader, weaned on the films, becoming bored pretty quickly.
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08-27-2022, 05:30 AM | #14 |
Laconic Loreman
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It could be worth it just for the Alan Lee art. There are 11 (including the cover) "fresh" Alan Lee sketches. Entertainment Weekly put out 3 of them, but I'm never disappointed by Alan Lee's art, and prefer him to John Howe. I don't mean that as a slight against Howe's Tolkien art either, it's just over saturated in my opinion. It's everywhere since PJ's films.
But the Alan Lee art is I believe the only thing you could call "fresh" about it, aside from Brian Sibley's commentary. https://ew.com/books/new-tolkien-boo...nor-exclusive/
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08-27-2022, 07:02 PM | #15 | |
Loremaster of Annúminas
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