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Unfinished Tales

By: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien - editor
Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
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Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

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

"Moments of mythic grandeur." (Sunday Times)

Featured Article: Galadriel—A Lord of the Rings Character Guide


Galadriel is one of the most significant characters both in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and the wide history of Middle-earth more generally. If you've listened to The Lord of the Rings or seen any of the film adaptations, then you're likely well aware of who Galadriel is. But what, exactly, makes her so important? What is her history? This character guide is here to answer all of your questions about the powerful Elf Galadriel, the Lady of Lórien.

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What listeners say about Unfinished Tales

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Editorial roadblocks

All the information one who loves to live in Middle Earth desires to fill in many gaps however, in The History of Galadriel and Celeborn, I wish C.Tolkien would have simply placed all the editorial comments and embellishments at the end as they are hard to mentally smooth into the story as one listens because they just seem to be interruptions like a car horn or siren when one is trying to nap. The puzzling thing is that there are extensive appendices to this segment already!! One does soldier on however when one loves something so.

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39 people found this helpful

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Great for Tolkien Nerds

I really enjoyed this, it’s far more palatable than the Lost Tales, and answers lots of questions you might have about little details of the history of Middle Earth. The reading was excellent, and really helpful for understanding pronunciations.

A strong familiarity with both LotR and The Silmarillion is required to understand anything in this book; I highly recommend rereading both of them before and after listening to this. Enjoy!

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Great voices, wonderful organization

It’s no easy thing to convert a book with footnotes into an audio, but the team at work here did a wonderful job. Also the readers’ voices are among the best I’ve ever heard.

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For lovers of Tolkien’s universe.

If you love Tolkien’s universe, this is a must read.
If you haven’t read hobbit, LOTR, and the Silmarillion, read those first.

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Untangling Tolkien's web.

The 2 narrators' voices give an unimagined depth and clarity to a work that I struggled to read, in my singular voice. Highly recommended for Tolkien scholar fans on a deep dive.

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Amazing insight into Tolkien’s world

Great tales and fragments pieced together with commentary by Christopher Tolkien that feels like Tolkien scholarship. Not finished but fascinating ideas and concepts that show how Tolkien’s secondary world evolved and changed over the years he worked on it.

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Four Stars

In a brilliant move, customers are now forced to write reviews if they want to rate books. This is a waste of time both for me and for whoever reads this.

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PLEASE DO THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE EARTH!!!

Timothy and Samuel West give outstanding performances with this reading. The roles they take in presenting the narrative and the editor's notes make it very easy to follow.

I deeply hope they consider repeating what they have done here with "The History of Middle Earth" volumes. None of these books have an existing audiobook on the market and I believe the Wests would do justice to the text.

I've heard it suggested on the Texas Tolkien Podcast that making a review such as this might garner a demand for having these texts done in audiobook format, so I'm simply here to lend my voice and say that there is definitely an audience for such a project. So please to whomever it may concern, take heed and consider bringing the rest of Tolkien's works to this format.

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Voices brought clarity

Alternating voices portraying Christopher and JRR were pleasant and made a clear delineation between the manuscript and it's background.

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More Tolkien Genius

A must read or listen for anyone who has already read The Hobbit, LOTR, and the Silmarillion. After going through The Children of Hurin, and The Fall of Gondolin, I’ve grown accustomed to the 2 narrator approach. However, my one critique would be that in this particular book, Christopher Tolkiens narrative interrupts the story too much to the point of being annoying quite often. Perhaps the raspy voice of Timothy West is also too much of a contrast to the smooth sound of Samuel West. I found myself wishing that Timothy Wests parts (Christopher Tolkien) would either wait till the end of a story line or just be read by Samuel. Overall though thoroughly interesting and enjoyable.

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