Added so much to what I love

If you love Tolkien and have read most of his other works you will live this if you have only read LORs this might me hard going.

6 people found this helpful

Wonderful Father and Son reading

Christopher Tolkien is here engaged in presenting a restoration of his father's work on a key tale at the culmination of the First Age (I think) of Middle Age. So it's fitting that the father and son team of Samuel and Timothy West read this audio book.
Samuel tells the tale, whilst the elder, Timothy, reads the linking and explanatory narrative and notes, basically representing Christopher Tolkien. And it works superbly well, as it did in the similarly formatted 'Beren and Luthien.'
The most substantive sections are an early version of the tale that tells of Tuor, a human, seeking out the elf city of Gondolin to pass on a warning. There follows a terrible betrayal and the titular fall of the last Elf stronghold of Gondolin at the hands of army of monsters led by the Dark Lord 'Melko' (later Morgoth). The other substantive version in this book is from a later text and focuses on Tuor encountering the Sea-God Ulmo and journeying to find the hidden city accompanied by the elf Voronwe, encountering perils on the way and then finding the passage to the Kingdom, having a tense encounter with some elf guards before progressing through a series of majestic gates.. and then that version ends.
Making sense of these different versions and telling the story of how they evolved makes for a fascinating narrative on how a story evolves with the life of its author, and the reasons for its later abandonment.
This is not a jumping on point for those new to Tolkien, you will need to have read the major works of the Legendarium (The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion) to get the most out of it, but its a wonderful addition, and the West's reading is superb, combing scholarly erudition with a poetic and resonant reading.

5 people found this helpful

Incredibly dry

Only for the most loyal Tolkien fans. A dry listen even for bedtime. Links to the Silmarillion and metatextual moments.

4 people found this helpful

Good but lots of filler

The actual story content chapters are great but there's lots of what seems filler content.

4 people found this helpful

this is a 1hour short story drawn out to over 8

the actual story is great but 8 hours of a bloke talking about his father's writing no my cup of tea think I lasted 4 hours

3 people found this helpful

Tolkien at best

For all those entranced by Tolkien, and those yet to be, this is a must

2 people found this helpful

One for the enthusiasts!

Counting myself among them, this is one for the Tolkien enthusiasts. Appreciate C.Tolkien’s compendium of his father’s notes and brilliantly read by the West’s - a rich timbre to their voices that add to the narrative.

1 person found this helpful

Wonderful Book

Another great work from a immensely brilliant author. This stand a long side his great LOTR. Again superb reading from father and son West who really bring it to life and allow the listener to understand at times the complexity of Tolkien history of Middle-Earth (places, names etc) and also a mention to Christopher Tokkien for bring this book into being from his father's countless notes and writing as without him our knowledge of Middle-Earth my never existed. Andrew

1 person found this helpful

Excellent piece of work (But be warned!)

This is a wonderfully put together piece of work chronicling the story of the Fall of Gondolin, very much in the same vien as Beren and Luthien. It isn't a continuous story but rather fragmented pieces (often repeated) that form the story as a whole and show its evolution.

Be warned this is very in depth and will only be of interest to those who have read and enjoyed the Silmarillion.

1 person found this helpful

Fantastic reading of one of my favourite books

Two superb, expressive and distinctive voices bring to vivid life one of my favourite books. I listen to this often.