The Children of Hurin
The Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien
This is the furthest that you can get from Tolkien's other stories. It is a tale of woe and doom from its outset to its end.
It takes us to dark places that Tolkien has never taken us before. While there are great high points, he never lets you forget that it is a momentary thing.
Happiness or victory will always be followed by sorrow or defeat. The hero is Turin, Hurin's son.
Turin is a very unlikable character. He is quick to anger and rude, even to his friends. His attitude could well be because of the woe he brings with him wherever he goes.
Despite all these shortcomings, Tolkien manages to get us to like him. This is no mean feat.
We get to see many new stories here that are not told elsewhere. The major battles and plot points are drawn from The Silmarillion, but in this novel the point of view is entirely human.
This is not something we get to see very often in Tolkien's works. Without looking too deeply into it, the closest I would say we get elsewhere is Aragorn's perspective in The Lord of the Rings.
And one could hardly call the Dunedain human. Throughout the novel, Turin causes the downfall of three kingdoms, including one he created himself.
He falls in love several times throughout the story, and others fall in love with him. But his actions destroy any possibility of love. His action also causes the end of his line.
The most trajic path that Tolkien talks us on is not for the faint of heart. The final destruction of Turin and his line is because he had never met his sister, as she was just born when he fled Dor-Lomin.
She has her mind wiped by the lord of the dragons. Many years later they are reunited and are married.
We know who they are and it is clear where we are headed. The final scenes of downfall are caused as Turin defeats the dragon in combat and Nienor recovers her memory.
They both take their own lives. It is just tragic after what would normally be a great victory - see Laketown in The Hobbit.
At the end of the day, I thought it was a refreshing look at Middle-earth in this early period from the perspective of humans and not the Eldar.