J.R.R Tolkien, soldier, legend and the father of fictional fantasy. He’s the author of books that still keep us awake far past our bedtime and creator of characters who have us worrying about their futures. We shall not see his like again. It’s been over forty years since he died but less than a year since the final adaptation of his book “The Hobbit” came out. His work is of such high caliber that it continues to live on when he has long passed away.
While we may recall his novel “The Lord of the Rings” with relative ease, we often fail to remember that Tolkien was also the author of many other books, mostly set in Middle-Earth. “The Silmarillion” is one such example and a is personal favourite of mine. Other such gems are “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”, “Unfinished Tales” and “The Children of Hurin” to name a few.
And now another work of Tolkien’s will come to life. “The Story of Kullervo” was written decades before “The Hobbit” and takes place not in Middle-Earth, but in a world familiar to fans of the Finnish mythology. There’s another difference between this novel and his other works, “The Story of Kullervo” is in fact a fan-fic. The new book, which will hit bookshelves in the UK on August the 7 and internationally on October 13, is in fact inspired by Finnish mythology and specifically the Kalevala epic, which was compiled and published as a collection of poetry in 1835.
According to previously published documents, Tolkien began work on reimagining the myth in 1914 and only completed two-thirds of the tale. As a result “The Story of Kullervo”, which is the first publication of that work, is edited by Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger and will include Tolkien’s drafts with notes and his lectures and essays of Kaleva.
The Eye of Sauron may be synonymous with evil, but it’s not the only antagonist born from the mind of Tolkien. Poor Kullervo doesn’t have much luck in life: he lives with the dark magician Untamo, a rather nasty character who deprived Kullervo of his parents by killing his father and kidnapping his mother; he also has the bad habit of trying to kill Kullervo himself from time to time. All Kullervo really has going for him are his own supernatural powers, his twin sister and a magic black dog, but that might not be enough to save him from a tragic fate, or so teases the publisher.
I just hope this fan fiction turns out better than other such works from the genre. *Cough* 50 Shades of Grey *Cough*.
Are you excited to read this Tolkien novel? Do you think it will live up to its expectations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
