Naturally people read The Silmarillion first, but I must say that I prefer this book. It includes a selection of very different writings and while they have the disadvantage that most of them are not finished, to me they are fascinating and they show the scope both of J.R.R. Tolkien's and Christopher Tolkien's work.

The texts cover all the three ages and are often rooted in stories from The Silmarillion, but while that book includes stories that are mostly more like retellings or summaries, in this one they are broadened and told more in the style of a novel or novella, by which I mean a slower pace and more direct speech among other aspects.
The stories from the First Age are about the hidden elvish city of Gondolin and about the children of Húrin, humans who became entangled in the fight against Morgoth, a super evil being (Sauron once was his lieutenant), while those of the Second Age are mostly concerned with the island of Númenor (which is kind of the Tolkien version of Atlantis). The stories from the Third Age provide a lot of background information about the characters and events of The Lord of the Rings, such as the original alliance between Gondor and Rohan, an account of how and why Gandalf planned the events of The Hobbit and persuaded Thorin to take a hobbit with him, and more information of what happened to Gollum after Sauron let him go, and how he ended up in Moria where he came across the fellowship. To me, reading the book would be worth it because of those texts alone.

Each text features an introduction by Christopher Tolkien and extensive notes, and these enable the reader to learn a lot about how both father and son worked, and how gigantic this work - and the project of creating Middle-earth - actually was. I am endlessly fascinated by the energy, knowledge, and painstaking labour that went into it, and still does by those who inherited the work from Christopher after his death in 2020. ( )

This book includes some background and clarification of information that relates to the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Some of the content is notes and I did not read this information. Some of the stories were interesting and rivaled those in the published books. The new TV series on the Rings of Power relates to some information about Numenor. This book is better than The Simarillion but not as good as the earlier published works. ( )

Tolkien's unfinished stories are better than most people's finished ones. ( )

Wow-o-wow! How had I not read this before? What a way to continue a Tolkien journey this year, having read The Silmarillion, Beren and Luthien, The Children of Hurin, The Fall of Gondolin, and now this.

And the audiobook so, so wonderfully narrated by Timothy and Samuel West. So seamlessly trading back and forth from main text to footnotes and back. Just wonderful. And another wonderful experience of reading the text while listening to the audio.

And the stories here. So much that augments both the Silmarillion and the LotR. Such richness. Numenor! Galadriel and Celeborn! Gladden Fields! Cirion and Eorl! The Quest of Erebor! The Hunt for the Ring! The Istari! The Palantíri! So much depth to Tolkien’s building of Middle Earth (and obvious source material for Peter Jackson’s movies- though he did go beyond source material and, to be kind, added his own).

Makes me want to go back and reread the LotR Appendices. (Though I understand the Audible has plans to release Andy Serkis reading the LotR- that is something to look forward to!) ( )

J.R.R. Tolkien is an author who truly creates a world the reader can escape into. I love how detailed and complete his world is. These are books I have read and re-read many times and they continue to hold my interest and to offer me new details each time I dive into them. ( )