Beren and Lúthien Book Review

Love is a tricky beast, often responsible for the best and worst things in life. Frequently at the same time. It’s a devious chemical process that makes people act like fools, do incredibly brave things, destroy everything around them, and still look stupidly satisfied while doing it! Sooner or later, it happens to everyone, whether you’re a regular human or an elf. When love wanders into the vast plains and bubbling rivers of Middle-earth, you can be sure it won't just be a casual fling.

The Tale of Beren and Lúthien holds a special place in the work of J. R. R. Tolkien. References to it appear throughout the mythology of Middle-earth. You can't turn over a stone in all of Beleriand without stumbling upon a mention of those two or the Silmarils, the jewels to which their fate is tied. The story and history of these gems were the main things Tolkien spent his life creating, refining, rewriting, and trying to get into the hands of ungrateful readers who just wanted a lame sequel to The Hobbit.

The story of a fated love that shakes all of Middle-earth and shames the dark lord Melkor himself began in 1917—a time when our real world was recovering from the horrors of the First World War. It has changed many times since then. At one point, both Beren and Lúthien were elves, the story was a condensed handwritten note, and at another, it was an extensive poem, until it finally settled into the form we know from The Silmarillion, as the tale of love between the human Beren and the elf-maiden Lúthien Tinúviel. We wouldn't know any of this, however, if not for the curator and restorer of Tolkien's estate, his son Christopher Tolkien, who dedicated his life to assembling, reviewing notes and fragments, cataloging, and publishing the vast body of work his father left behind. Let's be grateful for that!

Only thanks to him can we hold the book titled Beren and Lúthien in our hands today. But what’s actually in it? The answer is both simple and not. It contains practically everything! Christopher tried to present the story to readers chronologically as it evolved over time. The book includes several versions, including a large part of the verse narrative and one of the final versions from The Unfinished Tales. He supplemented all of this with notes, appendices, and personal memories. At times, you feel like you're reading a school essay. Names, races, and styles change, and not getting lost requires a fair amount of focus. At the beginning, it’s a strongly fairy-tale story full of talking cats and dogs, with Lúthien escaping house arrest by rappelling down her own hair like a Disney princess. By the end, it’s a truly epic affair full of betrayal, elves, dwarves, ancient oaths, and death.

At the same time, it’s another amazing trip into the creative process. The recently released collection The Fall of Númenor follows the same style, which you can verify in our review. J. R. R. Tolkien wasn't an author who wrote something on the first try and never looked back. It was a process that lasted practically his entire adult life, and we now have the chance to peek into it. On the other hand, this guarantees that the book will be enjoyed more by a hardcore fan who has thousands of years of Middle-earth history under their belt and isn't intimidated by the fact that a character might have a different name every time.

We waited a really long time for Beren and Lúthien. After the announcement of the Czech edition, the book faced many delays. One of the main reasons was the translation. This time, it wasn't handled by Stanislava Pošustová (and we should be grateful for everything she did for us Tolkien fans!), but by Filip Krajník and Martin Světlík. Both did a great job! Especially Martin Světlík, who translated the rhymed parts. I won't pretend that reading such extensive verse is for everyone, but if you put in the effort, you will be amazed!

If you are a passionate fan of Middle-earth and you know The Silmarillion by heart, Beren and Lúthien is for you! And maybe you already have this book at home. Newcomers should probably look elsewhere for now and stick to more cohesive texts (it’s definitely not a bad idea to start nicely with The Hobbit). Beren and Lúthien is for connoisseurs who will flip through the book with reverence and a goofy grin, knowing they are in the presence of something greater than themselves.

author Karel Krajča