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The Fall of Gondolin

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The Fall of Gondolin

By: Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
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About this listen

Presented for the first time as a standalone work, the epic tale of The Fall of Gondolin reunites fans of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings with Elves, Balrogs, Dragons & Orcs and the rich landscape unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth. This brand new unabridged audio book is read by Timothy West & Samuel West.

Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable, is central to the enmity of two of the greatest powers in the world.

Morgoth of the uttermost evil seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city of his Elven enemies, while the gods in Valinor refuse to support Ulmo Lord of Waters' designs to protect it.

Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, and guided unseen by Ulmo he sets out on the fearful journey to Gondolin to warn them of their coming doom. Then Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs.

©2018 J. R. R. Tolkien (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Magic Feel-Good

Critic reviews

"Never did [Tolkien] write a more sustained account of battle. With dragons and fiery balrogs galore, the attack on Gondolin makes Peter Jackson’s souped-up cinema battles look like tabletop games." (The Times)

"It’s a load-bearing pillar in the grander narrative that eventually came to encompass better-known works. Tolkien explicitly expressed his wish later in life that the three Great Tales of Middle-earth’s early days — The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin — along with The Lord of the Rings and other writings, should be considered as 'one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings'." (Entertainment Weekly)

"The text is rife with references to characters and creatures that come to play a role in The Lord of the Rings...one passage in particular seems to set up one of the most famous scenes from the LOTR trilogy." (Time)
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Great additional story from the Tolkien Universe. Well told and interesting to learn about the additional storylines and history.

Great additional story from the Tolkien Universe

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Very interesting but mostly around Tolkien's story development rather than a true novel. It gives a few versions of the same story as Tolkien developed it over the years. I very much enjoyed it as a Tolkien fan but it wouldn't be for everyone.

For Tolkien fans

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A joy to listen to and it gave me more of an understanding of how Tolkien created and refined the story of middle earth

A joy

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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

Wonderful Book

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So much good stuff here, so much depth and detail. It fills in so much wonderful detail to lore and beauty in the other texts!

Amazing! A must read!!

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