It's such a short read too! Great stuff. Not his best but certainly the most shock value.

Dammit but I wish Iain Banks was still with us. Every year I'd check if he'd put out a new novel and sure enough, more often than not there was a fresh great read waiting.

Very true. I'd studied very little English before digging into The Silmarillion as a kid. Couldn't find it in translation locally. Skipping words and phrases where I was unsure. The whole was very nice and a great reading experience, even though it was vastly different from when re-reading the book a few years later.

The more you read in that language, the easier it will be. There are so many levels of understanding, even in a simple text. Start with some easy reading that you already read in translation.

You might come to love Jeff Noon. They're a master of quirky stuff.

Vurt, Pollen, Automated Alice, Nymphomation
Needle in the Groove too

I guess Faenor must do this. Part of the force of Tolkien's writing is how he drives the narrative through to inevitable points. Destiny, fate. Many characters are destined to keep behaving a certain way and the reader knows this. Each narrative thread will come to a close. I love it.

Ages since I read it but I agree the speech came across as very true and in character for the event. I remember it as one of the few points where we get to listen to Faenor and also that it made him into one of the most disagreeable characters in The Silmarillion, which is quite the feat.

This - and turn your spell-checker off, u/chinawcswing

There's a poem by Michael Strunge where the character finds freedom stepping out of a window, foreshadowing the poet's own death.

their
its

Well, names are hard. Can make or break a story. Could be Billy, Bob and Sue but what would those names imply? Decide their names and you'll set their characters on a certain path. Maybe one's Knotty or a Reaches or one is Oak IV.

I was rather much younger whe I read it (never re-read the novel) but yes, brutally disturbing in parts.