 Bryan Appleyard of "The Sunday Times" (UK) set "The Children of Húrin" above other writings of Tolkien, noting its "intense and very grown-up manner" and "a real feeling of high seriousness".Maurice Chittenden of "The Sunday Times", said that "it may merit an X-certificate" due to the amount of violent deaths.The book received negative reviews from the "Detroit Free Press" ("dull and unfinished"), "Entertainment Weekly" ("awkward and immature", "impenetrable forest of names ... overstuffed with strangled syntax"), and "The Guardian" ("a derivative Wagnerian hero ... on a quasi-symbolic quest").