Christopher Tolkien says this book is for people who have read LOTR but aren’t quite up for The Silmarillion — a more accessible glimpse at the elder ages of Middle Earth. He may have misapprehended the average such person’s tolerance for genealogies and offhand references to obscure place names. The Children of Hurin is not the story of Turin Turambar told in a more LOTR-like fashion; it’s the same story as the one in The Silmarillion, but more so. It will remind you far more of Beowulf than anything to do with hobbits. This is a very good thing.