If you think the title itself is a spoiler, don't read this book. ;)

In this volume, Christopher Tolkien completes his study of his father's writing of The Lord of the Rings, at least to the end of the narrative. JRRT had set aside the story with Frodo and Sam in the tower of Cirith Ungol at the beginning of Book VI of The Return of the King, but once that predicament had been resolved, the rest of the long-considered conclusion was written in fairly close to its final form.

Included are two versions of a sweet, unpublished Epilogue involving Sam Gamgee finishing the Red Book and conversing with his family (notably precocious daughter Elanor and wife Rose) about an upcoming visit from the King, and ending with the last of the Ringbearers hearing the call of the sea.

The remaining two-thirds of the book relate to JRRT's other writings of the time. "The Notion Club Papers", are minutes of a fictional Oxford club loosely based on the "Inklings", and set forty years in Tolkien's future. A couple of its members (Lowdham and Jeremy) become involved in a form of time-travel through dreams to the Fall of Numenor, and encounter the languages of Avallonian and Adunaic. This allows JRRT to further play with his tales of the First and Second Ages, as well as his languages.

"The Drowning of Anadune" is essentially notes on JRRT's development of a human tradition on the Fall of Numenor, including errors in interpretation of "what really happened". As a result, versions of it are inconsistent and conflict with the Elvish tradition.

The book concludes with "Lowdham's Report on the Adunaic Language". Unless your working vocabulary and interests turn to glottal stops, voiceless back-spirants, and dental nasals, most readers will not find this of interest.