A Mythology for our Times | The Silmarillion

Fascinating Middle Earth history book | The Silmarillion | J.R.R. Tolkien

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	• The Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 686 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

unfinished

Few authors have succeeded in developing and describing in loving detail realms not of this world as well as J.R.R. Tolkien. But the SIMARILLION outlines only the bare bones of the story and is in no way comparable to the LORD OF THE RINGS or even THE HOBBIT as far as the treatment of the environs, the dialog and mood is concerned. What remains is an involved plot in the best of mythological traditions, that recently saw a revival.The Woman and The Raven

A Mythology for our Times

Amazing: the reviews here are now just about as long as The Silmarillion itself!

As most everyone here knows, J. R. R. Tolkien was a philologist and professor at Oxford and a great author. But for those wishing to delve deeper into his world, Middle Earth, it is good to know that he was also a devout Catholic convert and that his sincere Christianity breathes true spirituality into his creation.

Tolkien set out, as a young man, to create a new mythology for England. Not to actually replace the existing Anglo-Saxon mythos, or to supplant Christianity, but to complement them. Reading The Silmarillion, especially the creation story, and the narrative of the Silmarils themselves, we can appreciate the greatness of his creation. No one in modern times has attempted anything like it in scope; no one could. It took a brilliant professor of languages, a richly gifted storyteller, a poet, and a God-graced and open-minded person to attempt it. In Tolkien all these persons were combined. There will never be another like him nor a literary creation like his.

If you wish to explore the worlds of this man and their complex combining, you can easily begin with The Silmarllion. After that, courtesy of his son Christopher, there are many further volumes to explore, but The Silmarillion remains the open gate to Middle Earth. I urge you to enter.

Note: after decades of reading and rereading Tolkien's works, I've just been listening to Martin Shaw's reading of The Silmarillion. I'm surprised how much I like it, even given my own inner reading developed over so long. If Shaw can win *me* over, he should be able to win anyone over. Tolkien's words are meant to be read aloud, as their older models, the Eddas, are. If you've had trouble "getting into" The Silmarillion in print, try Shaw's recordings. (And J. R. R. and Christopher Tolkien's excerpts in the delightful "The J. R. R. Tolkien Audio Collection".)

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Fascinating Middle Earth history book

Tolkein expertly combines part history and part mythology to make this brilliant book.Even by itself it is fun to read.It is indispensible to anyone interested in the Lord of the Rings.It answers so many questions such as
-what's across the sea
-how did all the different peoples of Middle Earth come into being
-what's Sauron's story
-what's the elves' story
There are so many seperate adventures and the whole book is so interesting.The only problem is that at times it seems dauntingly unending.But don't quit.The last half of the book is the most fascinating.
This book will give you a much deeper and more comprehensible knowledge and appreciation for the Lord of the Rings.If you're going to take the time to go in depth and read the books,then you absolutely have to read this book.It sort of completes the series-like a puzzle.

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Worth Doing But Not Perfect

Let me say off the top that getting through the Silmarillion is very worthwhile. It provides a great deal of background and context for what happens in 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', which alone is worth the effort. And after all, it's by J.R.R. Tolkien. :)

Make no mistake, it _is_ an effort. I found the book to be almost impenetrable, so I bought a set of the audio tapes which was easier but still required dedication to get through.

Don't even try to keep track of the endless stream of interlocking geographical and geneological references, unless you're really into that kind of thing. It will break your brain and ultimately prove not that important as long as you can keep up with the general flow of events.

My biggest complaint is that the audio version could have been a great deal better. The theme "music" at various points sounded cheap, tinny and overblown. There's just no excuse for such poor sound in this day and age, especially for such a hallowed work.

The narrator was no more than competent. He spoke clearly and with something of an English accent, but his voice was flat and without inflection with no hint of skill in characterization at all. To put it bluntly, he sounded like he would have been more at home reading corporate stock reports than epic fiction. I hate to be a Simon Cowell about it but there it is.

But if you're a true Tolkien fan, you really need to do the Silmarillion in whatever version you can manage. It answers too many questions to be overlooked if you really want to know things like why the Elves were abandoning Middle Earth with such finality during the LOTR days and how Sauron got to be the power he was before the end.

Just be prepared to put your backs into it and don't give up until it's done. You'll feel good about yourself for having gotten through it.

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MUST HAVE for your Tolkien collection!

This is excellent edition of Tolkien's Silmarillion contains some of the most beautiful illustrations ever published. Nasmith' depicts Middle-earth in a style which is very different from Alan Lee's sombre watercolors and are of a more classical tone similar to the works of Parrish and Howard Pile. His landscapes re lively and his use of reflection and light are dazzling. The quality of this books binding is above average and overall this personal favorite in my Tolkien library.

reviews: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, page 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

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