The Silmarillion

7/10

Not really a novel, may be ok for hardcore fans. This is Tolkien's huge Elvish name dictionary, strung together with other words in between.

I really wanted to like this, and it's very pleasant to hear the almost of a story of the inception of the world of LotR. Every region, mountain, river, forest and every single being that ever existed is named in this book.

It's kind of weird listening to this book as an audiobook. Going from the sort of “Literary agent” structure that the Lord of the Rings was born from (J.R.R. Tolkien translating a book that he found in some archive somewhere), the Silmarillion feels like it should be structured in the form of something like Beowulf or the Odyssey - a legend originally told orally, transcribed into a more written form. Thus, this should be something that would be perfect for an audiobook.

However, rather than using any of the meters or rhyming verses that those earlier works (which clearly inspired Tolkien) used, instead the book is structured in a form that's probably closer to the Bible, particularly the King James version, with a mix of events told in the abstract, combined with individual moments told with more specific details, in a very floral style.

Having the book read as an audiobook does make it less dry, and easier to get through. However, there are moments where, as a reader, I have to basically stop the book after the book summarizes a big moment (such as an epic battle between two armies), and picture that battle in my mind's eye, before continuing with the book, whereas in the more specific moments, the story in the narration plays out at about the same pace that it does in my imagination.

I am glad I've finally read the Silmarillion, but it's not something I'm going to re-read again for a while, and even then, I'll probably stick to specific passages.

As a standalone book, I don't know why anyone would want to read this. Now, I love Tolkien's world – I've read LOR multiple times, same with the hobbit. Seen the movies more times than I can count, including midnight releases for each of them. But even armed with this background, and other information gleaned from videos, Tolkien encyclopedias and other sources I couldn't get into this. It's amazing in what it is – a reference about the world – but it is not a compelling story. I think of this more as a glossary that goes at the end of LOR to help give background to the world.

A must read for all Tolkien fans.

For casual fantasy readers, it's 1 star. For Tolkien fans, they can add about 1 to 3 stars, depending on the level of enthusiasm I guess. Non-fantasy readers should not read this at all. I doubt J. R. R. Tolkien would have endorsed this publication. Sure, the notes were all his, but the way Christopher Tolkien presented them were poorly done. Most of the book were disjointed, especially the early parts, making for a very confusing and boring read. It reads like a history - actually, it IS a history book. For fans who want to know the details of the early days of Middle Earth, this book would contain a wealth of information. But the way it was strung together made for a bad read.

Completamente fora de mim! Nem acredito que finalmente li esse livro (venho tentando desde a adolescência, mais ou menos).

Il m'a fallu plusieurs tentatives à plusieurs années d'intervalle pour enfin lire en entier ce monument de la littérature dite de “fantasy”, sorte de préquelle du célèbre “Seigneur des Anneaux”. Je suis heureux d'avoir enfin trouvé le courage de le lire du début à la fin car c'est véritablement passionnant, avec un souffle épique d'un niveau rarement atteint par ailleurs.

There are some good stories here, but I don't think Tolkien would've published this as it is in a million years, and I couldnt've got throught it if it wasn't for the amazing performance by Andy Serkis in the audio version.

The introduction chapters by Christopher and the letter by Tolkien himself were super interesting.

The first two chapters add a lot to the middle-earth lore while also being well written and not super dense like the rest of this book and I to my knowledge you can't get the stories they tell anywhere else which is a problem with later chapters.

After those, the book becomes this ultra dense without much editing text of history, that it's that, a history book that you have to study to get the “value” out of it and I don't think you are meant to study fantasy as we do our history, since we don't live in the middle-earth world as much as we would like to XD.

Then come the good chapters, but they have their own standalones fleshing way more their stories out, so really there's no need to read this and I would've love to know this before reading the book.

Overall I still see value in this book as a curiosity thing and I'm not against the idea of it being published, but hey those are my thoughts.

As a standalone book, I don't know why anyone would want to read this. Now, I love Tolkien's world – I've read LOR multiple times, same with the hobbit. Seen the movies more times than I can count, including midnight releases for each of them. But even armed with this background, and other information gleaned from videos, Tolkien encyclopedias and other sources I couldn't get into this. It's amazing in what it is – a reference about the world – but it is not a compelling story. I think of this more as a glossary that goes at the end of LOR to help give background to the world.

I was torn while reading this. On one hand, it's a fascinating accomplishment, telling the story of the history of Middle-Earth and filling out a lot of the backstory for Tolkien's other works. It's also fascinating from a stylistic perspective - Tolkien wanted to really stress the concept of the Silmarillion as myth, so he presented it in a style similar to the King James bible, which is a subtle yet masterful way of giving the tale the presentation it deserves.

The unfortunate part of it is that Tolkien died before the book could be finished, and it shows in some points - it takes the Silmarillion around 100 pages to really find its gear, and the other stories in the book (the Ainulindale, the Valaquenta, and Akallabeth) are all much stronger stories than the main one. It's a shame that they get a bit of a short shrift in terms of the narrative of the book.

I enjoyed lord of the rings but found this work dry such a shame.

7/10

This was such a difficult read, and I had to take it slowly to fully understand it. The book spanned across many generations, races, and languages so there was a lot to keep up with. The rating is on the lower side for me due to the two mentions of incest which I was not a fan of. Otherwise it was an interesting story of how Middle-earth came to be.

I didn't expect myself to enjoy this book so much! It was fascinating exploring Tolkien's enormous world building, and the only thing that made it tougher to read near the end was the difficulty keeping track of the characters.

I felt myself invested in the shorter stories, and really liked seeing the greater arcs of the Silmarils and Rings play out in the background. I know most people consider this like an encyclopedia, but I thought it read much easier than that. Maybe i just like reading lore and worldbuilding...

What a journey! It's taken me 30+ years to read this thing, I've started and given up numerous times. I'd built it up as a marathon and set myself to fail...until now. For some reason this time I waded in, kept my feet wet and before you knew it I couldn't stop reading. This thing is incredible, the level of detail, the beauty of the prose, the sheer depth is unbelievable. So why not 5 stars? Well it's still a monster of a book to grapple with. I doubt anyone could read this and absorb everything the first time so I'm leaving that final star for some future re-read, for now, I'll return to the rest of Tolkien's writing in a whole new light...the road goes ever on.

Actually this was a reread and I found myself enjoying the book a lot more than the first time.

De hecho, esta ha sido una re-lectura y he disfrutado mucho más que la primera vez.

5/5

Third time is the charm for this one, apparently (at least for me). If you loved The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and are looking for more of the same, this is not that book. It's very much a history, that reads a lot like a textbook, albeit of a fantasy world. I would suggest, if you're struggling, listening along with Corey Olsen's podcast of the book (tolkienprofessor.com). It's a group discussion/lecture that goes chapter by chapter. The best advice was not to worry too much about remembering everyone's many names, but just pay attention to what they mean at the time they're given/taken. Also, the trees and index of names in the back are incredibly helpful when you're trying to keep Feanor, Fingolfin, Finrod, and Finwe separate (to give just one example). Still it's a masterwork and well worth reading if you love Tolkien's writing and the middle-earth mythos he created.

Loved it.
I thoroughly enjoyed these legends and the way they are told (most of that was due to Martin Shaw's great narration, I think).
The only thing left unanswered - the origins of Hobbits. The creation of Elves, Dwarves and Men was described and explained and Hobbit were just hinted at in the last part of the book. I was very curious to find about Hobbots' orgins, as (as far as I remember) it's not explained in the later books.
I'm glad I finally got to reading The Silmarillion (I was going to for quite a while) and I'm going to continue to The Hobbit and LOTR now :)

Extremely good, actually

I was able to get through the first 100 or so pages of the book before I had to let it go. The story is very rough, as is noted in the forward. There are so many characters, places and terms that it's extremely difficult to follow. You'll have to be really dedicated to get through this one.

Pretty boring book with the exception of a few stories. I will say that the world building was incredible but what really set the bar for this book and saved it from being terrible in my opinion is the outstanding illustrations by Ted Nasmith. Definitely a top 3 illustrator for me.

A hard one to rate. When it's good, it's really good - essential - but when it's less good, it's bone dry. The good bits, I really loved. I loved that the entirety of the Lord of the Rings is summarised in pretty much three pages right at the end. Makes me wonder what some of the other stories would be like if they were written and characterised in detail.

Frankly this is not a book. Its more like an encyclopedia on everything Tolkien has written. And its primarily meant for the people who live the Tolkienverse. So if you are one of those you have probably read and disagree with my rating. If you are not then do avoid!