The Silmarillion is a book of stories that goes way back before The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. It gives us more information of the world that Tolkien created. And it is astounding. The book kept me hooked for days. It delves upon the creation of the Elves till the end of the Third World.
The Silmarillion talks about many books that came after this in summary. So, for all who wants to read any books of Tolkien after The LOTR Trilogy and The Hobbit. Do yourself a favour and read The Silmarillion before reading its successors or continuation. The action I unfortunately should have done. This book gives you summarized clarity about the other books. I mean the ones I read The Fall of Gondolin & The Children of Húrin. Reading this book actually gave me the nostalgia of reading The LOTR series. You will never regret reading The Silmarillion even if you are fan or not of Tolkien.
Edit: because I can’t be answering all the comments.I understand most of you did not like this book. But I loved it and I just recommended it. And I do understand why you peeps are not a big fan of the book as well.
by zzuhruf
12 Comments
Is this some AI account?
Sorry, disagree. I found it interesting, personally…..but it was a personal volume which Tolkien wrote for himself (not originally for publication) and it shows. Most casual readers would not enjoy it, and for good reason. Blanket recommending it for ALL Tolkien readers…..not so much. To crib a quote “It reads like stereo instructions.”
I remember trying to read it in high school, but only got about thirteen pages in before I had to set it down and walk away. Despite having read the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy several times, I found the Silmarillion far too dense to process. I always intended to try again someday. Maybe this is the year?
Well, not *before*. It can be a terminally tedious experience. It’s a mythology scrapbook, a fragmented, disjointed one. Tolkien wrote it for himself, to keep track of things, not for publication.
It’s wonderful, I agree, but only if you’ve read the narratively sound ones before this and have had time to be awed by – and love – them. Then it’s easier to dig deep.
My dad’s a huge Tolkien fan and likes reading Silmarillion for fun
I’m uh, not really a fan myself lol
I had a real hard time reading it at first, but them someone gave me an insight that makes understanding the book much easier (even if it took an audiobook to get me to be able to pronounce it :)) – think of it as the Bible of Middle Earth. It’s the creation myth and the story of how the people of Middle Earth came to be in the here and now. But I still recommend listening to it if you can – it’s MUCH easier on your brain than trying to pronounce all that Elvish… 😀
I first read the Hobbit in 4th grade and the Lord of the Rings in 6th. I loved them both. I’ve tried to read the Silmarillion repeatedly over the last 30 years or so and I’ve never been able to finish. I can’t get into it at all.
i tried, i really did, but i just could not get through it. it was like reading a history text book of some obscure civilization (which, of course, is exactly what it is) but it’s soooo dry. ymmv.
Enjoying this a lot more than expected
I’m currently reading this book and the fact that it took 6 chapters to start to get to the action is quite hilarious and fully expected xD
I agree you should give The Silmarillion a go, but *after* you’ve fallen in love with LOTR.
The Silmarillion is for hard-core LOTR fans who still need more depth, context and richness even after devouring the books and appendices. If they try to read The Silmarillion first, they’d never get to the LOTR because they’d be in a boredom-induced coma.
I say this as someone who’s read *all* the books multiple times, and LOTR every year.
It’s such an interesting work for me. I bounced off it a few times, then bought a nice edition and read it cover to cover. I love the concepts and the broad brush outline of so much history and mythology it provides, but I think it works best that way – as a framework upon which other books can be written, or stories can be fleshed out.
I don’t think many people actually have the skill to create something that fits thematically in Tolkien’s world, whilst also capturing the beauty of his prose. So it’s also good to have this work so we can see behind the scenes a bit, get a feel for the larger world he imagined.