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kirbysnaps's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
mcbibliotecaria's review against another edition
4.0
This was a tough book, at least the first third of. It reads like the bible, another book I have yet to read. It starts off with the Gods and the elves they created, and since I was reading on a e-book, it couldn't adapt the characters of the letters Tolkien created, so I had to glance over odd placed questions marks and as a result could not connect characters to visuals.
There are a couple stories, legends, that are incredible in this book. The story of Beren and Luthien is an epic adventure/love story that I enjoyed. But nothing more then the saga of Melkor and Ungoliant. Melkor is the God who goes evil and employs as one of his lieutenants a little guy named Sauron. If you are looking for a Lord of the Rings refresher, this book only touches on it towards the end in brief, in the Fourth Age. But it starts in the First age where there was nothing.
Individually taken, the stories are either incredibly thought provoking and magical, or way too epic and religious undertones that are difficult to comprehend. I will probably read it again in a few years, but I wouldn't recommend it to a reader who is just interested in more of Lord of the Rings. There is a reason that this book was rejected by the publisher first.
There are a couple stories, legends, that are incredible in this book. The story of Beren and Luthien is an epic adventure/love story that I enjoyed. But nothing more then the saga of Melkor and Ungoliant. Melkor is the God who goes evil and employs as one of his lieutenants a little guy named Sauron. If you are looking for a Lord of the Rings refresher, this book only touches on it towards the end in brief, in the Fourth Age. But it starts in the First age where there was nothing.
Individually taken, the stories are either incredibly thought provoking and magical, or way too epic and religious undertones that are difficult to comprehend. I will probably read it again in a few years, but I wouldn't recommend it to a reader who is just interested in more of Lord of the Rings. There is a reason that this book was rejected by the publisher first.
lizziestudieshistory's review against another edition
5.0
The Silmarillion infamous for being a difficult book to read, and for the most part it lives up to this reputation. It's narrative spans thousands of years, contains as many characters, and is more like an epic poem than a modern novel. Yet, The Silmarillion is my favourite of all Tolkien's works. It's the book I come back to time and time again, it tells the stories of my favourite characters, and poses the most interest for the imagination. Something about this sprawling epic is captivating and it hasn't lost its charm from when I first read it almost 8 years ago.
Parts of this book are still a struggle to get through, in particular the 'names' chapters that introduce lineages and rattle off long lists of names and relationships which you're never going to remember on your first time around. However, they are important and later on these characters become central to events surrounding the Silmarils and the Rings of Power.
I would recommend reading The Silmarillion if you've read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and still want more from Middle Earth. Just be aware this isn't a traditional novel and it doesn't follow a single storyline, set of characters, or even genre.
Instead, this is the story of the Silmarils and Middle Earth itself, everything in it tells the story of how the world came to be and what happened to the three Silmarils. There are reoccurring characters and some traditional stories. However, the story isn't about the characters, it's about the jewels themselves, as such it's told through snippets of lives and tragic events that happened due to greed (usually from elves, hence my fond nickname for the book 'Elves Behaving Badly')
Parts of this book are still a struggle to get through, in particular the 'names' chapters that introduce lineages and rattle off long lists of names and relationships which you're never going to remember on your first time around. However, they are important and later on these characters become central to events surrounding the Silmarils and the Rings of Power.
I would recommend reading The Silmarillion if you've read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and still want more from Middle Earth. Just be aware this isn't a traditional novel and it doesn't follow a single storyline, set of characters, or even genre.
Instead, this is the story of the Silmarils and Middle Earth itself, everything in it tells the story of how the world came to be and what happened to the three Silmarils. There are reoccurring characters and some traditional stories. However, the story isn't about the characters, it's about the jewels themselves, as such it's told through snippets of lives and tragic events that happened due to greed (usually from elves, hence my fond nickname for the book 'Elves Behaving Badly')
mika_pages's review against another edition
challenging
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
natewolf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
sckuckles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sirshiana's review against another edition
5.0
This book outlines where Middle Earth came from, the history of all of the races of Middle Earth with the exception of hobbits. There are many intriguing stories and you can get lost in this magical world.
ms_morri1's review against another edition
5.0
I wouldn’t recommend this book to the casual reader as this book takes several times to read through to follow. However, it has just as much depth as LOTR does, and I would recommend that women who love LOTR should read this as it has more of Tolkien’s heroic women within the Simirilion. However, unlike LOTR or the Hobbit, this book is much more like reading the Bible or other religious texts. It reminded me of reading of the Genesis and Exodus in that there is a coherent story, but it doesn’t go in depth as much details into the stories and their characters as Tolkien has with his other books. There are a few like Luthien and Beren that is much more akin to a story. The world Tolkien is beautiful and sad at the same time, and this has left me wishing Tolkien had expanded on some of these stories before he died. If you are a LOTR fan, have the patience to work through the story, and want more stories about elves, I 100% recommend reading this book.
caleb8's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5