maryyhr's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
fransnotebook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
des_talks's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
I actually really was loving this one, but it is so dense and requires a lot of time to sit with and think through, and I was just not in a space to do that. I definitely will be picking this one up again though when I’m ready.
tpmurphy15's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
cathy_acasefullofbooks's review against another edition
slow-paced
4.0
Fascinating and interesting, but reads like a text book and is therefore a bit hard to get through.
elros451's review against another edition
5.0
Feels good to have finally read this cover to cover after having read 99% of it in pieces or through wiki pages
daniel_nunes's review against another edition
5.0
Having experienced the greatness the Tolkien legendarium after almost 20 years of watching the trilogy for the first time, and after reading it as well, it was finally time to dive into the Bible that encompasses all the myths and legends around it. Don't get me wrong, I was quite frightened when starting this journey as everyone on the interwebs says it is a very hard read, and having little to no attention span these days (Tiktok and Twitter's fault mostly) I was quite afraid I wasn't going to enjoy ir or even, gods be merciful, drop the book altogether. But alas! All those hours scrolling through page after page on Wikipedia searching for every and each character and spending hours dwelling into the lore around this fantastic world were well spent, and reading through names like Finwë, Finarfin, Fingolfin, Fingon, Thingol, Turgon were a breeze and quite refreshing, as if I was finally meeting someone I had idolized for a long time, and guess what, meeting your idols was not as bad as people make it to be.
From the way it resembled middle English to an epic tail at the same time, from the way the creation of the world is described and you can't even fathom these mythical beings roaming around a plane of existence such as humans do, to telling tales of unprecedented epicness such as an elf injuring an imortal god, a vile creature so powerful and hungry forall things living that eats itself to satisfy it's needs (and almost kills the most powerful being of the legendarium as well) to heaven like descriptions of the most beautiful fair and creatures that could have lived, to romance between two never before seen races, to action, it was quite melancholic to finish this and say goodbye to all the characters we met along the way.
The two Tolkiens that were responsible for his masterpiece, especially the senior one, have earned their right to be upon the pantheon of the greatest to ever lay their eyes on a piece a paper, grab a pen and simply let their imagination and dreams run through black ink. I cannot imagine someone with as much vision, eloquence and love for languages as J.R.R Tolkien was, and I don't think there will ever be. What an amazing experience.
From the way it resembled middle English to an epic tail at the same time, from the way the creation of the world is described and you can't even fathom these mythical beings roaming around a plane of existence such as humans do, to telling tales of unprecedented epicness such as an elf injuring an imortal god, a vile creature so powerful and hungry forall things living that eats itself to satisfy it's needs (and almost kills the most powerful being of the legendarium as well) to heaven like descriptions of the most beautiful fair and creatures that could have lived, to romance between two never before seen races, to action, it was quite melancholic to finish this and say goodbye to all the characters we met along the way.
The two Tolkiens that were responsible for his masterpiece, especially the senior one, have earned their right to be upon the pantheon of the greatest to ever lay their eyes on a piece a paper, grab a pen and simply let their imagination and dreams run through black ink. I cannot imagine someone with as much vision, eloquence and love for languages as J.R.R Tolkien was, and I don't think there will ever be. What an amazing experience.
sonofatreus's review against another edition
3.0
I am of two minds on The Silmarillion. The creation story of the world is really something. It has a logic to it and is unlike the more standard creation stories (Genesis, Greco-Roman, etc.). I could have read this and been totally satisfied.
After that, it just meanders around with the first Dark Lord (Melkor/Morgoth) who is a fun villain. The problem is that the characters opposing him are so equally powerful that it seems unlikely that they could not band together and defeat him. In any case, the only truly valuable aspect of this part of the book was in establishing some groups of Elves and a few lineages that become important later.
Finally, the last 1/3-1/2 of the book gets much better. This is when figures that play some part in the LOTR trilogy finally start to show up. Before that, the only familiar figures are Sauron (a lieutenant of Morgoth), Galadriel (basically only named), and the eagles (because the eagles ALWAYS show up). At this point, the threads finally start to come together and the events leading into LOTR start making more sense.
Unfortunately, there is simply not that much time spent in this era. Many of the events that I thought would be covered in The Silmarillion are abbreviated dramatically. For example, the fall of Numenor gets one chapter, and the entire creation of the Rings of Power is left to the final chapter, with all of LOTR summed up in two pages. So there were some things that I enjoyed — certainly the writing — but almost half the book just seemed like set-up to the set-up to LOTR.
One note: I've heard this compared to Hesiod's Theogony. This isn't unfair, but it also isn't quite right. It would be more like the Theogony if the Theogony spent another 1000 lines explaining the Titans and their interactions before getting to Zeus and his lot.
After that, it just meanders around with the first Dark Lord (Melkor/Morgoth) who is a fun villain. The problem is that the characters opposing him are so equally powerful that it seems unlikely that they could not band together and defeat him. In any case, the only truly valuable aspect of this part of the book was in establishing some groups of Elves and a few lineages that become important later.
Finally, the last 1/3-1/2 of the book gets much better. This is when figures that play some part in the LOTR trilogy finally start to show up. Before that, the only familiar figures are Sauron (a lieutenant of Morgoth), Galadriel (basically only named), and the eagles (because the eagles ALWAYS show up). At this point, the threads finally start to come together and the events leading into LOTR start making more sense.
Unfortunately, there is simply not that much time spent in this era. Many of the events that I thought would be covered in The Silmarillion are abbreviated dramatically. For example, the fall of Numenor gets one chapter, and the entire creation of the Rings of Power is left to the final chapter, with all of LOTR summed up in two pages. So there were some things that I enjoyed — certainly the writing — but almost half the book just seemed like set-up to the set-up to LOTR.
One note: I've heard this compared to Hesiod's Theogony. This isn't unfair, but it also isn't quite right. It would be more like the Theogony if the Theogony spent another 1000 lines explaining the Titans and their interactions before getting to Zeus and his lot.
m1thrandir's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0