The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Silmarillion
Book Review: Marvelous Exploration of Middle Earth
Summary: 4 Stars
Anyone familiar with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is familiar with just how much work J.R.R. Tolkien put into the world he created, Middle Earth. Songs and poetry extolling ancient heroes, tales of the history of Middle Earth and the Ring...Middle Earth always seemed alive because of those details (even if, like me, you skipped over most of the songs and poetry). The time Tolkien spent building that massive backstory was a big factor in the success of The Lord of the Rings, because the tale held together as if it truly were history rather than fiction. The Silmarillion helps flesh out a lot of that backstory.Somewhere between a Bible of Middle Earth and a history text, The Silmarillion is not a story in the sense of The Hobbit of The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion is more like a collection of short stories telling about the history of Middle Earth leading up to the War of the Ring, from the creation of the world to the wars against Morgoth and the destruction of Numenor. The Silmarillion helps to flesh out the world Tolkien created and provides a great deal of additional depth to the stories told in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as helping the reader to more fully understand Tolkien's magnificent creation.
If you're looking for a ripping good read, you should look elsewhere: this is pure exposition, as another reviewer noted. But if you enjoyed The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and would like to understand more about Middle Earth, you'll enjoy The Silmarillion.
Book Review: Middle Earth Bible
Summary: 4 Stars
This is pretty much the Bible of the world of Middle Earth. It isn't written so much as a story as some of Tolkien's other works, but it has a nearly-documentary style, as if everything in it is real (and it is, for all the detail that goes into the story). Here comes history and mythology, all romantically tied together in ultimate fantasy along with all the proper notest that would attend any other historical work. There is not a lot of detail in the stories, but that does not make them any less wonderful. This is a chance to see thoughts and possibilities and so many other characters that fit into the Lord of the Rings universe. I don't think this is necessary to appreciating Lord of the Rings, but it's still a delightful and worthy addition if one can handle the way it is presented as more history than literature.Book Review: More Tolkien brilliance
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is an incredible look at Middle-Earth from its creation to the end of the Second Age. Be warned that much of this book reads like a history textbook, giving only brief sketches of names and events. However, even these sections of the book are rewarding and entertaining. Just don't expect true prose throughout the book. There are some moments when the pace slows down and takes on more of a narrative feel. These dynamics are obviously due to the posthumous nature of the work and the fact that Tolkien intended this to be the skeleton on which he would put flesh in LOTR. Highly recommended for all who enjoyed LOTR.Book Review: Mythology of Middle-Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
You really have to be in the right mood for The Silmarillion. I love it, but I realize it's not for everyone. This is the "big story" J.R.R. Tolkien worked on all his life, but never completed. His son, Christopher Tolkien, does an admirable job of assembling this collection of myths into a coherent whole. What is Middle-Earth? Where did it come from? Where did the Elves come from? What happened in the First Age? How did Númenor fall? There are so many questions answered in this book, as well as basic questions, like how the world was created (by music! awesome!), that are just fun to read. However, the early part of The Silmarillion is a tragedy. Imagine, if you will, two glorious trees, one with silver leaves and one with gold, that shine with their own inner light and illuminate the city of the gods. An elf, Feanor, uses the skills he has learned from the Valar (gods) to enshrine some of the light of these two trees into three brilliant jewels called the Silmarils. The dark lord (Morgoth) steals the jewels and heads off to Middle-Earth. The rest of the book entails the wars and tragedies that result as the Elves try to recover the Silmarils by force. This is high mythology, with heavy, dark content. At the time I read it, The Silmarillion was unlike anything I had ever read. Quite frankly, I haven't found any other fantasy series nearly so captivating (I am a science fiction fan, by disposition). This is not just swords and sorcery fare; Tolkien has some serious moral points to make, and he makes them subtly while telling you a grand tale, akin to the Odyssey.
This is not a happy book. There is much sorrow in it and many tales of loss. But you cannot have loss without having gained something first, and Tolkien conjures up amazing images of faerie cities and uncountable riches. When those riches are lost, it is only through the moral weakness of those who possess them. You won't get much of that in Conan. The success of modern fantasy is owed in no small part to the success of "The Lord of the Rings," but before LOTR, in Tolkien's mind, there was The Silmarillion; and this is the real story he wanted to tell. Read and enjoy.
Book Review: Not Easy Reading
Summary: 4 Stars
The Tolkien Trilogy is composed of the following: The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. (The three parts of the LoTR are not a trilogy, as Tolkien himself insisted.) The Hobbit may be taken as the first chapter of the LoTR - a complete story in itself, related to what follows, and chronologically close to what happens in the big book. The Silmarillion is not at all close chronologically to the other two stories - the story takes place much earlier. It may be considered a sort of prequel. But there are many different stories in this book - a string of related stories, rather than one whole story. It's full of proper names, especially personal names, only some of them recurring in LoTR, or even within The Silmarillion itself. Tolkien intended this to be a sort of "record" of events, names, and places, as though they really existed. He was trying to create a mythology for England, and thus the chaotic if creative explosion of names. You can't make a mythology realistic without them.This book may be used as a sort of guide to the other two parts of the trilogy. Some of the names recur in the later saga and reading this book, or rather referring to it, helps shed light on these. You can read about Sauron's origins here, for example, who after all is THE eponymous Lord of the Rings himself.
This book is really a co-production of Tolkien and his son Christopher. What happened was that Tolkien left behind numerous drafts and revisions of the book, made over half a century, most of them preceding the other two books. The trouble is that these drafts and revisions are self-inconsistent. Tolkien could not make up his mind, and kept making changes. I have the feeling that if he had lived another hundred years he would still not have been able to finalize the book. So, after his death, his son Christopher took what he fancied from the pile of rubble and built a tower out of it, throwing the rest away.
It's difficult to know if Tolkien himself would have approved. He kept changing his own mind anyway. After the LoTR, he found many faults with The Hobbit itself, and could have re-written the whole thing! Tolkien may or may not have liked the tower his son built, but he would have recognized the bricks.
With the confusing barrage of names, the internal incosistency, the lack of imprimatur from the master, this book is not easy to read except by die-hard Tolkien fanatics. It's still useful as reference tool, for reasons I just mentioned. The last chapter, describing the Rings of Power, is particularly relevant to the other parts of the Trilogy.