Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Silmarillion” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Silmarillion

(Middle-earth Universe)

J.R.R. Tolkien

3.93 · Rating details · 212,165 ratings · 7,828 reviews

Alternate cover can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part.

The three Silmarils were jewels created by Fëanor, most gifted of the Elves. Wi ...more

Get A Copy

Or buy for $9.99

Paperback, 443 pages

Published December 2019 by HarperCollins (first published September 15th 1977)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Silmarillion, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.93 ·

Rating details

· 212,165 ratings · 7,828 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Silmarillion

Mar 28, 2010 Manybooks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: serious fans of Middle Earth

Shelves: tolkien, book-reviews, fairy-tales-fantasy, folklore-myth-religion

I had tried to read J.R.R. Tolkien' The Silamarillion multiple times in the past (and always unsuccessfully) and had basically given up, but I finally did manage to realise that I was attempting to read it the wrong way; I was trying to read The Silmarillion like I have read and with pleasure reread LOTR, as a story, an epic story, of course, but still first and foremost as a story. Now while The Silmarillion is of course also partially a story, it is (at least for me) first and foremost a relig ...more

flag 690 likes · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2007 The Crimson Fucker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ever since I joined GR I’ve been putting off the writing of this book’s review… but since I’m high as fuck on cold medicine I feel like I can do it so here suffer thru it!:

Along long time ago a little 3rd world kid with an afro became fascinated of what he read on the internet about some British writer named Tolkien… he wanted his books… it became his obsession… so he embarked on a quest to find his books and read the shit out of them… but alas! The book was no where to be found on his dumb litt Ever since I joined GR I’ve been putting off the writing of this book’s review… but since I’m high as fuck on cold medicine I feel like I can do it so here suffer thru it!:

Along long time ago a little 3rd world kid with an afro became fascinated of what he read on the internet about some British writer named Tolkien… he wanted his books… it became his obsession… so he embarked on a quest to find his books and read the shit out of them… but alas! The book was no where to be found on his dumb little island… but that wasn’t going to stop our little afro hero… he looked and looked, he went to used bookstores, he ordered 5 times in the expensive ones, he looked online, on the streets, even on the flea markets… but they were not to be found… one day after wating for 2 hours for his translator to finish translating and E-copy of The Lord of The Ring: The Fellowship of The Ring. Into Spanish and realizing that it made no fucking sense once translated… our little afro hero went into the internet and founded the only bookstore with most of Tolkien’s work on stock… in Spanish! But there was only one problem… the fucking bookstore was in freaking Spain… the cost of the books + S&H was way more of what our hairy friend had on his piggy bank… so he did the unthinkable… his parents had been bitching about his afro for months…. So he proposed to them that in exchange of his fro they should give him the books he wanted… and they accepted… in an act of self mutilation* our fuzzy friend shaved his head to show his parent’s his anger over making him lose his fro… after that the money was given to him… he could order now (his parents weren’t as stupid as he always thought) and that day.. That day the curse was born!!! It was like the curse of Feanor… but lame, the books took an entire year to arrive… now imagine our froless hero waiting and waiting and calling and emailing and checking and re checking for a whole mother fucking year with his shaved head… (for those of you who wonder this is why I will never again buy a book from the internet, I’m fucking traumatized) but when they got there… how to put it into words… I read the first book (600 pages) in one day… the second in 3 days, the third in 2 days, the fourth on a day and a half… and then it was time for the Silmarillion…

I didn’t know nothing about the Silmarillion… I left it for last cuz I thought it would be the most boring one… and boy was I wrong! The first part The Music of the Ainur was such a mind blowing experience to me to the point of I cannot talk about anything else but how metal it sounded that my friends started complaining (somebody got to the point of threaten me that if said something else about Melkor being the coolest I was going to get punch in the balls) I mean if you ever read this book you should know how Melkor invented heavy metal on it… then it was the lamps and all the gay stuff that I didn’t like… that’s when I used to think Melkor was the coolest… then came The Trees… and I was just fascinated of how beautiful everything was… I know it sounds mad gay! But it was!!! And then Melkor did something that made me stop thinking of him as the coolest… he killed The Trees… is not like I cried or anything like that… but you know that was fuck up! The guy is cool and all but I know it sounds stupid… but I did like those Trees man… =( by this time I was so lost in this book that one could actually call it an obsession… I was walking while reading, talking to the characters… (if I were to get a penny for every time I told a character on this book “turn back you fool” I’d be rich by now!)… look I don’t wanna ruin anything to anybody I could honestly talk for hours about how fucking awesome Feanor is…. Or how big Fingolfin’s balls are (bigger than Steven’s) or how beautiful Luthien was and how I wished she never met Beren, or how fucking sick and twisted Morgoth gets… I mean the man was sick! But I need to stop! Cuz if I don’t I’ma be here for ever… I wanna say is that Tolkien was the mother fucking greatest of all times man… this is just such a beautiful book…

*:(even tho the paper don’t agree with me on this… it was self mutilation!!! She has no idea how “attached”
I was to that fro!!!!)

...more

flag 326 likes · Like · see review

Jan 17, 2014 Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: tolkien, 5-star-reads, fantasy

Writing a review of the Silmarillion is like trying to review the Bible. Where do you even start? There’s just so much story in here. Any attempt to convey it in a review would be to do the book a massive disservice. There would only ever be enough space to talk about one or a few elements of the work.

So instead I thought I’d give my reasoning as to why every Tolkien enthusiast needs to read this in order to fully understand Tolkien: the sheer depth of the work.

“It is said by the Eldar that in Writing a review of the Silmarillion is like trying to review the Bible. Where do you even start? There’s just so much story in here. Any attempt to convey it in a review would be to do the book a massive disservice. There would only ever be enough space to talk about one or a few elements of the work.

So instead I thought I’d give my reasoning as to why every Tolkien enthusiast needs to read this in order to fully understand Tolkien: the sheer depth of the work.

“It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.”

description

The history of middle-earth is very rich, and it stretches a very long way. Much further than the time of Sauron and the Ring. And this sense of history is only very briefly glimpsed within The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit if at all. The Silmarillion is the entire picture; it is the entire vison of Tolkien’s fantasy world. It’s a huge piece of world building, and there really is nothing else quite like it. In here he relays a huge amount of history, a truly staggering amount for a fictional world to possess.

I often talk about the need for world building in fantasy, and here it is in full force. It’s astonishing. It’s beyond imaginative. It goes further than anything before it and since. And this is why Tolkien is the master of the genre. He wasn’t the first, and he certainly won't be the last to write such fiction, but he was the best writer to ever attempt it. He more than set the benchmark when he wrote this. So if you’re thinking about reading this, but find the task at hand a little bit too daunting, then stop thinking. Pick this book and lose yourself in the history of the greatest fantasy universe ever created. You won't regret it.

________________________________

You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.
__________________________________ ...more

flag 261 likes · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2009 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, classics, novels, 20th-century, mythology, epic, fiction

The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion is a collection of mythopoeic works by English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive, though incomplete, narrative that describes the universe of Eä in which are found the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth, within which The Hobbit and The Lord of t The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion is a collection of mythopoeic works by English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive, though incomplete, narrative that describes the universe of Eä in which are found the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth, within which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و یکم ماه سپتامبر سال 2009 میلادی
عنوان: سیلماریلیون؛ نویسنده: جی.آر.آر. (جان رونالد روئل) تالکین؛ ویرایش: کریستوفر تالکین؛
مترجم: مریم واثقی پناه؛ تهران، سبزان، 1385؛ در 455 ص؛ شابک: 9648249407؛
مترجم: رضا علیزاده؛ تهران، روزنه، 1386؛ در 624 ص، نقشه؛ شابک: 9643342662؛
مترجم: حسین ترکمن نژاد؛ تهران، غنچه، 1393؛ در دو جلد، شابک دوره: 9786007721070؛
این کتاب، نخستین و آخرین کتاب «تالکین» بزرگوار است، داستان دوران نخست، از جهان خیال انگیز تالکین، «درام کهنی» که شخصیتهای «ارباب حلقه ها» نیز، رگ و ریشه ی خود را، در آن میتوانند بیابند. برخی دیگر از نام آشنایان «ارباب حلقه ها»، همچون: «الروند» و «گالادریل» نیز از قهرمانان بخشی از یک داستان کوچکش هستند. برای فهمیدنش شاید کتاب را، بیش از ده بار خوانده باشم. انگار دیگر پیر شده ام، اما هربار که خوانده ام، نکته ای بر دانسته های پیشینم از جهان خیالی که ایشان برساخته، افزون گشته است. دایرة المعارف نامهای کتاب نیز، که در اوراق و بخشهای انتهایی از کتاب آرمیده، بی نظیر است، ریشه ی بیشتر کلماتش انگار آشناست، البته اگر نیک بنگرید
کتاب «سیلماریلیون»، داستان‌ دوران دو درخت، و دوره ی نخست جهان «تالکین» است؛ داستان «ایلوواتار» و «ملکور»، تا پدیدار شدن «اِلف»ها و انسان‌هاست. کتاب «سیلماریلیون» از داستانهای روزگاران پیشین، دوره ی نخست، داستان «آردا»، و از دنیا و نیروهایی میگوید، که آن دنیا را ساختند. داستان نبرد خیر و شر، در سرزمین میانه است، و جنگ با لرد سیاه «مورگوت»، کسی که «سارون»، تنها یکی از خدمتکارانش بود. داستان آمدن «الف»ها، و ساخته شدن جواهرات مقدسشان، «سیلماریل»ها، که «مورگوت» آنها را دزدید، و به دنبال آن، مجموعه ای از تراژدیها رخ داد؛ که: مرگ و نیستی، خیانت، پیروزی، امید و یاس، به همراه داشت. از تراژدی عاشقانه ی «برن» و «لوتین»، داستان فرزندان نفرین شده ی «هورین»، خیانت «مائگلین»، و سقوط شهر صخره های پنهان «گوندولین» نیز سخن میگوید. داستان آمدن آدمیان را نیز بازمیگوید، و رزمهاشان را، و اینکه چگونه سرنوشت آدمیان، و «الف»ها به هم گره خورد، و «نومه نوری»ها را پدیدار کرد. نتیجه ی این داستانها، هم در لحن و هم در سبک نگارش، بسیار متفاوت از «هابیت» یا «ارباب حلقه ها»ست، تا جاییکه، برخی از طرفداران «تالکین» خوانش آنرا دشوار مییابند، اما کسانی که به درکی ژرف از آن دست یابند؛ میدانند که ارزش اش بسیار فراتر از «ارباب حلقه ها»ست؛ و بستری ست برای آفرینش آن داستانها. کتاب در پنج بخش آراسته شده است: بخش نخست: «آینولینداله» همان «آهنگ آینور» - داستان آفرینش جهان توسط «اِرو»؛ بخش دوم: «والاکوئنتا» «حکایت والار»، حکایت «والار» و «مایار» بنا به روایت «اِلدار»؛ بخش سوم: کوئنتا سیلماریلیون «تاریخچهٔ سیلماریل‌ها» - داستان اصلی «سیلماریلیون» که شامل داستان‌های دوران دو درخت «والینور» و دوره اول می‌شود. بخش چهارم: «آکالابت» «سقوط نومه نور» - داستان سقوط «نومه نور» و مردمانش، و دوره دوم؛ بخش پنجم: حدیث حلقه های قدرت است، و دوره سوم - که با پایان آن این حکایت‌ها نیز به پایان می‌رسد
داستان «سیلماریلیون»: «فیانور» بزرگترین «اِلف» زمانه در هنر و معرفت بود. همو بود که سیلماریلها یا همان جواهرات مقدس را ساخت و آنها را با پرتو دو درخت «والینور» آکند. دو درختی که میوه و شکوفه شان خورشید و ماه شد. اما «ملکور»، نخستین فرمانروای تاریکی، آنها را دزدید و به دنبال آن مجموعه ای از تراژدیها رخ داد. محور اصلی داستان بخش سوم کتاب «سیلماریلیون»، حول سه «سیلماریل» میگردد. داستان «سیلماریلیون» گاه به گذشته ی دنیا نیز میرود، به همان دوران نخست! و آن تاریخچه را نیز در جاهایی باز میکند. ا. شربیانی ...more

flag 203 likes · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2008 Manny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: if-research-were-romance, science-fiction, linguistics-and-philosophy, transcendent-experiences

How To Build A Truly Convincing Fantasy World

1. It's all about the language. Make sure your world's language is convincing, and you're pretty much there. Conversely, if your language sucks then everything else will.

2. Your book can't include more than a few sentences in your invented language without losing your audience. But it can include plenty of names. So what people will really judge you on is the quality of the names.

The rest of this review is available elsewhere (the location cannot be g ...more

flag 148 likes · Like · see review

Dec 17, 2013 Markus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-more-than-once, favourites, to-reread, tolkien, mythology, fantasy, team-rocket, 2015

Buddy re-read with Shii!

I’ve been contemplating whether or not to tackle the challenge of actually reviewing this masterpiece for quite some time now. In the end, after having finished reading it for the second time, I realised that I should at least throw out my thoughts on it. So here we go…

This is in my eyes the most impressive book ever written.

Notice how I did not say “best”. That was completely intentional. I do not believe it is the best book ever written, even though I know others think ...more

flag 139 likes · Like · see review

Aug 03, 2017 Charlotte May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy

"Oh woe-begotten spirit, fall now into dark oblivion, and forget for a while the dreadful doom of life."

I must admit. I struggled.

Though I love the Lord of the Rings and the Middle Earth Universe with all of my heart, tackling a large part of its history in this manner was tough going.
The world Tolkien created is absolutely extraordinary, without a doubt. Unfortunately The Silmarillion is written as a long history or mythology of biblical proportions. Name after name, battle after battle, son ...more

flag 123 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2011 Szplug rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sauron was become now a sorceror of dreadful power, master of shadows and of phantoms, foul in wisdom, cruel in strength, misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled, lord of werewolves; his dominion was torment.

Ah, Sauron, Maia of Aulë—beyond doubt the singularly most enthralling antagonist whom I encountered as a young reader, possessing all of the malevolence and dark charisma and naked power of Satan, but unhobbled by the multi-aspectual morphology of Christian theology and popular culture that far too often rendered the Devil a ridiculous figure: a wild-eyed and beastly fornication ringmaster cavorting with naked acolytes; a scarlet-skinned, pitchfork-wielding fashion model for forked-tails and forehead horns; or slyly smiling traveling salesman, pitching his gimcrack wares backed by loosely-enforced contracts claiming lien upon some drink-tossed wastrel's dubiously-valuable soul. But Sauron—the dude fell, the dude schemed, the dude was scary, whether donning the raiments of a beautiful, translucent ring-wise man or an unbearably, searingly abhorrent humanoid vessel of the void.

There exists no other book that I've read as many times as The Silmarillion. Much more than the questing, heroic storyline of The Lord of the Rings was I drawn to the background of all those tumultuous events, the grand personages and royal lineages that stretched back into the mists of primordial time. Where did Sauron come from? From what pit originally arose the Balrog? What order was Gandalf exactly a member of? Who were Beren and Luthien, and what relevance did their own story have to this ultimate chapter of the War of the Rings playing out on the pages before me? Immediately that I finished the trilogy I rushed into the Silmarillion; and though at that time I was still too young to appreciate the allusions to other great mythologies, to the wonderful intricacies of the languages that Tolkien had constructed for his Middle-Earth races, to the powerful theme of tragedy—always linked with a hubris of the striving spirit—that was enjoined to the Noldorin rebellion against the Valar and their heroic-but-doomed struggle against Melkor, He Who Arises in Might, Morgoth Bauglir the Black Enemy—Radical Valar Renegade, Spawner of the Orcs, Dark Lord of the Balrogs, Tutoring Patron of Sauron; in toto, Supreme Badass Motherfucker of all Middle-Earth—still I was held spellbound by these glimpses into the Great Creation, the Dawn of Elves and Men, the Noldorin Exile and the fate of the Silmarils, which ended with such a perfect balance, the priceless jewels at rest at the bottom of the sea, the deepest of earthen chasms, and the highest heights of the heavens. What's more, after the breaking of Beleriand the reader is presented with the awesome arc of the founding and the doom of Númenor, in which Sauron gloatingly laughed atop the Island's mountain temple and lustfully defied the punishing lighting strokes that sizzled through the nighttime air; and the concluding overview of the War of the Rings, in which much is explained that makes The Lord of the Rings even more enjoyably complete than when the trilogy—and its prequel The Hobbit—were the only source for the incredibly deep history that Tolkien had woven from his lifelong love of language.

These annals, with their brilliantly-etched admixtures of beauty and short-lived heroic triumphs set against an overpowering sense of futility and tragic defeat at the hands of an enemy whose cunning is as deep as the infernal pits of his cavernous dungeons and whose malice engirds the star-kissed world, whose very corruption has been bled into the core of creation itself, were just what were needed to spark a young imagination; Tolkien's private amusements and delights mirrored my own in their fledgling form, and inspired me to tributary tasks of creation that nobody else could understand or appreciate but which gave me immense personal satisfaction. They awoke within me the powerful demiurgical desire to craft worlds, populate them, endow them with their own gods and mythologies, formulate a history, laden it with political systems, the whole works, all in the service of a time-bound fate that culminates in an apocalyptic showdown betwixt the dark and the light. At that point in a person's life, when the complex and inscrutable mathematical rituals and hierarchical causality of all-powerful modern science have immense appeal but few handholds, the prismatic and primal allure of myth and magic, the intuitive interconnectedness of nature with the sorcerously creative will of man, even at that tender age a force struggling to avoid restraint and desperately endeavoring to draw power from those spiritual furnaces deep within, the font of dreams, such tales of heroism and fortitude in the face of the supernatural are, for many, very hard to resist. What's more, the channeling of natural phenomenon into organic spirits with anthropomorphic features and forms offers another intuitively-appealing means to understanding a vast material world that otherwise seems awesomely inexplicable and frighteningly unpredictable. Stories that tap into our innate desire both to be entertained and be edified by human theatre set within the panoramic vistas of a horizon-hid past—Tolkien delivered in spades.

I don't care that it was edited by Christopher Tolkien and Guy Gavriel Kay and, thus, can't be declared canonical. Who gives a shit? Some complain that it reads like a Middle-Earth bible, that its archaic style and portentous prose are a labor to struggle through, and provide nothing as satisfying as the great trilogy he had wrought. Ah, tell it to the judge. They read like the annals composed from the mythological strains that wend across a mysterious, fate-bound history that they, in fact, are: it's just that this particular history was played out solely within the mental confines—a rich cerebral theatre—of the author, and possessed a coherence and potency to rival the mythologies of the Greeks or the Northmen. What more could a reader want? If Tolkien's labour of love, crafted and edited, reworked and rewritten, was of such an amazing expressiveness and beauty and power that it both upheld the Ring Trilogy and lit its mythological intimations with a fulgent blaze that only served to augment one's appreciation of the latter's depths, then why not put it out there for that multitude of fans who were dying to sample more of the mystical marvels from one of the greatest and most uniquely imaginative minds of the past century? ...more

flag 115 likes · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2018 Petrik rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5/5 stars

With a new interest and determination, I have finally finished reading The Silmarillion.

I have failed this book twice and I was so sure that I won’t attempt reading it again. However, I have just finished re-watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy extended editions and reading the Three Great Tales of Middle-Earth that’s edited by Christopher Tolkien. I know this is not the recommended reading order but it's only because of doing these two activities that I found a new interest, knowle ...more

flag 104 likes · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2012 Forrest rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Though I had many near-misses with The Silmarillion throughout the years (having been introduced to Tolkien's universe by discovering The Hobbit in my school's library in 5th grade), I finally slogged my way through it during the summer after my sophomore year of college. The first two years of my undergraduate degree were rather gruelling, and I wanted, more than anything else at that time, to just read a bunch of books I wasn't required to read. After making my way through The Complete Sherloc Though I had many near-misses with The Silmarillion throughout the years (having been introduced to Tolkien's universe by discovering The Hobbit in my school's library in 5th grade), I finally slogged my way through it during the summer after my sophomore year of college. The first two years of my undergraduate degree were rather gruelling, and I wanted, more than anything else at that time, to just read a bunch of books I wasn't required to read. After making my way through The Complete Sherlock Holmes, I decided to revisit Tolkien.

I had read The Hobbit twice before and the Lord of the Rings once (and a half). As I've stated, I dipped my toes in The Silmarillion, but never let myself dive in. This time, in the interest of reading something other than required reading, I jumped in with both feet.

It was cold. And deep. And dark. It took a while to feel my limbs. It took even longer to get my arms and legs moving, but I soon found I was OK: Still breathing and able to dog paddle.

As I worked my way into it (and it was work!), I discovered that certain tidbits in the myths and legends of middle earth rang familiar. I knew that much of The Silmarillion had been "back-written" after the fact, which might strike people as some sort of disingenuous act on the part of the Tolkiens. I was thrilled. Here I learned who Elrond was, the significance of the fall of Saruman, and the true nature of and relationship between Gandalf and the Balrog. This was a revelation.

I plugged my way through and finished. No, I didn't remember everything and I probably never will. That summer was a unique opportunity for me, to read almost interrupted for such a long stretch. I followed up by reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in succession, immediately after finishing The Silmarillion. Then, and only then, did I appreciate the full magnitude of Tolkien's brilliance. It was a whole new world. I had already visited it, but now the scales fell from my eyes and I saw it in a whole new light. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were transformed, for me, from great books to epic.

Rather than being caught up in complaining about how difficult The Silmarillion was, I felt richly rewarded. I had worked for the glittering prize and it was even more beautiful than the time when I first laid eyes on it in that musty school library in Nebraska. Can nostalgia be forward-looking? It was for me that summer. I was caught in some sort of blissful time-loop that only released me when the urgency of school set upon me again that fall. But something joyful was sparked in me that hasn't ever fully left, thanks to The Silmarillion. ...more

flag 102 likes · Like · see review

Dec 18, 2018 Hannah Greendale rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: tolkien, fantasy

In terms of reading interest, this oscillated between three and five stars, but with respect to what Tolkien accomplished here, The Silmarillion deserves nothing less than five stars.

flag 92 likes · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2014 Annemarie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-german, all-time-favs

The whole day, I have been trying to find the best words to use in this review, but how can you find the right words to describe perfection? This book was just a delight to read, from start to finish. The fact that a single man was able to create a fictional world with so much detail absolutely blows my mind. You can feel the love Tolkien had for Middle-earth in every word he writes. The way everything comes together makes it hard to believe that all of this is truly just fictional. There is so ...more

flag 97 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: god-religion-faith, ya, classics, fantasy-faeries-magic

This is the epic backstory and mythology of Middle Earth. The grandeur and beauty of the language, and indeed the content, is reminiscent of the King James edition of the Bible, beloved by Tolkien.

Its beauty is sometimes counterbalanced by its opacity. My child was keen to read it, but aged only 7 or 8, struggled, so I read it aloud, which was quite a challenge: convoluted sentences half a page long, and complex genealogy, exacerbated by characters and places referred to by two or more names fr ...more

flag 79 likes · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2017 James Trevino rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-goodies

Time for James’s unpopular opinion: I liked this better than The Lord of the Rings!

Before saying I am crazy, hear me out (actually, if you have nothing better to do, then read this review; if you have, then I gave this 5 stars, so you know my opinion anyway! See, you can’t say I don’t care for your time!).

Silmarillion tells the tale of the making of the world by Eru, the God of Middle-Earth and all that followed through the first two ages of creation, up until the events described in The Hobbit Time for James’s unpopular opinion: I liked this better than The Lord of the Rings!

Before saying I am crazy, hear me out (actually, if you have nothing better to do, then read this review; if you have, then I gave this 5 stars, so you know my opinion anyway! See, you can’t say I don’t care for your time!).

Silmarillion tells the tale of the making of the world by Eru, the God of Middle-Earth and all that followed through the first two ages of creation, up until the events described in The Hobbit and LOTR. Christopher Tolkien did a great job of connecting his father’s writings on the subject, so we have a nice and chronological story. But it is not a novel exactly, for it covers countless years.

Eru and his Valar, spirits of great power, create Arda, which is the Earth that is seen and there they make the world ready for the coming of the First Born, the Elves. The Second Born, Men, come too at some point. Silmarillion is broken into 4 parts:

1. Ainulindale (the creation part)
2. Valaquenta (the bulk of the story, chronicling the rise of the Elves and then their fall from grace, the deeds of Melkor (or Morgoth), the greatest of the Valar that fell to darkness, also the master of Sauron (how awesome is that?!); and there’s also the coming of men and their part in the war that followed)
3. Akallabeth (of the great kings of Numenor, the ancestors of Aragorn from LOTR)
4. Of the Rings of Power and The Third Age (basically a summary of what happened in The Hobbit, LOTR and a bit before that)

Now, I said it is not exactly a novel. Silmarillion is written as a combination between The Bible and a history/mythology book. It has a huge number of characters, with some of them being very prevalent. You learn here of a lot of the things only mentioned in LOTR: like Galadriel and Elrond’s origins, Earendil, Gil-Galad, Hurin, Turin, the fall of Gondolin, the great city of the Elves, the Silmarils, the most beautiful jewels ever created, the great love story of Beren and Luthien, the archetype for the fate of Aragorn and Arwen.

I said I prefer this to LOTR and that is because the scope of Silmarillion is unimaginably huge. Next to it, the events in LOTR seem like child’s play. It is much more epic than LOTR and some of the characters really stick with you. The archaic style is also something I loved, unlike many people reviewing this book.

Actually, I am surprised at the low grade this has here on Goodreads. The only explanation I have for it is the fact that a lot of readers search for instant gratification these days. Sad really. It is true though that if you want to read this Tolkien epic, you need patience and attention. But it is soooooo worth it!

Now, I hope that some movie studio will adapt this one day (in a series of 10 movies or so that would be needed to fit all the story).

All in all, it is by far the best book I (re)read this year! ...more

flag 77 likes · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2013 Bradley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: worldbuilding-sf, fantasy, 2019-shelf

This is actually my third time reading and I feel kinda bad because I keep picking up big new details I missed the first couple of times I read it.

Well, maybe I don't feel *THAT* bad. I mean, it is DAMN full of names and genealogies and it's probably a bit worse than having to slog through the Iliad for all that.

BUT. And here comes the huge, fire-belching butt of Melkor...

The Silmarillion is likely the best book of mythology I've ever read.
Better than any rendition of the Greeks or the Nordic. ...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

Feb 03, 2011 Jen/The Tolkien Gal/ジェニファー rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Buddy read with the lovely Karishma

Karishma, you are the Tolkien queen!

Image result for silmarillion deviantart

...more

flag 67 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2015 Paul E. Morph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2019, books-read-in-2017

For the uninitiated, The Silmarillion is a history book of Tolkien's Middle-Earth, the land in which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place (as well as many other works by Tolkien, most of them unfinished).

It's written in a very different style from his more famous works and I think a lot of people are put off by that. I have to say that, as big a Tolkien fan as I am, even I find The Silmarillion a bit dry and repetitive at times. For anybody who loves The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rin ...more

flag 60 likes · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2014 Duane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-books, fantasy, rated-books, english-calssics

The Silmarillion is difficult to read and I don't think it is even meant to be read straight through like a novel. Another reviewer put it best when he said "The Silmarillion is like the Bible, it's the Bible of Middle Earth". It's the magical setting of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and it tells the history of the place, the inhabitants, the languages, and the legends that came before Bilbo and Frodo. For you Ring fanatics, you haven't finished the story until you've read the history.

flag 55 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2019 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I was quite apprehensive going into this. I needn't have been.

This isn't exactly a story like LOTR itself but an account of the beginning of the Tolkien universe until the events at the end of LOTR, all written in an almost novel-like fashion.

Want to know Galadriel's family tree? Or where the White Tree of Gondor comes from (the Tree of the King)? Or how the Orks were made? If Sauron was the worst and most powerful bad guy ever? What the difference between Elves, dwarves and men are? Why the elv I was quite apprehensive going into this. I needn't have been.

This isn't exactly a story like LOTR itself but an account of the beginning of the Tolkien universe until the events at the end of LOTR, all written in an almost novel-like fashion.

Want to know Galadriel's family tree? Or where the White Tree of Gondor comes from (the Tree of the King)? Or how the Orks were made? If Sauron was the worst and most powerful bad guy ever? What the difference between Elves, dwarves and men are? Why the elves in the LOTR book(s) didn't fight alongside humans anymore? Then this book is for you.

There are some names that I recognized early on (simply because certain elves are that old) but most was completely new. However, that didn't hinder my enjoyment one bit. I might not be able to quote the history of this universe after this first read but that's also not necessary. I simply enjoyed the hell out of the writing style and depth of the history. Tolkien not only came up with some interesting kingdoms, not even only with a fascinating planet, but with an entire vast universe. He combined typical mythological figures with Christian elements and made it more about the actual events than single characters.
Not to mention that there is one hell of a lot of magic here, and magic of a few very specific kinds that worked perfectly together. Thus, we not only get the creator of the universe, his immediate children, their offspring and eventually elves and dwarves and men, but also magical trees and giant always-hungry spiders, special jewels and more.

There is a lot of information packed into this. However, thanks to Tolkien's wonderful writing style, it read like a very well-crafted mythology book. Well, and it is. But here's the kicker: while it's true that every mythology is made up, though "real" mythology is grounded in humanity's history, Tolkien took elements from the Norse and Greek mythology (and, possibly, some others) and created a completely new one that is just as vivid, interesting and engaging. In short: it's realistic as hell. What I mean is that if there's a WW3 and all knowledge gets destroyed along with every human except for small children and if those children were then to find only a copy of this book left in the ruins, there was no way for them to know that this isn't actually our history/mythology but fantasy (well, except for this one having orks, monstruous spiders and giant eagles *lol*). It's THAT good.

If we look at it objectively, it doesn't matter if we read the Edda or the Iliad/Odyssey or Tolkien's work. They are all made-up stories and they are all insanely entertaining. What was most funny was having read LOTR last month and now reading the same story in such a condensed way as it is only one part of a very vast history.

Telperion and Laurelin, the two Trees of Valinor

I'm seriously enarmoured with this and am very likely going to read it again. ...more

flag 53 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2007 Francis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The first fantasy book I ever read and still my all-time favorite. That said, it's not for everybody. It's been compared to the Old Testament, and that's still the best analogy; if you think that Moses leading his people out of Egypt is the stuff of grand drama, then this is the book for you, Tolkien fan or not. If you don't, then you probably ought to give The Silmarillion a pass, no matter how much you liked Tolkien's other work. This is not Lord of the Rings Plus; it's quite literally the Old ...more

flag 49 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2018 daisy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

~~Re-read number 3, anyone? 😂~~

Enjoyed this re-read just as much as the last one. I love re-reading books like this one because there are always gonna be little tidbits you pick up on more after a second (or third lmao) read.

Something I only just noticed about this secondhand edition I picked up a few months ago: there's a gorgeous, giant map hidden away at the back. Definitely need to get this framed.

description

...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2014 Shii rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lit-exploration-2015, awesome-brs-with-markus

Buddy-read with Markus!

Is this book really that hard to read?
No, if you take it the right way. This books was not written to make readers like an specific plot twist or character. No! This book is solely the recompilation of various tales that happened in the world where The Lord of the Rings was settled in, from the beautifully written Ainülindale and the creation of Eä, to the end of the Third Age and the Fading Years.
That being said, you'll understand that it's not odd at all to find chapters ...more

flag 46 likes · Like · see review

Sep 15, 2011 Jonathan Terrington rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: personal-favourites, want, favourite-series, classic-literature, fantasy, tolkien

In my humble opinion, The Silmarillion is the greatest work Tolkien almost finished. It is by far more difficult to read than The Lord of the Rings (which I already expressed my love for earlier in the year after completing my re-read) or The Hobbit but its greatness is found in the way it mixes together epic fantasy, mythology and linguistics to create a grand tale of creation and destruction.

Part of what I love so much about Tolkien's entire Middle Earth story is that there is a cycle as to ho
In my humble opinion, The Silmarillion is the greatest work Tolkien almost finished. It is by far more difficult to read than The Lord of the Rings (which I already expressed my love for earlier in the year after completing my re-read) or The Hobbit but its greatness is found in the way it mixes together epic fantasy, mythology and linguistics to create a grand tale of creation and destruction.

Part of what I love so much about Tolkien's entire Middle Earth story is that there is a cycle as to how events take place. The overall events of The Silmarillion lead into the smaller events of The Hobbit which lead to The Lord of the Rings. It is a cycle that discusses the nature of archetypical good and evil and how evil does not truly die among mortals but re-invents itself in newer and lesser ways for different generations and different heroes. The ring of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is birthed of Sauron and Sauron is birthed of Morgoth.

The entire story of The Silmarillion begins with the creation tale of Middle Earth. This creation tale features around the idea of the one true god Eru Ilúvatar creating minor gods (or angels) responsible for the development of Middle Earth. Each of these beings possess some different type of reflection of who the ultimate God is, that is aside from Morgoth (who begins life as Melkor) who appears to possess all the reflected gifts of Ilúvatar.

Much as Lucifer did, Melkor attempts to become like Eru Ilúvatar, seeking the power of true creation and falling into the shadow. Melkor then moves to distort and destroy the acts of the other godly beings of Middle Earth (the Ainur) as he could not create life aside from the blessing of Eru. This leads to him becoming Morgoth and warring openly against the other Ainur, men and elves. It is these conflicts that The Silmarillion covers in detail, alongside the actual tale of the Silmarils - three mystical gems created by the elves and stolen by Morgoth for his crown.

As a rough conclusion I must admit that The Silmarillion is not for every reader. Many have complained about the rough, almost Biblical style of writing and how hard it is to read. It is not written like Tolkien's other works and part of this is because it was only in draft form when he passed away. Part of this is because it is a mythical epic and not an epic fantasy as readers commonly understand. Yet it is a work of fiction that explains best why Tolkien is the master of fantasy and one of the great fathers of modern fantasy. When 'Tolkien' clones are talked about, very few people recognise the idea of The Silmarillion. If they did then even fewer books would hold a candle in fantasy to the work of Tolkien as a whole. ...more

flag 44 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2018 Piyangie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library, brittish-lit, fantasy-classic

The Silmarillion gives a clear and comprehensive history of the mythological world Tolkien created to set his Lord of Rings trilogy. In five parts, he describes the world of which Middle Earth is a part, the spirits who rule the world (who the Men called gods), the making of Elves, Men and Dwarfs and the events that took place in the world, especially on Middle Earth from the First Age to the Third Age. In short, The Silmarillion can be safely described as a forerunner to Lord of the Rings trilo The Silmarillion gives a clear and comprehensive history of the mythological world Tolkien created to set his Lord of Rings trilogy. In five parts, he describes the world of which Middle Earth is a part, the spirits who rule the world (who the Men called gods), the making of Elves, Men and Dwarfs and the events that took place in the world, especially on Middle Earth from the First Age to the Third Age. In short, The Silmarillion can be safely described as a forerunner to Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Amidst the history, The Silmarillion also tells the dark story in the First Age, where Elves and Men in league battle with the First Dark Lord, Morgoth, to recover the "Silmarili" (three perfect jewels) which he has stolen from the High Elves. The bulk of the story (Quenta Silmarillion) is devoted to the heroism and valour of the Elves and Men in their terrible war against Morgoth, in the absence of the support of the ruling spirits (gods). Although I say there is a story (for there is), it is not a continuous and smoothly flowing story; in fact, the story is continued in detached episodes. Yet there is a sort of connectivity between the chapters to keep the readers on track with the story.

There are a huge number of characters, both Elves, and Men, without proper notes or charts that you cannot keep track of. The same can be said to places and battles. There were some helpful charts and maps in the edition I read which made the read a little easy. But I wished that I did take notes as I read along. That is a note to me when I return to it again (for I do plan to reread).

This was an interesting read, though I admit that it was one of the most difficult books that I read. What is amazing is the thoroughness that is displayed by Tolkien in creating this mythological world, the characters - Elves, Men, Dwarfs, Gods, Dark lord, and his creatures. The main characters being Elves and Men are described to the minutest detail including their different races and their descendants. It is really impressive. I have read that Tolkien always felt the absence of British lore and had felt the need to remedy the defect. I think his works quite compensate for that absence.

I did enjoy the read but I think I would have enjoyed it more had I given my full reading attention without other books getting in the way. So when I do return to this, I want to take proper time and space to read it. ...more

flag 49 likes · Like · see review

Mar 14, 2016 Jelena rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: modern, love-beyond-words

To me, “The Silmarillion” is the crown jewel of Tolkien’s work – the silmaril, if you will.

I knew the basic themes long before I started the book, and after “The Lord of the Rings” I also knew that “The Silmarillion” would be what I had been waiting for. The concept was not only radically new in its time, but is still unique in any given time-frame: a made-up cosmogony and mythology (well, it always is) of a made-up world, inhabited of made-up peoples, made-up history, made-up languages etc. Ev To me, “The Silmarillion” is the crown jewel of Tolkien’s work – the silmaril, if you will.

I knew the basic themes long before I started the book, and after “The Lord of the Rings” I also knew that “The Silmarillion” would be what I had been waiting for. The concept was not only radically new in its time, but is still unique in any given time-frame: a made-up cosmogony and mythology (well, it always is) of a made-up world, inhabited of made-up peoples, made-up history, made-up languages etc. Everything started from scratch. Still, that is not nearly the most remarkable thing. Because if I had not known what I was dealing with, I never would have considered this to be a modern rendition rather than a mythology rooted in and legitimised by its community.

Meaning to say: This sounds (reads) so staggeringly authentic! Every mythology has a familiar ring to it. After all, the do all consist of archetypical elements with a more or less prominent individual twist. And in “The Silmarillion” you get an abundance of everything to choose from. There are the imperious, demanding mania of Biblical proportions, the noble yet distant fierceness of the Edda, the disturbing darkness of the Wälsung (or Völsung) or the Kullervo as major threads. Minor ones include a cataclysm nothing short of Atlantis, a hill populated by deities of sorts, race carts in the sky etc. And an entire heap of motifs and elements that I missed or left out. Including heroes, monsters and maidens. (And with blackjack and hookers!)

The prose itself is worthy of every classic, scholarly translation of an ancient source. But equally important and far more exciting on quite an instance was the linguistic splendour and brilliance, flowing into a nuanced stratification of languages, dialects, structures, system and even loanwords within Arda. A friend said that some parts of Tolkien’s opus only a philologist could find interesting. I would hardly call it interesting. My expression of choice would be a never-ending wet dream.

In addition to that, Tolkien knows very well how to make use of emotions or to restrain them. He knows how to alternate between climaxes and anti-climaxes, when to engage and when to slow down, while keeping and intact, continuous pace. This tale is so epic in the original sense of the word, so full of glory, pride, hubris, tragedy, pathos, rise and downfall that it left me no less in awe than my favourite “real” mythologies. “The Silmarillion” is not only a perfect mimesis. It unfolds das Erhabene, the sublime, right in front of you, without emotional over-burdening. You can be enchanted and amazed, but you could hardly shed any tears over this. Anyway, would you over e.g. Beowulf? (Both the epic and the character.)

Once the tale is finished, or even before it is finished, everything falls into place. Every line of “The Lord of the Rings” and every event in Middle-earth. For with everything that it is, “The Silmarillion” is also primarily an account of the decline of a people sprouted out of their world, yet not essentially belonging to it: the Elves.

(That much we had in common. After roughly three months, I too had to leave Middle-earth behind. I knew it would be painful. But I also knew I wanted a dignified closure after pouring so many emotions into this and after everything essential had already been said. No notes, no drafts, no unfinished stories. That would only have been an ugly and ungracious life-support.)
...more

flag 43 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2018 daisy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, favourites

~~I love messy elf drama.~~

I think I actually enjoyed this more the second time around! It can be a little bit dry at times and I definitely enjoy certain chapters more than others, but I adore the world so it's always an enjoyable read tbh.

Next stop: The Hobbit and then I'm finally re-reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time in years.

flag 43 likes · Like · see review

May 05, 2019 Juho Pohjalainen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"The Shadow that bred them can only mock; it cannot make: not real, new things of its own."

Imagine if instead of throwing a tantrum and trying to destroy everything, Melkor had discovered his hidden talent for satire?

flag 43 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2011 Peter Meredith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Warning, this book is for Tolkien junkies only. It is not for casual readers of Tolkien... not--the Hobbit was kinda fun, wasn't Bilbo cute--sort of readers. In fact I believe it might be prerequisite that in order to enjoy The Silmarillion, one must have read The Lord of the Rings a minimum of three times. I am one such dedicated dweeb so I love it.

flag 42 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2014 7jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A reread. I read this the first time in April 1992, during my second trip to London (I've been there many times since, and do want to go again).

NOTE: This book is the prequel to the Hobbit-LOTR books, and if you haven't yet read those two, the ending of this book has spoilers for both.

The book (first parts being written down in 1917) is divided in five parts; the first two books deal with creation and prehistory, then comes the main part which deals with the quest to get the Silmarils, plus var ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Mar 08, 2018 Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~ marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-physical

After binge watching the extended editions of Lord of the Rings with one of my best friends, I have decided now's the time to return to Middle Earth in novel form. Very excited, very intimidated. Let's do this.

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Who's your favorite character?	29	257	Jun 16, 2020 02:53AM
Thoughts on the creation of Middle Earth	1	13	Jan 06, 2020 06:50AM
/r/Fantasy Discus...: The Silmarillion Read-along with MikeOfThePalace (Retired)	27	108	Oct 12, 2019 05:57PM
to: people who say Silmarillion is BORED	20	202	Aug 22, 2019 01:10PM
Fantasy Buddy Reads: The Silmarillion [Aug 10, 2019]	38	28	Aug 22, 2019 07:46AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fantasy

13,448 users

Fiction

3,094 users

Classics

1,767 users

See top shelves…

About J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien

57,362 followers

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, WWI veteran (a First Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army), philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the high fantasy classic works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings .

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English ...more

Other books in the series

Middle-earth Universe (1 - 10 of 26 books)

Books by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)

The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)

The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)

More…

Articles featuring this book

Dragons, demons, kings, queens, and the occasional farm boy (with a special destiny, of course): Fantasy literature has it all! To celebrate ou...

Trivia About The Silmarillion

99 trivia questions
5 quizzes

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Silmarillion

“It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.” — 290 likes

“Many are the strange chances of the world,' said Mithrandir, 'and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.” — 192 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion

(Middle-earth Universe)

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About J.R.R. Tolkien

Other books in the series

Books by J.R.R. Tolkien

Articles featuring this book

Trivia About The Silmarillion

Quotes from The Silmarillion