The Silmarillion | J.R.R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion | J.R.R. Tolkien | And Now the First of the Story

books:

The Silmarillion

	The Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien Houghton Mifflin, 2004 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 663 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

The tales of The Silmarillion were the underlying inspiration and source of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing; he worked on the book throughout his life but never brought it to a final form. Long preceding in its origins The Lord of the Rings, it is the story of the First Age of Tolkien's world, the ancient drama to which characters in The Lord of the RIngs look back and in which some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part.

The title Silmarillion is shortened from Quenta Silmarillion, "The History of the Silmarils," the three great jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves, in which he imprisoned the light of the Two Trees that illumined Valinor, the land of the gods. When Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, destroyed the Trees, that light lived on only in the Silmarils; Morgoth seized them and set them in his crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his people against the gods, their exile in Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all the heroisim of Elves and Men, against the great Enemy.

The book includes several other, shorter works beside The Silmarillion proper. Preceding it are "Ainulindale," the myth of Creation, and "Valaquenta," in which the nature and powers of each of the gods is set forth. After The Silmarillion is "Akallabeth," the story of the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age; completing the volume is "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," in which the events of The Lord of the Rings are treated in the manner of The Silmarillion.

This new edition of The Silmarillion contains the revised and corrected
"second edition" text and, by way of introduction, a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1951, which provides a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages. It also contains almost fifty full-color illustrations by the artist Ted Nasmith, many of which appear for the first time.

for more information click here

Must read

Wasn't my intention, but I read Tolkien's books, in this order, LOTR, Hobbit, Turin, and Silmarillion. I think it has worked out quite well reading them in reverse chonologic order.

The Silmarlillion is a fantastic backdrop and foundation to the entire world Tolkien has created. A Masterpiece.

And Now the First of the Story

If you liked Lord of the Ring's and want to know more about this world then this is Well Worth a Read.

Tolkien's Middle-Earth history

The Silmarillion is Tolkien's original background story for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This book does not read like a typical novel though, and really is for the serious Tolkien fan. It's a mythology, and a wonderfully developed one at that. Here we have the history of Middle-Earth going back to the First Age. It's a tale of creation and long ago origins, the elves and dwarves, Morgoth the Dark Lord, the forging of the Nine rings and the creation of the One Ring that is the basis for the story, The Lord of the Rings.

I've enjoyed this book so much that I've read it 3 times and now plan on continuing with Morgoth's Ring, the first of 2 books considered to be the second Silmarillion. I'm very impressed with the amount of time and effort Tolkien went into creating such a fantasic world as Middle-Earth, not just the history, but the languages as well. Very impressive. 5 stars.

for more information click here

Middle Earth Bible

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.

for more information click here