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Summary: Great Pre-history/mythology/folk tales of Middle Earth
Review: I gave this book to my brother, a great Tolkien fan, for Christmas when it was first published and he didn't like it. So I didn't read it until 10 years later when a friend told me it was great. I agree, it is great, but it will not appeal to every Tolkien fan. It is a pre-history, which includes the creation myth and the development of the "gods/goddesses" who inhabited the universe and middle earth before man and the elves came, as well as the story of the elves and also a little prehistory of men. The trilogy is primarily about men and this book is primarily about elves. The early parts of the book will interest those who like mythology. The later chapters are the pre-history and folk tales which are often mentioned as historical/legendary events or figures in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The trilogy does not delve into that history, it merely piques our interest in the legendary characters which are mentioned. The Silmarillion gives us the stories of these legendary battles and characters. I reread the Silmarillion last year and truly enjoyed it. Particularly the story of Beren and Luthien. The history of the two trees is also especially lovely. If you like fairy tales and folk stories. There's a lot of material here for you. The style of writing is often different from the trilogy. But I find it altogether enjoyable.
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Summary: A most amazing piece of lliteraray work of this century
Review: I read LOTR and found it to be a masterpiece of fiction. It contained all the things that I thought were necessary for an epic. What genius to creat this trilogy It is comparable to Homer inventing all of greek mythology and then writing the Illiad. No book has yet to capture My attention in such a way that I could read this book over and over again. It is difficult reading but It is well worth it. I hope for future readers it will be too. My favorite part (of which there were many), was when Eowyn the princess of Rohan slews The Lord Of the Nazgul with the help of Meriadoc the Hobbit. To me this part created such a mixture of emotions. The Silmarillion also lives up to the standards of LOTR. If anything it has a more magical fictious feeling than LOTR but that just adds to its to overwhelming descriptive and imaginitive compulation. I hope as well that most people who read this book like it as much as I did.
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Summary: its of biblical proportions
Review: This has to be among the best books I've ever read. It's difficult reading, as it reads more like the Bible than LotR, but in the end it's much more satisfying for it. To call this book an epic is an understatement. I recommend it to all who can read it without rushing it.
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Summary: A Literary Genius.
Review: This is a must for those who have read the LOTR. I read it when I was 10, so I was a bit confused, but I still thought that it was a really great book. Last year I read it again and liked it even better.
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Summary: the best book ever written
Review: After reading The Lord of the Rings, I fell in love with Tolkien's fantasy universe that he created. Then, a friend of mine, also a Tolkien fan, told me to read the Silmarillion. It is the best book I have ever read. This epic will make your heart leap and be broken. No other author can fit so much sadness and happiness into one story. You almost feel like a part of the mighty tale when you seige Angband as Fingolfin, die saving Beren as Finrod Felagund, and fall in love with a mortal as Luthien Tinuviel, fairest of all the children of Iluvatar. No other book will make your emotions and mind stir as much as this one. Although the beginning is a little slow, endure and you will be rewarded. If you have read The Lord of the Rings and wish to understand better the creation of Arda and the First Age, read this book. In my opinion, it far out ranks the original trilogy. Those who didn't like this book can be described as nothing else but complete fools. Take my word. Read this book. Thank you for your time.
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Summary: Preaty good, myth wize
Review: Well, liked how tolkien creates a whole new world, and then builds a plot from that. Very good, I like the part where that big spider girl attacks melkor best. I wonder, why arnt there any gods that roam around in middle earth in the lord of the rings?. Preaty good, thought it is LONG.
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Summary: An epic story...
Review: The Silmarillion is one of the most stirring, well-written literary epics I have read. Every time I pick it up, I am captivated by Tolkien's mastery of language and storytelling; each chapter is written as a story unto itself, yet part of a whole that makes you want to read more. He has created a whole new mythos...just read "Of the Sun and the Moon", and you will be drawn into this world. Should be on every high-school reading list.
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Summary: Tokien: First-born among storytellers
Review: In the Silmarillion, Tolkien describes the creation of the world as an evolving chorus sung by the Angels. The Dark Lord rebels in braying discord, but the clear melody of the One God ultimately triumphs. Tolkien's passage describing the Song of the One is perhaps the truest review of the Silmarillion itself: the faintest whisper at first, becoming slow, deep, and wide, possessed of an almost unbearable sorrow from which chiefly arises its beauty. Tolkien's elegantly crafted prose creates a web of many hundreds of hauntingly realistic lives that captures, then pierces your heart with the overwhelming tragedy and nobility of the human condition. A must read for serious students of the soul.
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Summary: A beautiful and sorrowful masterwork!
Review: This tome, although a tough read, contains such an overabundance of both joy and sorrow that reading it makes my heart dance and my head swim. The WORLD that is created on these pages is utterly amazing and the peoples who inhabit this world touch my soul like no book I have ever come across. The many individual stories that make up this book are so filled with emotion that one cannot help but to be left awestruck by their scope and majesty. The way that Tolkien weaves these sundry tales together to form a cohesive history of Middle Earth never fails to remind me that J.R.R. Tolkien had the most fertile mind of anyone who has set a pen to paper in many an age. May he rest in peace in his beloved Middle Earth.
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Summary: Long starting, but powerful!
Review: This book is based on a war among gods for a ring of great power. The setting of the story is a place called Middle Earth. Some of the characters include Melkor, an evil beast that wishes to take the ring and destroy Middle Earth, Beleg, a god that gave his life to save the ring, and Sauron, a demon that is Melkor's underling. My opinion of the book was that it got boring at one point, and then got exciting the next few lines. It is a strong book and enjoyable. I recommend this story to any one who is patient for the action parts in a story and willing to sit through forty page chapters.
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