Rating: 
Summary: A History of Elves
Review: This book is actually divided into 5 main sections, with the middle and main portion being the actual "Quenta Silmarillion" with the detailed account of Elvish lore. The first two sections deal with the creation of Middle Earth by Illuvatar, the god of Middle Earth. Although it is written as prose, it has a beautiful poetic quality to it. However, from the very beginning of the book it becomes evident that if you really want to read the Silmarillion, you have to grapple with an enormous number of names and characters. Unfortunately, although it is a testament to Tolkien's amazing creativity, he frequently gives multiple names to the characters and places in the books, all-the-more complicating the task of keeping the huge cast straight in your head. For this reason, I found the maps in the book and the index of names at the back invaluable. Although it certainly requires more patience, flipping back and forth from the index and maps to get a pretty firm grip on who the major characters are will greatly increase your enjoyment of the book. Some of the best parts are in the middle with Beren and Luthien's tale, and the records of Turin's valor. One of my personal favorites was the account of Fingolfin's challenge to combat with Morgoth. For those looking for background info for the LOTR and Hobbit, you won't find much directly pertinent to those books until the last two sections of the book, dealing with Numenor (the great race of men) and the forging of the rings of power. Although it is chronologically prior to the Hobbit and LOTR trilogy, I would definitely recommmend reading those books first. The Silmarillion is a difficult read (although it get much easier after the first 75 or so pages) and will be most enjoyed by dedicated fans of Tolkien's writings looking for more history of the intriguing Middle Earth. Perhaps my only disappointment with the book is that it is such a dramatic difference in style from the action & dialogue-filled Hobbit and LOTR. However the Silmarillion has a beauty (and tragedy) of its own.
Rating: 
Summary: A thrilling and deeply beautiful book
Review: This book is a masterpiece of epic fantasy. It has a
rythme of its own that is both deep and beautiful. I suggest reading it aloud; the moving language and many strange (but wonderful) names are a pleasure to speak and hear.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the Greatest of Tolkien's Works
Review: The Silmarillion is, altogether, a triumph. Its joys and griefs are deeper than those of The Lord of the Rings, and its stories are more beautiful and haunting. The price paid for this is the writing. It is intensely descriptive, and does not read quickly. A bit of patience is nessacery to start the Silmarillion, but any reader who gets a little ways into it will quickly forget the frustration of the first few pages. Among the highlights of the volume are the tale of Beren and Lutien, which speaks of a love born between the kindreds of elves and men which is haunted by the sorrow of the enemy; the tale of Turin Turambar, which is a haunting account of fate, courage, and the power of a desperate will against evil; and the tale of Earendil, which is Tolkien's message of enduring hope and an account of the end of the first age. This book is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: To Be Sipped, Rather Than Gulped
Review: ... ... this is NOT a novel. It is, rather, a collection of stories, more or less chronologically arranged, detailing the history of Middle-earth, from the creation of its universe to the end of its Third Age (the time period in which Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings take place). If you go into The Silmarillion expecting a ...kicking fantasy novel along the lines of LOTR, you will more than likely be sadly disappointed. Having said that, I think this is some of Tolkien's best work. The key thing to remember is that this is fine wine, not Boone's Farm (not that there's anything wrong with Boone's Farm ;)) - it is to be sipped, rather than gulped. However, plain sailing it's not. A few tips, then, to hopefully make your reading experience a more pleasurable one. 1) Read The Hobbit and LOTR FIRST. They are much more acessible introductions to Tolkien's universe than The Silmarillion is. Also, there are some major spoilers to LOTR in The Silmarillion, so if you read The Silmarillion first, you'll know how LOTR turns out before you read it (a very bad thing). 2) You'll probably find it helpful to read The Silmarillion as soon as possible after finishing LOTR, especially if you at least skim its appendices. The will give you a helpful road map to The Silmarillion. 3) Take it slow, particularrly in reading the first 60-70 pages. Remember, this is a gourmet meal, so take the time to savor each morsel. Read 15 or 20 pages, set it aside, meditate on it for awhile, and then pick it back up again. You might also find it helpful to read certain passages aloud, not just for clarification's sake, but to really appreciate the poetry of Tolkien's prose. 4) This may sound ridiculous, but I found it helpful to write down the names the chiefs of the Valar (Manwe, Varda, Ulmo, etc.) with a brief description of each on a 3 X 5 card and use it as a bookmark, so I had a handy reference of who was who while I was reading. 5) Don't be afraid to look stuff up! Christopher Tolkien was kind enough to include genealoies, a table detailing the Sundering of the Elves, a glossary of names, and other helpful references in the back of the book. Also, you might find an additional glossary, such as Robert Foster's excellent Complete Guide To Middle-Earth, helpful to your enjoyment of the book. Having said all that, if you get 70 or so pages into it and it's just not happening for you, you're probably better of just dropping it and reading something else. It's okay - it's not a book for everyone. But if you do decide to stick it out - enjoy! This is epic storytelling at its best.
Rating:
Summary: The History
Review: The Silmarillion consists of a history of Middle Earth from the creation through most of the period before the Lord of the Rings stories take place. It is written as a history, not as a modern novel (unlike Lord of the Rings); and so do not read it expecting a novel. However, if you are very addicted to the Lord of the Rings saga and plan to read it again, the Silmarillion will definitely provide a lot of key historic information that will enhance your enjoyment of the Lord of the Rings. It will help you understand the origins of the races and many of the names and places mentioned in the songs and tales which may have seemed rather obscure the first time around. You should also read The Price of Immortlaity, you will not be disappointed
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Summary: For Believers of Tolkien's World...
Review: This novel is for those who truly believe in Middle Earth. If you are not completely taken with Tolkien's realm and fantasy, then you won't apprectiate the beautiful, stunning technique he uses to descibe the coming of the Valar in the first few chapters. You won't notice the little things that later come into play big time in the LOTR novels(for example, how the Ents come into existance). The Silmarillion is a history, and if one has studied the history of our world then he or she knows that a history book front to back has too much to be absorbed for a single reading. Take your time with this book and appreciate it for what it offers, an insiders look into what the inhabitants of middle earth consider to be the history of their own world.
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Summary: From Light into Darkness
Review: For those of you who adore the great narrative of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, or the charm and vigor of THE HOBBIT, you owe it to yourself to at least attempt to read THE SILMARILLION. Tolkien spent most of his life writing and rewriting the tales that comprise the full story of the First Age of Middle-Earth. Although he sadly died before completing the work, enough remained for his son to edit THE SILMARILLION into publishable form. Although it shot to the top of the bestseller lists when it was first published in the 1970s, it is certainly the least read of all Tolkien's works. The book - which is nothing less than an entire cosmology and myth cycle covering the creation of the world, the religion of Middle-Earth (oh yes, there is one), and its history during the thousands of years which elapsed before (and led up to) the War of the Rings - was perhaps not meant to be popular. As so many other reviewers have noted, the language of THE SILMARILLION is quite archaic (deliberately so) and hard to grasp. Recall that Tolkien spent decades creating the languages of Middle-Earth long before the LORD OF THE RINGS took shape in his mind, and you will understand what this book is and how it is supposed to be read. Like the Greek world's ILLIAD and ODYSSEY, (or even the Bible) THE SILMARILLION is meant to read like a collection of myths so ancient that centuries elapsed before they were written down, not like a novel in which we travel as narrators. Indeed, THE SILMARILLION sounds much better read aloud or even chanted, than consulted in silence. The subject of the book is the War between the great leaders of the Elves - assisted by some of the first men - against the Great Dark Lord, Morgoth (Sauron's "boss") for possession of the Jewels made by the Elves in their pride and stolen by Morgoth from the land of the gods. Although the haughty language of the book may discourage the casual reader, once you allow yourself to get caught up in the story, you will be riveted. THE SILMARILLION is ultimately concerned with the same theme as RINGS - the corruption that inevitably comes from power and the inability of thinking beings to let go of pride and materialism. From the earliest portion of the book, it is obvious that Morgoth cannot be defeated, and that the Elves allowed their immortality and their long residence in the land of the gods - Valinor - to lead them into temptation. For those of you who wondered why the Elves - who seem so powerful in Tolkien's other works - were so reluctant to involve themselves directly in the War of the Ring, the litany of their mistakes and miscalculations contained in THE SILMARILLION will answer your questions. The book is not a hopeful one - although it contains much beauty among its tales of grief. Time and time again, the lust for power and rigid adherence to ill-chosen oaths destroys one mighty lord (and a few ladies) after another. The individual tales are all tragic, and only grow more so as the reader comes to realize that the bulk of the miserable events that take place could have been avoided. The Elves, who to the human reader seem to have so many advantages (like eternal life and youth), are fatally flawed by their own hubris, which leads them to think that they can defeat the Dark Lord. Although much good comes from their attempt to do so, much of the evil that winds up besetting Middle-Earth in Tolkien's other works can be laid at the door of the Elves. The fact that none of the characters in the book intend to do evil makes the story all the more heartbreaking. If you can handle the language, THE SILMARILLION is a profound tale of struggle and a great series of adventures that will break your heart, for even as you hope that good will triumph, it is not to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing and confounding
Review: Certainly a treat for Tolken fans, but hard for the rest of us to interpret.
Rating:
Summary: challenging but elegent
Review: this is a very beutiful novel but it is not read like a story line like lord of the rings it is like reading the bible. it is also very challenging to read. you really have to concentrate to read this book so if your kids read lord of the ring do not get this book for them. they will not understand it. and they will think it is boring
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Summary: Concise review for newcomers
Review: For those of you who just read The Lord of the Rings -- do read LotR first -- this is a totally different experience. While LotR puts the reader in the midst of the action through the use of sympathetic characters one can relate to and graphic exposition and description, The Silmarillion is more distant, reading like a cross between The Bible and a good book of classic mythology. There is one overriding story of a great war between the High Elves and the first Dark Lord, Melkor, but the story takes place over the course of many millenia, encompassing the rise and fall of many great kingdoms and heroes among elves and men. Like classical heroes, the great elves and men of The Silmarillion are the titans and gods of myth, mighty in deed, but subject to catastrophic tragic flaws and flights of hubris. Like the Norse gods, they have an inevitable doom hanging over them. LotR readers might be surprised especially at how petty, vicious, and treacherous some of the elves are portrayed. Like classical myth, the world of The Simarillion is pure hyperbole and fancy -- there are literal earth shaking battles, tales of endurance rivaling Orpheus' descent into Hades, descriptions of magic realms that could never be literally believed. Unlike LotR, where you might suspend your disbelief, you could not believe in the cosmos of The Silmarillion, unless you can believe that the world was once flat and lit by two giant lamps, or that Venus is actually a magic gem on a ship sailing through the sky. Still, the freer, more mythological framework of this book allows more fantastic stories and situations to unfold than ever imagined in LotR. The image that sticks in my mind most after recently re-reading this book is the aerial duel between Earendil in his flying ship and Ancalagon, the mighty black winged dragon. In the Silmarillion you will find the genesis of most of the major races and magical creatures of Middle Earth. Hobbits get almost no mention, except in a closing chapter that deals with the Third Age, included to provide a complete history of the High Elves in Middle Earth. Some of the names occurring in this book will be familiar to LotR readers, but aside from Galadriel and Sauron, no major characters from LotR appear in The Silmarillion. Sauron is as frightening, or perhaps even more frightening as in LotR -- in The Silmarillion, he is a shape changing Lord of vampires and werewolves. By contrast, The Dark Lord Melkor comes off as rather buffoonish and cowardly, subject to remarkable lapses in judgment and easilly fooled by puerile ruses, as in the story of Beren of Luthien, wherein an elf princess tricks him into letting his guard down by dancing for him. My other complaint, besides the lack of a really frightening main villain, would be the lack of detail in the book at times. This last problem can be attributed to the richness of Tolkein's imagination. He had so many stories to tell that they could not have all fit in one book; indeed, including everything alluded to would have made The Silmarillion too long and cumbersome. But I did feel like I wanted more at times. In conclusion, I would say that this is an excellent book, dramatic, poetic, and epic, but not for everyone, not even all fans of the Lord of the Rings. But if you have a taste for tales of epic battles, tragedy, and supernatural wonder, I highly recommend it.
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