Silmarillion

[glen]

Is it any good?
Does anyone
have the audio version?

 

[yakko]

I don't have the audio version. I thought it was good because it set up a lot of the history of middle earth. I wish Tolkien would have had a chance to finish the whole history and realease it as a series of books.

 

[Triumph]

it's required reading. struggle through it, and you'll appreciate it later. the first few chapters are kinda hard to read, they read like the Bible. "And thus Illuvatar sayeth to the Maiyar, 'Go forth and plant thy seeds of faith and sorrow on the fields of Arda to forever blah blah balh blah BLAH!" But it gets better after that, once it starts getting into the Elves and the Numenor tales.

I'm surprised there aren't more responses to this thread. I guess most people here are just fans of the movie. lame.

 

[Wallydraigle]

The Silmarillion rocks! It's pretty different from LOTR, but it set's things up for it. I especially liked the stories of Beren and Luthien, and of Turin.

 

[sten]

I absolutely loved it for the same reason a lot of people don't -- the writing style. To me it's more "hardcore" than LOTR.

Even if you don't care for the writing style, the Silmarillion just has so much history and information that it is a must read.

 

[UberNeuman]

Melkor rules you all!

 

[Martin]

<< Melkor rules you all! >>



Turn away from the dark side while you can and accept Illuvatar's forgiveness!!




The Silmarillion is a great book, better than LotR in many ways. However, its too short. I wish the Silmarillion could have been made up from like 10 books, and be as detailed as The Unfinished Tales (which you should read after the silmarillion)

 

[kaesile]

I tried reading it quite a few years ago, but I never made it all the way through. I checked it out from the library, but it was due before I could finish.

I keep on promising myself that one day, I'll get around to finishing it... Maybe after I graduate, I guess.

From what I remember of it, it's quite different from LOTR - to me, LOTR was like a very detailed bard's tale... A travelling journal, sort of.

I thought Silmarillion was definitely bible-ish, as Triumph said. It's a lot like a history book, but it gives a great deal of background to Middle Earth mythology.

 

[Mucman]

Ver fascinating book, but hard to read the first time through... It requires a lot of imagination on the readers side.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Another thing is that there are *a lot* of different people in it, and if you don't pay attention it's hard to keep them straight. You'll definitely get more out of it the second time through.

 

[Fangorn]

Agreed. Its a VERY tough book to get through the first time.