Reviews - The Silmarillion

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

4.62k reviews for:

The Silmarillion

J.R.R. Tolkien

4.01 AVERAGE

semantiksairin's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

semantiksairin's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cathepsut's review against another edition

3.0

challenging informative slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It was time that I read this as a fan of The Hobbit and LOTR. I decided to listen to the 19+ hour audiobook narrated by Andy Serkis. I also have a pretty, illustrated hardback version.

Not easy. Pretty dry, a lot of names. Every now and then someone or something popped up that I knew. I glimpsed some snippets that reminded me of Rings of Power—I didn‘t even finish the first season. Or did I? It was ok, but didn‘t grab me.

Somewhere werewolves made an appearance. And then vampires… that was some interesting imagery in my head.

Andy Serkis does an excellent job. I was surprised by his pleasant voice. When I see his name, all I hear in my head is Gollum. Storytel also has a shorter audiobook narrated by Martin Shaw, who I like as an actor as well. I listened to some of that version and I am happy that I went with the other version. It includes Christopher Tolkien‘s Foreword, the Preface to the Second Edition and From a Letter By J.R.R. Tolkien.

My hardcover has two maps, 52 illustrations, interesting tables and various notes.

So, bottom line, what did I take away from this? Tolkien built a massive, intricate world with own languages and an elaborate history. Does it make for a readable book? Not really. But if you want more background to The Hobbit and LOTR, this is the way to go.

cfarrani's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

fabrizio_sh's review against another edition

5.0

dark inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

stephenbottawa's review against another edition

5.0

Reread for the first time in many years. I’ve always loved Tolkien and I think this is wonderful.

katlyn_lastrange's review against another edition

5.0

I had to take this book a chapter a day, and it was difficult to read, but it was worth the long journey through Middle Earth's history. I enjoyed diving deep and getting my questions answered. Each story was deep and well done. The Silmarillion reflects our own history and brings to life the mystery and charm of fairy tales, while all through out are Biblical truths.