Reviews - El silmarillion | The StoryGraph

4.51k reviews for:

El silmarillion

J.R.R. Tolkien

4.01 AVERAGE

teri_b's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It took me a while to get into this book. After all it is a compilation of stories about the world we encounter in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Once I got into it, I did not want it to end.
It has something incredibly enigmatic to create your own myths, mythology and explanations of how the world came about that we now inhabit. It is an all-time favourite of mine now.

abhchan's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Pretty elaborate background mythology to the Lord of the Rings. It’s written in a very fast paced manner condensing a very long timeline into a pretty fast paced series of vignettes. Dense reading with lots of names and events, but adds a rich history to some of the happenings and songs in LOTR.

christianoliverio's review against another edition

3.0

When someone says they read Tolkien for the lore, picture this book as "the lore" as that is all this is. All the rich lore, themes, cultures, myths, and legends compacted into a single book. This is how you know Tolkien was truly devoted to his own worldbuilding. The Silmarillion is a freakin' history textbook for a fictional world! And I love it! Don't get me wrong, that glossary is necessary for understanding this, and it certainly is a dry read. BUT the lore behind it and the story told across millennia is truly awesome. Satan--I mean Morgoth--rebelling and plunging the world into a darkness that lasted centuries and the races of the world, even united couldn't stop this without the aid of Heaven? Yes. Immortal spirits (elves) rebelling against the gods to gain vengeance against Morgoth? Yes, please. A civil war waged over centuries for precious heirlooms, drawing in multiple races and countries, culminating in the fall of all the free kingdoms until a mortal man; who was forced to watch his children tragically die after they learn they have committed the unforgivable sin of incest but, hey, they killed a dragon on the way; this mortal man is able to overcome his grief, take up his sword and march against the forces of darkness, uniting the free peoples against this shadow that has forced the land into darkness for centuries?! YES, PLEASE! If you like learning about lore, mythology, and history, this is certainly a must read after Lord of the Rings. But if you didn't love Lord of the Rings and can't stand history or mythology, you'll probably hate this.

rodravn's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

kristofthegreat's review against another edition

2.0

This book is Booooring! It's the history of everything in Middle Earth prior to The Hobbit and was taken from JRR Tolkien ' s notes by his son. Then edited into something resembling a story to make a buck. if you appreciate very dry narrative and want to read a text book about ME, this is for you.