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gianlucafiore 's review for:

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
5.0

Sixth (or seventh) reread and there's no way this will get less than 5 stars from me. Masterpiece. There are paragraphs that are more epic than whole books of modern fantasy.

Plus, unpopular opinion warning, it is a straightforward read. It may be weird at the very beginning but once you are 5-6 chapters in, it gets easy to follow. Can't fathom why people complain about the complexity and the abundance of characters. The plot follows the same 30-40 characters for throughout the book, with many dying quite early, and the action is in a handful of realms. The book has a detailed map and multiple genealogies to help you get who is who. One book of a recent fantasy series has roughly the same number of characters. I read the Silmarillion as a kid and always found it super-easy to follow. End of the unpopular opinion.