Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Story of Arda.
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2020
What an absolute master.
I read the first 80 pages or so of this book from June of last year to April of this one. I then read the next 300 pages in the last seven days. I absolutely could not put it down. While it is true that portions of this book are dull, dense, or wordy, I do not think these were reasons why it took me so long to get through the beginning. Rather, because of my perception of the book I attempted to read this book little by little as a side endeavor to my main reading. This was a mistake. I am not someone who can offer half-baked concentration to a book, and The Silmarillion is a book which demands one's full attention. But I want to make one thing clear about this book, because it has a pretty heavy reputation (as was made immediately clear whenever I brought up the fact that I was reading it). The Silmarillion is a must read. Yes there are a thousand names and sometimes it's slow and on occasion it feels like you're reading an encyclopedia of mythology. Those things aren't untrue, but they do not encompass this story. Understand that these things are (in my opinion) overblown, and beyond them is a vast reward.
If you are a fan of Tolkien's world you simply must read it. I can say nothing--offer no praise--in this review that has not already been heaped upon Tolkien a million times over; but he deserves it. I have never (not after reading The Hobbit, not after reading Lord of the Rings, both of which I love), ever been as enthusiastic about Tolkien's world as I am right now having just finished this book. It is an absolute masterwork. It is the most fully realized world I have ever had the pleasure to read, and was built by an absolute master of the craft. I know that people sometimes bounce off the language, as it comes off archaic, but what a disservice you are doing yourself! Tolkien is a linguist, and thus he comes at his creations from the very heart of things; the very origin of the workings of our thoughts and mind. He builds languages and worlds pour forth. He even commented in a letter to his editor that he felt that these stories were not merely inventions, but something that was being channeled through him. "...yet always I had the sense of recording what was already ‘there’, somewhere: not of ‘inventing’." The skill of his writing simply can't be understated. I mean, I could read the man's grocery list and be happy. There is a reason a book of his letters was published (and I'll definitely be reading it). Reading it after Lord of the Rings is the way do it I think, because it adds so much to it when you eventually circle back around. LotR throws around names and places and events that intrigue and astound, and ignite the fires of mystery within the reader. The Silmarillion fans those flames, and shows you how the fire was built. So I say again: if you are a fan of deep, realized worlds and expert writing, what are you waiting for?
But beyond his technical skill The Silmarillion is a veritable gold-mine for fans of Fantasy (and obviously fans of the Lord of the Rings). Tolkien takes those tantalizingly mysterious legends of the Third Age and weaves them into a complex and nuanced tapestry of mythic, tragic tales. This is the story of the First Age (and less so the Second and Third). The story of Arda. Stories of Iluvatar and the Valar and Maia. Of Melkor, later Morgoth. Of the Eldar and the Silmarils. Of the first Men. Of the Numenorean kings. Of oaths broken and oaths fulfilled. Tolkien crafts an entire mythos full of beauty and wonder. Full of grand deeds and creations. Full of love. But also full of corruption and hate; avarice and war. He is truly a weaver of myth and legend, and it is no wonder his work is still being read all these years later. In the Lord of the Rings one has the tangible sense that there is an entire world stalking the shadows behind this story. In The Silmarillion, that sense is proved true. Bravo.
