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J. R. R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion Hardcover – November 15, 2004

by J.R.R. Tolkien (Author)

19,412 ratings

Related to: Lord of the Rings

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The tales of The Silmarillion were the underlying inspiration and source of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing; he worked on the book throughout his life but never brought it to a final form. Long preceding in its origins The Lord of the Rings, it is the story of the First Age of Tolkien's world, the ancient drama to which characters in The Lord of the RIngs look back and in which some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part.

The title Silmarillion is shortened from Quenta Silmarillion, "The History of the Silmarils," the three great jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves, in which he imprisoned the light of the Two Trees that illumined Valinor, the land of the gods. When Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, destroyed the Trees, that light lived on only in the Silmarils; Morgoth seized them and set them in his crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his people against the gods, their exile in Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all the heroisim of Elves and Men, against the great Enemy.

The book includes several other, shorter works beside The Silmarillion proper. Preceding it are "Ainulindale," the myth of Creation, and "Valaquenta," in which the nature and powers of each of the gods is set forth. After The Silmarillion is "Akallabeth," the story of the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age; completing the volume is "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," in which the events of The Lord of the Rings are treated in the manner of The Silmarillion.

This new edition of The Silmarillion contains the revised and corrected "second edition" text and, by way of introduction, a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1951, which provides a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages. It also contains almost fifty full-color illustrations by the artist Ted Nasmith, many of which appear for the first time.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Morrow
Publication date

November 15, 2004
Dimensions

7.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0618391118
ISBN-13

978-0618391110
Lexile measure

1150L
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Popular Highlights in this book

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Now the Children of Ilúvatar are Elves and Men, the Firstborn and the Followers.
Highlighted by 2,506 Kindle readers
Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkas, who is surnamed Astaldo, the Valiant.
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Aulë has might little less than Ulmo. His lordship is over all the substances of which Arda is made.
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From the Publisher


	The Great Tales of Middle-earth	The History of Middle-earth Boxed Set	The History of Middle-earth, Part One	The History of Middle-earth, Part Two	The History of Middle-earth, Part Three	The Silmarillion
	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓


	Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth	The Nature of Middle-earth	The Atlas of Middle-earth	A Middle-earth Traveler	The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A creation of singular beauty... magnificent in its best moments." — The Washington Post

About the Author

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow; Second edition (November 15, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0618391118
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0618391110
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1150L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #37,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,485 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #2,924 in Epic Fantasy (Books)
- #3,500 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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J. R. R. Tolkien

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J.R.R. Tolkien was born on 3rd January 1892. After serving in the First World War, he became best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, selling 150 million copies in more than 40 languages worldwide. Awarded the CBE and an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University, he died in 1973 at the age of 81.

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Hardcover versions compared

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

This is a review of the editions, with an image, not the text itself. If I'm wrong about anything let me know and I'll correct it.

1998 edition:
Cover: “Maglor casts a Silmaril …” (male throwing white gem against red background)
18 illustrations by Ted Nasmith
Readable, nice, can be found around $20-$30 used. Crazy that this edition is almost 35 years old.
Art:
1. The Sea
2. The Lamp of the Valar
3. At Lake Cuiviénen
4. The Light of Valinor on the Western Sea
5. Fingolfin Leads the Host across the Helcaraxe
6. The First Dawn of the Sun
7. Maedhros's Rescue from Thangorodrim
8. Eöl Welcomes Aredhel
9. Felagund among Beor's Men
10. By Moonlight in Neldoreth Forest
11. Lúthien Escapes upon Huan
12. Morgoth Punishes Húrin
13. Túrin and his Band are Led to Amon Radh
14. Finduilas is Led past Túrin at the Sack of Nargothrond
15. Ulmo Appears before Tor
16. Eärendil the Mariner
17. The Eagles of Manwe
18. The Ships of the Faithful
Front over: Maglor Casts a Silmaril into the Sea
Back cover: Beren and Luthien are carried to Safety

2004 edition:
Cover: “White Ships of Valinor” (white boats sailing in fair weather, island in background)
45 illustrations by Ted Nasmith
Glossy paper, which can be a positive or negative I guess
Can be found around $25 new, which is a DEAL. This is mine for reading without fear of damaging a collector’s item.
Art:
1. The Sea
2. The Lamp of the Valar
3. Aule Prepares to Destroy His Children
4. At Lake Cuiviénen
5. The Light of Valinor on the Western Sea
6. The Ships of the Teleri Drawn by Swans
7. The Kinslaying at Alqualonde
8. Fingolfin Leads the Host across the Helcaraxe
9. The First Dawn of the Sun
10. The Burning of the Ships
11. Maedhros' Rescue from Thangorodrim
12. The Gates of Sirion
13. Eöl Welcomes Aredhel
14. Eöl is Led to the Walls
15. Felagund among Beor's Men
16. Fingolfin's Wrath
17. The Orc-Host is Ambushed in Brethil
18. Tarn Aeluin
19. By Moonlight in Neldoreth Forest
20. Lúthien Escapes upon Huan
21. Transformed
22. Beren and Lúthien are Carried to Safety
23. Huan's Leap
24. Morgoth Punishes Húrin
25. The Hill of Slain
26. Saeros' Fatal Leap
27. Túrin and his Band are Led to Amon Rûdh
28. Beleg is Slain
29. Túrin Bears Gwindor to Safety
30. Finduilas is Led past Túrin at the Sack of Nargothrond
31. Túrin Reaches the Abandoned Homestead
32. Up the Rainy Stair
33. Húrin Finds Morwen
34. Tuor Follows the Swans to Vinyamar
35. Ulmo Appears before Tuor
36. Tuor and Voronwe see Turin at the Pools of Ivrin
37. The Escape from Gondolin
38. Maglor Casts a Silmaril into the Sea
39. Earendil the Mariner
40. White Ships from Valinor
41. The Eagles of Manwe
42. Tar-Miriel and the Great Wave
43. The Ships of the Faithful
44. The Forging of the One
45. The White Tree

2021 edition:
Cover: “Ships of the Faithful” ship sailing amidst storm/red sky
49 illustrations by Ted Nasmith
Can be found closer to $40
Regular flat paper, not glossy. More standard book-shaped, whereas the 2004 version is more square, like a coffee table book. Mine was used and did NOT include a fold-out map, but the colorized Christopher Tolkien Beleriand map is in the front plate and endplate (inside the cover, both ends).
Art:
1. The Sea
2. The Lamp of the Valar
3. Aule Prepares to Destroy His Children
4. At Lake Cuiviénen
5. The Light of Valinor on the Western Sea
6. The Ships of the Teleri Drawn by Swans
7. The Kinslaying at Alqualonde
8. Fingolfin Leads the Host across the Helcaraxe
9. The First Dawn of the Sun
10. The Burning of the Ships
11. Maedhros' Rescue from Thangorodrim
12. The Gates of Sirion
13. Eöl Welcomes Aredhel
14. Eöl is Led to the Walls
15. Felagund among Beor's Men
16. Fingolfin's Wrath
17. Turgon at Fingolfin's Cairn
18. The Orc-Host is Ambushed in Brethil
19. At Tarn Aeluin
20. By Moonlight in Neldoreth Forest
21. Lúthien Escapes upon Huan
22. Transformed
23. Beren and Lúthien are Carried to Safety
24. Huan's Leap
25. Lúthien at Tol Galen
26. Morgoth Punishes Húrin
27. The Hill of Slain
28. Saeros' Fatal Leap
29. Túrin and his Band are Led to Amon Rûdh
30. Beleg is Slain
31. Túrin Bears Gwindor to Safety
32. Finduilas is Led past Túrin at the Sack of Nargothrond
33. Túrin Reaches the Abandoned Homestead
34. Up the Rainy Stair
35. The Slaying of Glaurung
36. Húrin Finds Morwen
37. Tuor Follows the Swans to Vinyamar
38. Ulmo Appears before Tuor
39. Tuor and Voronwe see Türin at the Pools of Ivrin
40. The Escape from Gondolin
41. Eärendil Searches Tirion
42. Maglor Casts a Silmaril into the Sea
43. Eärendil the Mariner
44. White Ships from Valinor
45. The Eagles of Manwe
46. Tar-Miriel and the Great Wave
47. The Ships of the Faithful
48. The Forging of the One
49. The White Tree

2022 edition:
Blue cover with circular design
59 illustrations by Tolkien himself – BUT more than half of these are “devices,” neat little square symbols at the start of a chapter and so on—not big full color paintings or drawings.
Around $40. Be aware, Tolkien’s artwork consists more of drawings and sketches with limited color. They are not the epic Ted Nasmith paintings you see in others. If you value his quaint older sketches, these are great. Personally, Nasmith’s objectively better work is more inspiring and helps me engage in the story. Tolkien is a GREAT writer, and a pretty good artist. Nasmith is a GREAT artist.

I like them all. If I was only going to get one, I’d get the 2004 version because you get a ton of great Nasmith artwork for an insanely cheap twenty-five bucks (today). Tolkien’s own art is neat, but if you want to be encouraged through a dense book, Nasmith’s art helps pull you in and pull you along.

81 people found this helpful

Helpful

David Hoffman

No Hobbits Here

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

There are no Hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien's Silmarilion. This may appear to be a trivial observation but it is an observation worth considering when reading Tolkien's works. Tolkien, it seems, wrote in two styles. He had a "low" style that he used in The Hobbit. This was a familiar, wryly humorous style, perhaps too deliberately written for children in places to be entirely successful as a children's story. The other style is a grand, epic style, more suited for the affairs of kings, elves and great battles. The Lord of the Rings was a mixture of these two styles. It began in much the same style as The Hobbit, but as the story became more serious and the danger of the Ring and its pursuers more acute, the style became darker and more serious to match. By The Return of the King, with its tale of the great War of the Ring, the style became almost entirely, but not quite, the grand style. There were always the hobbits to return the story to a more down to earth level.

The Silmarilion is written entirely in the grand style. The stories are epic tales of gods, elves and men fighting against the first, and far mightier, dark lord Morgoth. There is little room for the sort of humble details of everyday life found in The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings. The characters are all kings and heroes of ancient times, not humble gardeners. This is not to say that The Silmarilion is not a good book to read. It is an excellent book, and Tolkien is, in his way, comparable to the great composers of national epics like Homer or Vergil. That was indeed his intention when he began writing these stories of the Elder Days and to some extent he did succeed.

There are actually five parts to the Silmarilion. The first part is called the Ainulindale and tells of the creation of the world by Eru, the One, who the Elves call Illuvatar. Illuvatar first creates the angelic powers or Ainur, and teaches them to sing to a melody He has made. This song was a vision of the world and many of the Ainur longed to dwell in that world so Illuvatar created it and sent the Ainur, or Valar to complete the work of creating and ordering the world. This they did against the opposition of Melkor, the mightiest of the Valar, and one who sought to rule the world for himself.

The next section is called the Valaquenta, is simply a list of the chiefs of the Valar and their names, and attributes. There is not a narrative here, but it is useful to read it as a guide for later
The middle and longest section is the Quenta Silmarilion, or the Silmarion proper. This is the epic story of the Elves in the First Age of Middle Earth. The Silmarilion tells of the awakening of the Elves in the dark times when Melkor ruled Middle Earth. The Valar go to war against Melkor to save the Elves and he is defeated and imprisoned. TheValar then offer to take the Elves to their home, Valinor, far in the West. Many Elves agree to make the long journey and are named the Eldar. Many others prefer to stay in Middle East and call themselves the Avari.

The Eldar travel to Valinor and become mighty in lore and power. The most skilled of all the Elves is Feanor and his greatest work is the three jewels, the Silmarils in which he captured the light of the Two Trees of old. After a time Melkor feigns repentance and is released. He poisons the Two Trees, steals the Silmarils and flees to his stronghold in Middle Earth. Against the will of the Valar, Feanor leads his clan, the Noldor in pursuit of Melkor, who he has renamed Morgoth, the Black Enemy. Feanor is slain but the Noldor and their allies among Elves and the new race of Men continue the war. They fight bravely against Morgoth and managed to confine him to his stronghold for many years, but in the end, their war is hopeless. Morgoth has hosts of Orcs, troll, Balrogs and dragons and is himself a Valar, one of the mightiest beings in the world. The Elves and their allies are utterly defeated only the intervention of the Valar prevents Morgoth from ruling forever. Morgoth is defeated and the Silmarils are lost. Much of Middle Earth is damaged beyond repair and the Western lands where the Noldor fought and died is submerged beneath the sea.

The Akallabeth tells of the history of Numenor, the island that the Valar gave to the Men who fought on the side of the Elves. (Most Men sided with Morgoth). The Numenoreans were given a life span beyond any of the Men of Middle Earth though they were not immortal and could not travel to Valinor. Over time, the Numenoreans grew increasingly jealous of the immortality of the Elves and since they could not make themselves immortal, they began to seek for wealth and dominion in Middle Earth. The last king of Numenor, Ar-Pharazon challenged Sauron, the servant of Morgoth, for the rule of Middle Earth, actually defeated him, and carried him back to Numenor as a hostage. Sauron quickly gained the confidence of Ar-Pharazon, and preying on the old king's fear of death, induced him to assault the Valar and wrest immortality from them. This ended with the destruction of Numenor and the Numenoreans with the exception of a few refugees led by Elendil.

The final part of the Silmarilion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, relates the history of the dealings of Sauron and the Elves of Middle Earth. Sauron deceived the Elves into creating the rings of power and attempted to enslave them by forging his own One Ring in Mordor. There is a brief summary of the history told in the Lord of the Rings and a brief mention of the destruction of the ring by Frodo the Halfling and his servant Samwise. After this, the last remaining Eldar of Middle Earth, rendered powerless, leave for Valinor and the cycle is finished.

This is a rather grim cycle of tales, probably inspired by Tolkien's love of the rather grim Nordic mythology. Unlike the Norse tales, evil is defeated in the end, but the damage done can never wholly be undone. Then evil arises again after an age. Oftentimes evil corrupts or misleads the good and sometimes the most damage is done by those who fight most valiantly against evil. Beren and Luthien wrest a Silmaril from Morgoth so that Beren can present it to Luthien's father as bride price, but the Silmaril causes wars among Elves and Dwarves and the sons of Feanor and eventually causes the destruction of all the Elf-kingdoms. Turin son of Hurin spends his whole life fighting the servants of Morgoth, and is cursed because in the end all his valiant deeds only bring about Morgoth's victory. Even when Morgoth is defeated, the evil he does lives on to afflict later ages, as does his servant Sauron.

When Sauron is, in his turn defeated, and his Ring is destroyed, the Eldar also rendered powerless, no longer wish to live in Middle Earth and return at last to Valinor leaving a colder, grayer world for those of us who are doomed to stay behind.

248 people found this helpful

Helpful

Barry

Classic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

Often read repeatedly. It is more like a reference text than a novel, therefore readers beware. It is not like Lord of the Rings that go from beginning to end. This 'book' weaves tales back and forth across history, with different subjects. Its point was to create a reference for what occurs in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and not necessarily a stand alone novel.

Therefore it should only be read in that vein, or better yet consulted when reading the other books or watching the films or now the series.

3 people found this helpful

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Max

Beautiful!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 30, 2023

Verified Purchase

It’s a must read. If you’re a Lord of the rings fan or know how to read this book is for you. The art work is amazing the overall book quality is amazing.

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Cole B

Wonderful world-building

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 2, 2023

Verified Purchase

I wanted to get some backstory on The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings before reading them, so I bought the Silmarillion. It’s lengthy and in-depth, sometimes with details and side stories that sometimes seem distracting…. but it’s a wonderful book with lovely stories. I was quite moved by both The Children of Húrin and Beren and Luthien.

Toward the end we meet the Istari, which might be some of my favorite characters, which culminates in the very brief overview of LOTR.

For those interested, the very end of the book has a list of names and a pronunciation guide as well as a few family trees. It’s quite helpful, although if you care about that sort of thing maybe take a look at the pronunciation guide before reading. At times, I read parts aloud to my daughter and I did a lot of guesswork since I didn’t check the table of contents.

Enjoy!

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

EMR

Magnificent masterpiece

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

I bought The Silmarillion a long time ago in paperback, settled down and started to read. I gave up after a few pages feeling bored and confused. What was this? It was like reading the Bible. I just couldn't get into it. However, a few months later I tried again. Still didn't like it. And then later I tried again. Once more I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. Bored, bored, bored. In the end I gave my paperback to charity.

Many years later I decided I would try The Silmarillion again. This time I bought it in hardback, thinking that I could guilt myself into reading it as I'd paid so much for it. I knew I was having difficulty reading the first chapters so I forced myself to read two pages a day (not an ideal way to enjoy a book!). Then something magical happened. I found myself enjoying it. By the time I had reached chapter 6 "Of Feanor and the unchaining of Melkor" I was completely gripped and couldn't put the book down. I didn't want it to end. I actually felt quite bereft when I'd finished it. The stories of Feanor and his sons and the Silmarils, the fall of Gondolin, the love story of Beren and Luthien, the tragic story of Turin Turambar all completely enthralled me. It is difficult to put into words how completely captivating and engrossing these stories are. How one man had all this inside his head is beyond me.

I have one tiny gripe. Why on earth isn't Thangorodrim and Angband on the map included in the book? It's like leaving Mordor off the map of Middle Earth in LOTR. It's essential. In the end I bought Karen Wynn Fonstad's map book The Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-earth so I could sort it out in my head.

So the moral of the story is if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If you persist with this book you will be very well rewarded. It's the sort of book that will stay with you for a lifetime.

206 people found this helpful

S. Lornie

The Middle Earth Bible!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 23, 2022

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The Silmarillion is a book I have had in my collection for a while. I adore Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. I would go as far as to say they're possibly my favourite books. I've read them all back to back and do so more than the average person. But The Silmarillion is one I've been on the fence about. I've heard for a long time that this book is a tough read. That it is very dry, full of hard to pronounce Elven words and is a huge hit or miss on anyone who picks the thing up. Because of this, I've felt a bit hesitant to try it. With the constant advertising of the awful looking Rings of Power show, I thought it was finally time to give it a whirl. I may or may not like it, but I'll give it a go anyway. That is exactly what I did and to my surprise, I found this book was not only a fantastic read but a lot easier than the people I know have stated.

For those who are not familiar with the book, The Silmarillion is a post humous release by Christopher Tolkien. He had the help of fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay and their goal was to put together J.R.R. Tolkien's history of Middle Earth and all things surrounding it into a coherent and readable book. This book mainly features a detailed history of the first age of Middle Earth. Everything from the first being, to the origins of the Valar and Maiar, the world and all the lands in it as well as the races of Elves, Men, Dwarves etc that dwell in it. There's a good portion about the the fall of Numenor, Last Alliance's fight against Sauron and ending with a short section about the third age (Aragorn, Frodo etc).

As a book, I found it not too difficult to read. The English was old fashioned but easy to understand. I didn't find it too dry or dull. He uses this to paint a fantastic picture, something that a lot of people are incapable of doing in this day and age (in my opinion). The story telling itself was well paced for the most part, only feeling slow at the beginning as the reader is being introduced to the origins of everything, their true names and who/what they were involved with. All of the short stories are very fascinating. Tolkien introduces us to a lot of great characters, most of whom have back stories and satisfying character arcs.

Whilst I love the detail in the stories themselves, I find that sometimes they can be buried under a little too much information. At times when we discover a new character, we're introduced to him (or her) like this, "This is so and so from this family, child of this person, living in this region, next to this place, where this thing is and they originally came from here, took part in this event which featured this person who lives here... " and so on. It's fine in small portions but can get a little silly at times. Especially when you consider the length of the names given to every person and place. I suspect this is the part that people find off putting and possibly over whelming. It might seem like sacrilege to some but is literally the ONLY reason I've given it four stars and as a little restraint might have been better at times.

The copy of the book I have is the lovely orange 2021 hardback special edition. This beast of a book comes with some wonderfully thick pages, a serious hard front and back cover as well as a large slipcase to keep the book in. The text is more than large enough for my miserable eyes and there's a good amount of illustrations too. The works of Ted Nasmith scattered throughout the book are absolutely lovely. Plenty of detail and colour. It's a fine product and a great edition in my collection.

The Silmarillion is a great detailed history of how things came to be and really puts some stuff into perspective. It might be a bit much for those who only like the films and those that struggle to pronounce Elvish. Those folks can get a considerably cheaper copy. But those die hard Tolkien readers will love this copy of the book, or the book in general. There's so many great characters and details about things only mentioned in previous books. It really makes things feel complete and I couldn't recommend it more.

47 people found this helpful

Mr Pyndah Vickers

An absolutely essential purchase for any Tolkien fan.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 12, 2022

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Note: this review is for the 2022 ‘illustrated by the author’ version.

I’m going to imagine that most people who are obsessive about Tolkien’s works will already have this book in some format or another. So why buy this one? Well, for a start it’s beautifully illustrated throughout by the author himself. Obviously, Tolkien was clearly not as good an illustrator as Alan Lee, John Howe or Ted Nasmith, but his pictures do give you a much better insight into how Middle-Earth would look, if it were not coloured by later fantasy works.

Second is the book itself, which is absolutely beautiful: case-bound with a foil imprint of the Silmarilli device on the cover and spine. The print is of a very high quality in two colours: black with blue titles and headings. The paper is premium, white and smooth – not the pulp used in the other tales of the First Age Series. There are two pull-out maps included as well: a reprint of the original hand drawn version by J.R.R. Tolkien himself and a revised version by his son Christopher. The finishing touches are that the edges of the pages are tinted green with Tengwar (Elven) Script emblazoned down them, as well as a built-in bookmark.

If you are new to Tolkien and have come here from the films or the TV show — or simply want to find out more about the history of Middle-Earth — then this is the place to come. I am not going to lie: The Silmarillion can be a hard read compared to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and even more so when compared to ‘The Hobbit’, as it has an almost biblical style. My advice is to check out the tips on pronunciation in the back of the book before starting — it’ll make your progress much easier. There are five sections overall, but the main part is the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’, which is the story of the Elves and the holy gems known as the Silmarils, and is set during the First Age of Middle-Earth. The other sections deal with the creation of Middle-Earth, the various gods and goddesses, the Second Age and the downfall of Numenor, and a brief synopsis of the events leading up to the end of the Third Age.

As I said earlier it’s not the easiest read in the world but it is absolutely essential if you wish to know more about Middle-Earth and, especially, the Elves. I highly recommend this version.

18 people found this helpful

Djilly L.

The one uncompleted book in my vast book collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 1, 2019

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With fondness i recall how much I enjoyed reading the Hobbit and even more so the Lord of the Rings during my teenage years - I even feigned illness to have a good few days to complete these books.

Although I barely read fiction these days, I thought it a great idea to bring the Silmarillion along on a holiday trip. That was a mistake. I was aware the book was never published during the author’s life and that it was completed and composed by his son. However it’s of much higher mythological content than for instance the start of the Lord of the Rings. To me the book just goes on and on about the Elderdays to which there are references in the Lord of the Rings. But the writing style is very different. And it reads more like a dry history text that heaps up exotic dwarf and elven names. To me it was all a bit incoherent or maybe I didn’t try hard enough to find the coherence. Yet I did make a serious effort!

Perhaps my setting wasn’t great as I like my holiday reading to be accompanied by a few beers or a good wine, but that doesn’t blend well with the nature of this book as it requires close attention. I never, ever do not finish a book. But the Silmarillion broke this rule, as I gave up after 1/3 and decide to leave it to the Middle Earth fanatics and started to enjoy my holiday.

52 people found this helpful

David Eden

An outstanding edition.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 18, 2021

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This review is for the November 2022 slipcased illustrated Special Edition published by Harper Collins.

I have been a Tolkien reader and collector since 1977, just after the Silmarillion was first published. I still have my first edition hardback and this is the fifth copy of the Silmarillion to enter my collection. Putting aside the first edition which has a special place as my favourite version of Tolkien's foundational mythology, this current edition has to be the most impressive so far.

The production values are high on this set. Quarter bound in leather with an embossed cloth cover and silver edges which somehow match the tone of the book, I prefer this to the November 2022 standard illustrated edition with its rather gaudy green page edges and tengwar script. There are four loose inserts - a postcard style illustration by Tolkien, a fold out copy of Tolkien's first Silmarillion map, a fold out version of Christopher Tolkiens Silmarillion map (recoloured) and a fascinating booklet by Christopher Tolkien detailing the editorial process of compiling his father's Silmarillion texts.

The binding is tight and the paper reasonably thick. There is no issue with different paper stocks in the book, a reported issue with last years slipcased illustrated Lord of the Rings. This volume feels more solidly constructed in comparison to that volume.

The standout feature of this edition is of course the inclusion of Tolkien's charming drawings and illustrations. They lend the book a feeling of authenticity.

An outstanding edition.

8 people found this helpful

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