I found a used paper back copy of the The Silmarillion and I could not resist buying it. It is a collection of some tales that J.R.R. Tolkein had never finished and that his son published posthumously. Apparently, Tolkein had written these stories first beginning in the early 1919 and had presented them for publication, but had been refused. After reading them, I must say that their greatest value was that Tolkein already had developed this entire Middle-Earth when he went on to write The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and could draw on this deep historical context when giving birth to his new works.
For fans of The Lord of the Rings series, The Simarillion is definitely worth the read for a better understanding of what is going on between the characters and races and the historic precedent of the areas in Middle-Earth. Some of the tales are very interesting and captivating. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful parts such as the creation of Ea (the World) and how it was sung into being and the tales of Hurin. But even with a map of Middle-Earth and a table of Elvish words, sometimes it was just hard to follow the who, what and where.
That said, I did learn the some cool facts:
For fans of The Lord of the Rings series, The Simarillion is definitely worth the read for a better understanding of what is going on between the characters and races and the historic precedent of the areas in Middle-Earth. Some of the tales are very interesting and captivating. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful parts such as the creation of Ea (the World) and how it was sung into being and the tales of Hurin. But even with a map of Middle-Earth and a table of Elvish words, sometimes it was just hard to follow the who, what and where.
That said, I did learn the some cool facts:
- Who and what Sauron was
- Who was the Balrog Gandolf fights in Moria
- Who made the 3, 7 and 9 rings (we already new who made the 1 ring to rule them all)
- Why Aragorn lives longer than other mortals
- Why Aragorn's crest is a white tree
- Why Elrond was leaving Middle Earth
- How Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn are all related (Aragorn is Elrond's nephew (just like 50 generations removed)
- Who Gandolf and Saruman are and where they came from
- And just a better general understanding of who built what and lived where
So if you are a Tolkein fan, it is a fun read without taking on the entire 12-volume history of Middle-Earth. It has some shining moments, but is more like background reading than a classic Tolkein epic.
So there you go. I think it was worth the $6.99 I paid for it and was good reading for my BART rides.
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