Book Review - by Jon Teetsell

The Silmarillion: The Epic History of the Elves in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first thing I want to get across is that my rating of 4-Stars is subject to the fact that I love the genre and in particular, I love the Lord of the Rings. When I read the back cover, I saw that the Silmarillion is Tolkien's book of short stories summarizing the first and second age. I had just finished Lord of the Rings and had a thirst for all things Middle Earth. This is where I would expect some of you to say "thank you, but no thank you."

The Silmarillion is for Middle-Earth lovers. Throughout the book, you'll see similarities between it and the Lord of the Rings. The thing worth pointing out though is that Lord of the Rings is done on a much smaller scale than Silmarillion. For example, the Sauron character is comparable to Morgoth. The Shelob character is comparable with Ungoliant. The stories focus on the elves, whereas Lord of the Rings focus on man.

The story of the Noldor and the men of Numenor were particularly enthralling as both Elrond and Aragorn can trace their lineage there. Galadriel is alive and well and as beautiful on paper as she is in the movies.

The truly fascinating part of the Silmarillion is that it seems like a sounding board for all that happened in the Lord of the Rings. Reading it felt as though I was perusing through the notes of a giant in my field which were left on a coffee table in his den. When I watch the Lord of the Rings with my friends, who are not nearly of the same fanaticism with the books as I am, I can play the role of "Know it All" thanks to this book. It's those little moments that make it all worth it.





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