Of the Rings of Power and The Third Age (basically a summary of what happened in The Hobbit, LOTR and a bit before that)

I won’t be reviewing each story in this book, there are way too many of them and I genuinely think a lot of Tolkienist can do a much better job in explaining the greatness of this book. Instead, I’ll say this. The First Age of Middle-Earth makes the event of the Third Age (events in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) looks like a normal skirmish. There were so many incredible and epic battle waged; tons of tragedy and loss; unmeasurable evil of Morgoth that makes Sauron looks like a brat. Out of all the stories included in this book, there were two that stands out the most to me. One is obviously the story of Turin Turambar that has already been told in full details on The Children of Hurin. I have done a full review on this story but to summarize it, I absolutely loved it and I have no doubt it will be even better upon a reread one day. So in that place which was called Losgar at the outlet of the Firth of Drengist ended the fairest vessels that ever sailed the sea, in a great burning, bright and terrible. And Fingolfin and his people saw the light afar off, red beneath the clouds; and they knew that they were betrayed.The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth, through the Second Age and the rise of Sauron, to the end of the War of the Ring. It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.”

You also probably shouldn't read this if you didn't like either of the aforementioned books. You need to care for Middle-earth and its history to properly enjoy and appreciate this one. It gets incredibly confusing, not least because of the multitude of characters but additionally because each character tends to come with several names, and reference to them is not consistent. But some of the best and most successful fantasy and sci-fi writers do it in a similar way, invent extremely detailed universes with cultures, fractions, detailed geography, etc. often inspired by the behemoths that came before them or mythology. It seems to be the necessary and intelligent effort to be able to live in these worlds and thereby describe them in a way impossible for the ones who just write without true passion and obsession. It must be a kind of wonderful fusion of learning the self made theory, internalizing the world, fusing protagonists, worldbuilding, and plot, and in this way intensifying the flow and pleasure of creation. Just as I do it with my deeply disturbing cosmic body horror extreme terror sci fi nightmare fuel visions, sigh.even tho the paper don’t agree with me on this… it was self mutilation!!! She has no idea how “attached” Silmarillion tells the tale of the making of the world by Eru, the God of Middle-Earth and all that followed through the first two ages of creation, up until the events described in The Hobbit and LOTR. Christopher Tolkien did a great job of connecting his father’s writings on the subject, so we have a nice and chronological story. But it is not a novel exactly, for it covers countless years. You probably shouldn't read this before reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. I think it would be too confusing and just a bit too much as a starter to this world. He passed over Dor-nu-Fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking that Oromë himself was come: for a great madness of rage was upon him, so that his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar. Thus he came alone to Angband’s gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came. The world Tolkien created is absolutely extraordinary, without a doubt. Unfortunately The Silmarillion is written as a long history or mythology of biblical proportions. Name after name, battle after battle, son after son. It was hard to follow.

This is my favorite work of Tolkien so far... I have only read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings BUT WHILST THESE ARE FANTASTIC ALREADY, THE SILMARILLION IS 10 TIMES BETTER!We follow the fates of The Children of Ilúvatar - Elves and Men. We witness the kinslaying between the Noldor and the Teleri elves. We travel to Númenor, the greatest kingdom of men. For those that don't know- the first king of Númenor was Elros, the twin brother of Elrond. Unlike his brother Elrond, Elros chose to be mortal. He became a great king of men, and it was through his line that Aragorn was born, 62 generations later. Much like Atlantis, Númenor was destroyed and sunk beneath the ocean. Now, I hope that some movie studio will adapt this one day (in a series of 10 movies or so that would be needed to fit all the story). The Silmarillion is a collection of mythopoeic works by English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. Tolkien tells the story of the beginning of Middle Earth and has provided us with a very cool mythology for his creation. We learn about the Valar, the Maiar (of whom Gandolf and Suaron are both members) the tribes of the elves and the fall of the great cities of the Elves in Middle Earth. At the heart of the book is the story of the Silmarils. The Silmarils were crafted by Fëanor, the Elven King of the Noldor. These magical jewels contained the essence of the Two Trees of Valinor. Fëanor asked Galadriel, the princess of Noldor and his niece, for a few strands of hair to put in The Silmarils. She refused him. If you remember, she granted the request to Gimli in the Fellowship of the Ring.