Type of bind: Audio Cassette
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780001055346
Format: Audiobook
ISBN number: 0001055348
Label: HarperCollins Audio
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Audio
Quantity: 10
Printing Date: October 19, 1998
Publishing house: HarperCollins Audio
Sale Popularity Level: 4219420
Studio: HarperCollins Audio
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
These tales tell of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, and of the war, hopeless, despite great heroism, against the great enemy.
Amazon.com Review:
The Silmarillion is J.R.R. Tolkien's tragic, operatic history of the First Age of Middle-Earth, essential background material for serious readers of the classic Lord of the Rings saga. Tolkien's work sets the standard for fantasy, and this audio version of the 'Bible of Middle-Earth' does The Silmarillion justice. Martin Shaw's reading is grave and resonant, conveying all the powerful events and emotions that shaped elven and human history long before Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf and all the rest embarked on their quests. Beginning with the Music of the Ainur, The Silmarillion tells a tale of the Elder Days, when Elves and Men became estranged by the Dark Lord Morgoth's lust for the Silmarils, pure and powerful magic jewels. Even the love between a human warrior and the daughter of the Elven king cannot defeat Morgoth, but the War of Wrath finally brings down the Dark Lord. Peace reigns until the evil Sauron recovers the Rings of Power and sets the stage for the events told in the Lord of the Rings. This is epic fantasy at its finest, thrillingly read and gloriously unabridged. (Running time: 14 hours, 6 CDs)
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
I purchased the paperback because they were out of hardcovers. The hardcover appears to have pictures. I have not yet read the Hobbit or the LORs. I intend to read them as well. I do own the extended DVD version of the LOR. I was told by many who have read the Hobbit and the LOR to NOT waste my time or rack my brain trying to read the Silmarillion. I tend to agree with them: however, for different reasons. Let me start by saying that this piece of literary work is simply a JRR Tolkien Masterpiece. It is clearly a mind expanding experience to read this book. But why would I not read it if I could go back in time before I made the choice to read it? The reason is that JRR Tolkien starts out painting such beautiful planes of existence of unbridled bliss! Places that the reader can go to! Places created by the Valar, the Maiar and later the Elves. Then at the noon tide, Melkor, a Vala later called Morgoth chooses to destroy it all? The majority of this book is devoted to this downward spiral into unrecoverable darkness. I actually experienced a sense of depression while enduring the absolute hopelessness of it all. With the coming of men celebrating and actually championing ignorance and darkness, it becomes a marathon Shakespearian tragedy. So to sum up it up, while I didn't mind the fact that JRR Tolkien will change the name of a person, place or thing as many as a dozen times and then choose to randomly refer to the one of dozen names during the reading experience since I love to decode, I did not care for the painful downward spiral into the pits of darkness that go deeper than Hell itself.
Given that; I now understand the LOR movies. Watching the movies are a blast but it is hard to follow them. For instance I could never understand how Sauron came into existence. Now I know he was a Maia that specialized in Smithing. In the very first age Sauron was lured by Melkor, a Vala, to serve him. When Melkor was rechained by the Valar and sent to the void, Sauron was left as the highest ranking dark lord. Since Sauron was a Maia that was gifted in Smithing, he created and enchanted the Ring to rule them all. For me this is the true gift of information from this book.
Of greater interest is the Second Age, where Middle Earth was ruled by the Numenoreans. Again the same cycle of tragedy. The Valar create the Garden of Eden called Numenor for men located east of Valinor. Then after twenty some Kings, the Numenoreans decide to worship Sauron!!!!? What? The Numenoreons wage war on Valinor and say good bye to paradise. This becomes the JRR Tolkien version of Atlantis.
Like I said at the beginning, this is a book of unbridled contrast of good vs evil or duality with evil being the greater of the polarities. Evil is ignorance. In this book evil becomes the predictable wrong choice of Elves and men.
Rated by buyers -
This complete and unabridged performance of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion by Martin Shaw is as much of a delight to the ears as were the lights of the Silmarils to the eyes of all who are fortunate enough to have beheld them. The eloquent prequel to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, created by J. R. R. Tolkien and edited by his son Christopher, comes alive as you listen to Shaw. Each character's voice and personality comes through, names I found difficult to read flow smoothly rather than interrupt the story. All too soon the 13 CD-ROMs were completed during my twice a week 60-mile round trip commutes and my short drives around home. After a break for the holidays, I will start with number one again. They are absolutely superb.
Rated by buyers -
The Simarillion--what can I say?
One of the greatest books in every way.
In language, in tone, in subject matter,
Most other literature compared just shatter.
A history of woe, mixed with hope.
Someday Middle-Earth shall stop its downward slope.
The Elves will stop fighting for the Silmarils--
Those mighty jewels with which legend overfills--
Which through the ages have driven elves to kill,
Hatred in their hearts to fill,
Drove them to betray their kin,
And caused their hearts to lose peace within.
Someday this shall cease, at the very end.
When Beren and Luthien are only known by song,
When the lives of the Elves have grown weary and long,
Driving them to the land of Valinor,
Where they shall find peace, and joy evermore.
Yet what of the Men, and the Dwarvish clans?
Shall they be left desolate, until the last one stands?
This is not Eru's plan for his creation.
All of his creatures, of every nation,
That did not submit to the evils of Morgoth--
Though their suffering was great under his torment wroth;
The wars of the ages, the Orcs of Angband,
Bloodshed and torture and fear throughout the lands--
These who did not bow, shall join in the great song
That Eru had planned for all to sing ages long
In joy and peace, and true fulfillment.
When Morgoth is chained, to suffer the torment
Of his own mind, as he exists in the Void.
Then shall Middle-Earth, and all of Arda,
Live in peace, in innocence's bright aura.
If you like what you read
On this page that you see
Then you must proceed--
You truly do need--
The Simarillion to read.
Ryan Robledo
Author of the Aelnathan:
Rated by buyers 
-
I had read the Hobbit and the trilogy of the rings and thought the The Silmarillion would be a worthwhile read. However, I found the book to be unreadable. I am not certain what the author had done differently, but I could not get past the very first 40 pages and those pages required serious work to read. It looked as if the author had some very good ideas but he had put it in a manner that was difficult to understand.
Perhaps you will do better than I did. However, this was one of only a few books that I could not finish because I had a hard time understanding what the author was communicating.
If you are interested in this book, I suggest getting it from a library and trying to read it, before spending money on it.
Rated by buyers -
This book is tough to read and is more suited to an older audience. I wouldn't hesitate to get it for someone in high school if they have already read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. But the book is probably more suited to college age and above due to some of the vocabulary and themes the Tolkien presents. There are also a lot of names used by Tolkien, so at times it can be a little cumbersome to keep track of who is who, where they are from, what they did, etc. but if you can keep attention to detail it is worth the effort. For me, this book is the clearest "Catholic work" of the works of Tolkien on Middle Earth. The introduction almost feels as if it were taken straight from the Bible. But all in all this is a fantastic book and a must-have for anyone who is a fan of the Lord of the Rings.
Find other books like this one:
