The Silmarillion cover art

The Silmarillion

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

The Silmarillion

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Martin Shaw
Try for $0.00

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $28.99

Buy Now for $28.99

The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion tells the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron.

The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

©1977 The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien (P)1977 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Dark Fantasy Epic Fantasy Military
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

"How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?" ( The Guardian)
"Demanding to be compared with English mythologies...at times rises to the greatness of true myth." ( Financial Times)
"A creation of singular beauty...magnificent in its best moments." ( Washington Post)
"A grim, tragic, brooding and beautiful book, shot through with heroism and hope... its power is almost that of mysticism." ( Toronto Globe & Mail)
All stars
Most relevant
An amazing experience. The performance of the narrator makes an otherwise dense book really digestible and a pleasure the read.

The best of Tolkien

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So, this is hard to get into. I think, for myself anyway, that if it didn't have the Tolkien connection I wouldn't have paid it any attention and I don't think it would have got anywhere. The names of places and elves, dwarves and men are exhaustive and you probably need to be a genius to remember them all. These are given to tedium, and I was getting frustrated that I wasn't picking up the names etc at first. But don't worry, because you will eventually find your feet and them it all starts to fit together. If you continue with it then it actually becomes exciting. Without giving anything away, the chapters with Melkor/Morgoth are the best because he's one evil being and it has that LOTR feel to the struggle. The performance was excellent and I don't envy the reader with all the name pronunciations! Overall, I would recommend; really great to get insight into how the LOTR came about.

If you like LOTR, then give it a go

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A beautiful story, beautifully read. The audio book version perhaps makes things a little more accessible for those who find the text a little daunting.
A great title.

Tolkien's finest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely fantastic, Tolkien is amazing & masterful and Martin Shaw's voice is timeless and grand. Excellent!

Brilliant!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this isn't really for anyone looking at a LOTR type epic, though it is a great means to learn the deep lore of LOTR, it serves as a great way to engage with LOTR on a deep level and connects a lott of the dots for someone reading it

deep lore for the highly engaged

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.