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The Silmarillion

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The Silmarillion

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Martin Shaw
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About this listen

The complete unabridged audiobook of J.R.R Tolkien's The Silmarillion.

The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. 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 Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Mythology Royalty

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

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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

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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.

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Absolutely fantastic, Tolkien is amazing & masterful and Martin Shaw's voice is timeless and grand. Excellent!

Brilliant!

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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

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I liked the conflict between good and evil the elves against Morgoth a very well thought dark lord

storyline is very good

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It was very good except for th fact that because I am not very old I did not know a lot of it’s words

Good!

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The Silmarillion left we wanting more. excellent lore from Tolkien otherwise unknown to mortal men.

More intruiging than originally anticipated

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Martin Shawns reading of this account is perfect, it is deep and hard to understand at times but Shawns excellent flow and easy to listen to voice makes the understanding easier. This book is not for the faint hearted.

Perfect

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Compelling history of the Lord of the Rings world. so many interesting characters and storylines.

Must Read for LOTR Fans

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