TITLE:  The Silmarillion

AUTHOR:  J.R.R. Tolkien

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DESCRIPTION:

"Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the the First Age, this 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 three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth.

The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy."

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REVIEW:

The Silmarillion is a grand, sweeping epic involving the creation of Middle-Earth, the Sun, Moon and its denizens, along with the history of the Elves and their quest to regain some jewelry stolen my the first Dark Lord (i.e. Sauron's master).  Attached is the story of the downfall of Numenor (Sauron makes an appearance), as well as an interesting narrative of the Second and Third Age of Middle Earth.  Elves, dwarves, men, gods, dragons, balrogs and other creatures make an appearance.  The writing is beautiful.  This is not a fun, fluffy read (it is a condensed history book after all) but it is wonderful and worth the effort if you are at all interested in Middle-Earth.

WARNING:  No Hobbits!

NOTE:  The Silmarillion Primer

TITLE:  The Fall of Gondolin

AUTHOR:  J.R.R. Tolkien

EDITOR:  Christopher Tolkien

ILLUSTRATOR:  Alan Lee

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DESCRIPTION:

"In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar.

Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs.

Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Eärendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo.

At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Tuor and Idril, with the child Eärendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources.

Following his presentation of Beren and Lúthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was ‘the first real story of this imaginary world’ and, together with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, he regarded it as one of the three 'Great Tales' of the Elder Days."

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REVIEW:

This is a beautifully illustrated compilation of all things relating to the Fall of Gondolin.  There isn't anything in this book that you won't find in the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle Earth books, but it's nice to have everything in one book.  Glorfindel makes a wonderful appearance, so does Ecthelion of the Fountain, a bunch of balrogs, dragons and oddly enough metallic war machines stuffed full of orcs.  The writing is beautiful as always.

TITLE: Beren and Lúthien

AUTHOR:  J.R.R. Tolkien

EDITOR:  Christopher Tolkien

ILLUSTRATOR:  Alan Lee

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DESCRIPTION:

 

"Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Dwarves and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year.

Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril.

In this book Christopher Tolkien has attempted to extract the story of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which it was embedded; but that story was itself changing as it developed new associations within the larger history. To show something of the process whereby this legend of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he has told the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost."

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REVIEW:

This book is a compilation of all the bits and pieces and various versions that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about the Tale of Beren and Lúthien (excluding the relevant chapter in The Silmarillion).  So you have Tevildo, the Prince of Cats, mightiest of all cats, and close companion to Morgoth, that never made it into The Silmarillion, and you have a rather lengthy (but wonderful) poem of the saga.  The full-colour illustrations by Alan Lee are a bonus.  A wonderful book if you love J.R.R. Tolkien's writing style, have read The Silmarillion, and want more background.  There is nothing here that hasn't already been included in The History of Middle Earth volumes.

WARNING:  This is not a complete, narrative style novel. 

NOTE:Beren and Lúthien and Their Not-So-Little Dog, Too by Jeff LaSala

The creation of Middle-earth and its First Age is presented in both mythical and historical accounts that set the stage for The Lord of the Rings in the world’s Third Age.  The Silmarillion is the posthumously published collection of J.R.R. Tolkien’s worldbuilding tales concerning the creation and history of Middle-earth focusing on the First Age but also delving into the relevant history leading to the War of the Ring.

Middle-earth was created through song by the Ainur, though one of their number—Melkor—attempts to disrupt the tune three times but it overpowered by Eru (God).  Eru then showed the Ainur a vision of the world and offered them the chance to enter it and rule, many took up the offer including Melkor.  While many of the Ainur, the more powerful Valar and lesser Maiar, attempted to create a world for the Elves and Man, Melkor repeatedly destroyed their work and seduced some of the Maiar to his side, including Sauron.  The book then shifts into the Tale of the Simarils, which were three jewels crafted by the Elf Feanor that glowed with the light of the Two Trees that were the only source of light before the Moon and Sun were created by the last remnants after their destruction by Melkor who then killed Feanor’s father and stole of the Simarils.  Feanor long duped and corrupted by Melkor’s lies leads the Nordor Elves out of the West to Middle-earth to regain the jewels and do terrible things while Feanor and his sons make a dark oath to recover the jewels.  Over the next 500 years, the various Elven groups in Middle-earth battle the now entitled Morgoth and his minions while later to be joined by Men.  But the curse of Feanor devastates the Nordor and all that become related to them or allied to them or that touch the Simarils.  Eventually a Elf-Man, Earendil arrives in The West to beg for help against Morgoth and the Valar with those Elves that hadn’t join the Nordor attack Morgoth and overpower him but the Simarils are lost in Space, the Sea, and the Earth until the End of the World.  The book then gives an overview of the Second Age and the time of Numenor, their glory and fall by the lies of Sauron who’s defeat by the Last Alliance ends the Age and disperses his power for a time.  And finally, the book ends with the overview of the creation of the rings of power and the Ring by Sauron then an overview of the lead up to and through the War of the Ring as seen in The Lord of the Ring.

While Tolkien did have some wonderful worldbuilding ideas, the mix of mythical and historical tales were hit-and-miss with a lot of dryness poured on.  While there is a somewhat narrative framework to the book, there is no narrative flow.  Though some of this can be attributed to the intermixture of tales that bent towards the mythical or the historical, they weren’t meshed together very well and that is probably because of the posthumous nature of the book as Tolkien’s son Christopher put the book together and added sections using his father’s notes to bridges things within a large framework but there was a randomness to things.

Overall The Silmarillion should be seen a collection of mythical and historical tales within a large framework, but one that doesn’t mesh well and at times is disjointed.  This is a book for hardcore Tolkien fans not general readers who would be stratified with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien is the story of how the creation of Tolkien's world came to be.

It has been years since I have read this book, and it was such a delight to revisit Tolkien's world from the beginning of the First Age. It is exciting and sorrowful, and I loved spending time with all the characters and visiting the places they traveled. This is a great read for lovers of Tolkien's work.