The Silmarillion - 4 stars

     The Silmarillion by J.R.R.Tolkien is a book which tells the history of Middle-Earth, the world of his well-known classic The Lord of the Rings. The story begins with the creation of Middle-Earth by the Valar, and ends only shortly after the Age of Men begins, covering a vast amount of time and taking readers on a intriguing journey through the ages.

     This book is particularly difficult for me to review because my opinion of it is subjected to a lot of bias. I love Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, so obviously that's going to taint my review somewhat. I also don't mind Tolkien' writing style, which I think many people find very difficult to read because it's rather distant and grand in word choice. Some people find it very dry and wearisome, and The Silmarillion is more of the same.

     In The Silmarillion, Tolkien tells the history of Middle-Earth. He explains how it came to be, tells the story of the Valar, and talks about the coming of the Elves and Men and their activities. The book covers a period of something like three or four thousand years in about 300 pages. For this reason, the story doesn't have one main character. In my opinion, it didn't have any main characters, and read something like a mix between the most epic of fantasies and a history book. I did find the first 50 pages of the book to be difficult, but I persevered, thinking I'd just push on so that I could say I'd read the book. But after that particularly difficult beginning, it turned out to be an extremely interesting book.

     I have a taste for epic stories that discuss huge topics - if they're well written, they're generally worth reading. The Silmarillion was certainly that. It was definitely epic, and it also rounded out the stories of many of the characters from Lord of the Rings. Most of those character were Elves, but it also told the story of the Númenóreans, something I had never considered before but found very interesting. And anyone who thought Sauron was the ultimate villain hasn't read about Morgoth, the villain he learned everything from.

     (Oops. Um...yes, there might be a few teeny spoilers in this review.)

     My opinion of The Silmarillion is very high. I didn't expect it to be much good, but was completely surprised by the depth of the story Tolkien told. For me, The Silmarillion was that book that everyone looks for after they've just finished their favorite series and want to read more. The Silmarillion was that for me with Lord of the Rings.

     If you're at all interested in giving The Silmarillion a go after reading this review, though, my advice is to first read Lord of the Rings. All of it. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure half of The Silmarillion won't mean as much. And although Lord of the Rings might be hard to read for some people, it's one of the best I've read and is still a good story. And after you've read Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion will make much more sense and hold much more meaning.