Why did I love this book?
If you thought Smaug was cool, the dragons in The Silmarillion are even cooler! Glaurung, the Father of Dragons; Ancalagon the Black, the first winged dragon; and Scatha, among others. This book is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful I have ever read, though it does take some effort on the part of the reader. I took the time to look up every name and placename that I didn’t understand, and that led me to fully understand everything and love it that much more. It’s totally worth the effort.
3 authors picked The Silmarillion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion fills in the background which lies behind the more popular work, and gives the earlier history of Middle-earth, introducing some of the key characters.
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 on the recording are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of…