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  • The Silmarillion

  • Written by: J. R. R. Tolkien
  • Narrated by: Martin Shaw
  • Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (859 ratings)

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The Silmarillion

Written by: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Martin Shaw
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Publisher's Summary

A thoroughly enchanting tale that sets the trajectory for the cosmos of J.R.R. Tolkien's magnificent fantasy series Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Like the dark matter at the centre of every origin story, this is a must-listen for fans who want to delve deeper into this mythical world.

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

What the critics say

"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)

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What listeners say about The Silmarillion

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A truly epic tale, just not good as an audiobook

I listen to audiobooks on my daily commute. The Silmarillion is a truly epic tale, and I have no complaints about the narrator, but this compendium of stories is simply too dense to really process as an audiobook while driving. There are so many characters and names of places that are constantly being added that it's nearly impossible to keep them all straight in my head. Add to that the fact that this book sometimes refers to the same character by different (i.e., dwarven, elvish, or common-tongue) names, and it gets even more confusing. The stories themselves are interesting and add a lot to the Tolkien universe, but I would recommend consuming this story in book form before listening to the audio, simply because of its complexity.

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20 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Pronunciation Issues Aside, a Brilliant Rendering

As narrator, Martin Shaw could make the Apple Terms of Agreement interesting - a crucial skill when tackling a text that at times reads more like a religious tome than a story. There are significant issues with the pronunciation of Quenya/Sindarin terms (Taniquetil, Iluvatar, Teleri, etc.), but this doesn't diminish the quality of the story itself, nor the accessibility it provides to this dense, complex and wondrous history of Tolkien's Middle-earth. Backstory at its very best.

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16 people found this helpful

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One of the best books in the English cannon!

Thank you audible for finally offering one of the best books ever written! This book is always a delight, and the narrator is perfect for the text's mythic flavour.

I recommend listening to this with a list of names or appendix to hand, if you are new to the history of Tolkien's world.

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12 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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What a reading!

I have been trying to read the Silmarillion for many years, but I kept leaving the book after a few pages. This time, with the aid of Martin Shaw, I did it! And in such a wonderful way. This book... it takes you places... places of wonder, of infinite beauty and of deep sorrow. It takes you high up and so down. All that happiness and misery, all that beauty and destruction. Is one of those books in which you raise your head and wonder for a few seconds where and what you are. That moment that those who read a lot love, that moment that you wish happened to all your students. That magical moment in which you get transported by words to a where and a when imagined by another human. And thus transported.

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6 people found this helpful

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I want to love this but I find it so hard to follo

maybe it's the ADHD maybe it's me but at times I found it in comprehensible and mind-numbing because it was so hard to follow

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I’ll Listen and Read Again and Again and Again

One of the greatest books written. I love Tolkien’s work. Grab a wee dram, ready your pipe, sit and listen.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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The story we've been waiting for.

I wanted to read or listen to what happened in middle-earth, and the events leading to the forging of the ring. I was almost lost in the long list of names, of characters that had little to do with the events of the story. Listeners will need to listen carefully (maybe more than once) to stay on point with the narrative. In spite of that, this was Tolkien's work, so I wanted to listen in.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The "Genesis" of Tolkein's world

It reads like the book of Genesis - the creation of the world and the epic stories of the first ages.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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A historical summary / narrative

I struggled to get through this very long book. paces of it were good, but the short overview format makes it lack in detail. It gives a historical summary more than any kind of narrative story. It fails to engage the mind and imagination giving rather the coarse details and framework to the histories of the Silmarils.

not recommended unless your a Token superfan

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Well done rendition of the founding story

I just know I'll be listening to this again! Very well done reading of the founding story of middle earth.

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1 person found this helpful