I had to read J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy three times before it clicked with me. I think it was three times... I just finished my second read of 'The Silmarillion' and rather liked it this time. It is truly epic in breadth and scope.
This was the last of the five-book Tolkien set that I purchased from Easton Press that I had not yet read. The set is gorgeous. If it had illustrations, that would be much better, but it stands well even without those.
'The Silmarillion,' similar to other books in the set, has the obligatory fantasy-book maps - both a large one and a small one. It also has a hefty appendix section, complete with family trees.
Some of the stories in 'The Silmarillion' resonated with me more strongly than others. Overall, though, I felt like the book tried to do too much with too few pages. Its scope covers thousands of years and I-don't-even-know how many characters. The characters, though steeped in lore and in the context of a large and complicated story, don't get developed well as knowable people. If Tolkien had undertaken to accomplish this as he had with 'The Hobbit' and with 'The Lord of the Rings,' the book would have had to have become extremely long. That's neither good nor bad - simply an observation.
I would say, too, that although I missed getting to know the characters better, the broad brush-strokes of the story-telling serve well to make this seem as epic as it attempts to be. It's like reading a legendary mythological account. It's neat - makes one feel like they are glimpsing into another world, which they truly are.
'The Silmarillion' was published posthumously in 1977. Although it had not been finished during J.R.R. Tolkien's lifetime, it was clearly written and crafted with his love of Middle-Earth...its history and its people. It's astonishing how much detail is underlying the story. Truly, it is astonishing. Exceptionally few writers of fantasy are able develop their worlds so thoroughly.
I'm glad I gave Tolkien's works another chance as I have a new appreciation for what they are and what they represent. I think I was probably just daunted by the level of detail initially, but, once I knew what to expect, and once I could accept them for what they are, they became enjoyable to me. I finally get it. I finally can understand why they became so popular and why they earned their reputation in the fantasy genre.
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