The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 28

The Silmarillion is a very loose narrative of the First Age from Creation (my favorite thing Tolkien ever wrote is the Ainulindale) to fall of Beleriand. It then has a few brief glimpses of the second age and the forging of the Rings.

But, honestly, the Two Towers and Return of the King are just...moving. I think you’d get more out of The Silmarillion afterwards. The Fall of Gondolin and Beren and Luthien (both now further fleshed out in books) are top tier Tolkien so you can’t go wrong reading it. But it’s far more expansive than the intense closeness of the trilogy.

 

So my older brother is the opposite of me in many, many ways. He was good at sports and is very street-smart and always had a million girlfriends (really building myself up here). I on the other hand loved to read and write and JFG.

The other day he asked me if I'd heard of The Lies of Locke Lamora, which completely blew my mind. I downloaded the audiobook on my phone a few months ago to add to my queue. He did some time in prison, and apparently someone in there had the books. He read them all and loved them. Neither of us had ever talked about books before, let alone fantasy books.

He hated reading growing up. Hated it. Never in a million years did I think he'd be hyped for me to read a fantasy series. It's awesome.

 

@Vivatoto I would also recommend finishing LOTR before jumping into the Silmarillion. And that's not to dissuade you at all from reading the Sil—in many ways the argument can be made that it's better than LOTR, and I honestly just adore it start to finish, but it is very, very different: in tone, purpose, structure. You will definitely get more out of LOTR by reading the Silmarillion, but likewise you'll get more out of the Silmarillion by reading LOTR. If you're up for it, I'd honestly recommend finishing LOTR, reading the Silmarillion, and then reading LOTR again (maybe not consecutively) to recontextualize.

I think going with the Silmarillion first might be like reading the stuff at Amon Hen or the Council of Elrond without first reading all the Shire/Bree/barrows/Weathertop stuff in Fellowship—the former will have a more significant impact having read the latter. Even though the Silmarillion is chronologically before LOTR, it feels very much like an extrapolation and extended history of some of the familiar concepts and communities referenced in LOTR than a necessary precursor. Sort of a "let's go back to when the world was new and see how things got to this state" kind of thing, though it definitely stands on its own and isn't really meant as a prequel or anything.

I guess I'm just adding my voice to those saying I'd recommend finishing LOTR first—but you're definitely going to love Two Towers/ROTK and the Silmarillion, so probably just go with whatever you want to do and you'll be fine, haha.

 

So here’s a question for Sil readers, last night I went on a deep dive on the Arda app to find out everything I could about Sauron (I like to know my villains and their motives) and there’s like a bunch of background info. Does that come from Sil?

 

Sauron is like an insanely minor character in The Sil. But there is information for that, yeah.

 

Well shoot, now I don't know what I'm going to do, lol. Still think I might read Sil first. You guys' had excellent points but just thinking about what I personally get out of fantasy and the way in which I enjoy it, I think having as much background on the world as possible is going to make the trilogy mean more to me. Like every little bit of information I learn from the Arda app that isn't in Fellowship elevated the book a lot for me.

edit: also @Garrett I'm thinking I'll read another of your recs, Seveneves, while I wait for Sil to show up, since there's some meat on that one.

 

Starting The Silmarillion though I'm inevitably going to have to pause tomorrow for Dawnshard.

 

I flew through Dawnshard in less than three hours.

 

Well if it's that short I think I'll wait because I'm in love with Sil and don't want to stop. Just have to make sure to finish before next week.

 

@Vivatoto yeah honestly go for whatever order you prefer, you obviously know how you'll like things best - just wanted to throw my opinion out there in case in made a difference. I definitely get what you mean about being able to flesh out the world and characters and histories while you're reading, that does a lot for me as well.

And honestly however you do it is going to be good — my dad read Two Towers first back in the 70s because he couldn't find a copy of Fellowship, and his love of Tolkien is probably the reason I'm a writer and have a degree in linguistics, so uh, that reading order worked out haha.

Just enjoy though. You're in for a real treat.

 

Yeah like I said I really appreciate all your guys' input it did help me come to a decision, just not the intended one lol. But I mean it's all about getting the most out of the story, and we each have different ways of seeking that, and since I am in a pretty damn blessed position of being (nearly) 30, a whole lot of fantasy under my belt, plus Silmarillion having been published at this point, and it's my first real time through what most consider the greatest fantasy trilogy of all time, I don't want to take anything for granted. I can say now, about a third of the way through Sil, I am very happy with my decision, I absolutely adore this stuff, things like The Music, the Chaining of Melkor, the horror that is freakin Ungoliant, the creation of Orcs, hints of Sauron...all things I am incredibly happy to know about and is already exploding the world of Arda for me. Like I'm so ready to tackle Two Towers.

And honestly I think the only thing that would have stopped me from reading it before Two Towers would be if you guys had said it was bad or inconsistent with the trilogy.

Hey here's a weird coincidence, my dad also read Two Towers first but it was because we saw the first movie and he wanted to know if Gandalf came back, lol.

Finding a lot of similarities in scope and intention with Malazan's Kharkanas trilogy, which is sadly just making me angry that he's never going to finish it.

 

Oh geeze, Felagund playing the harp for the first men to enter Beleriand is so beautiful. Not where I was expecting that scene to go.

 

Treebeard

"[Old Entish] is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to"

 

I am also very happy that Gimli and Legolas are still hilarious together, since I loved their relationship in the movies.

 

Wow, his description of Isengard was truly stunning. I mean he's brought all these places to life perfectly, but none like that so far.

There's so much dread it's affecting me and I'm weary about reading on, lol.

I don't even remember Theoden from the movies other than the transformation but he's a real stand out character. Love how he stands up to Saruman

Also crazy that half of this book doesn't have Frodo, I did not remember that.

 

Between these two, it's a HUGE day in fantasy.





If you've not read The Poppy War trilogy's first two books, they're exceptional. Fantasy retelling of China during WW2 with magic.

 

Oh shit Rhythm of War is out today??? BRB gotta pick that up ASAP

 

Ugh, i have this to start BUT i don't finish for another hour. It's been a painful day of waiting :(

 

I planned poorly, i'm reading a book currently and probably won't get to Rhythm of War for a bit but man I'm excited to read it soon.

 

I purposely started reading the unfinished stories collection of Middle Earth so I can finish whatever short story I'm on and start ROW

 

My daughter will be born any day now. So I won’t be starting this for a while.

 

Congrats, but also shitty timing haha!

 

baby Jasnah would understand

 

I'm gonna need someone to finish this series because the whole Cosmere connections are needing to be spoken about NOW

 

Just re-did my shelves a couple weekends ago so that when RoW arrived I could share these:



I mostly buy audiobooks these days and reserve owning hard copies for truly cherished stories and stories I want to share with my kids some day in the future when I have them.