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The Silmarillion
- Narrated by: Martin Shaw
- Series: The Lord of the Rings
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy
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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.
Critic Reviews
"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)
What listeners say about The Silmarillion
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- aneesh mathew
- 17-11-20
This is a great book.
The story is good. Immersive. The author however drags the plot at some parts. The story is great non the less.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- James W.
- 27-09-19
A collection of appendices, not a story
I was torn between giving this 3 or 4 stars. On the one hand, this book is an incredible work of imagination by one of the greatest authors of all time. This book provides a lot of history and context to the LOTR story. On the other hand, this book is not a single unified story such as the LOTR or the Hobbit. Rather, it is a collection of appendices that aren't really very interesting unless you are a diehard Tolkien fan. And even then ,this book takes a lot of effort and concentration to get through. In the end I gave it three stars because I think that is the most fair to let other readers know what to expect here. I should have read other reviews more carefully before reading this and I would have known more what to expect. I was expecting this to be a story set in an earlier time in the LOTR universe, but that is not what The Silmarillion is. I think that a better, more accurate (but probably much more mundane) title would have been "The Prequel Appendices to the LOTR", because that is exactly what this book is. Some of the chapters are easier to read than others. My favorite part was at the very end with the post-Isildur material and the short historical context of the LOTR saga. Understand that the chapters read a lot like a combination of a King James version of Genesis 1 and 2 and an encyclopedia article. The accounts are always overviews of events, and even in the tales that contain some more detailed action, you still get a very distant view of things. Overall, my advice would be to NOT read The Silmarillion like a regular book. That's not what it is. Instead, treat it like background material, and read like I would read the World Book Encyclopedia when I was a kid - just crack it open now and again and read an article at a time.
30 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian
- 22-11-18
Finally!
I’ve been waiting for a good audiobook version of the Silmarillion for a while. Here it is, and it’s great! The narrator does a good job, I think. You could argue that his delivery is a tad too stentorian or declamatory, but the text is a hard one to read naturally, and this way of reading it is not inappropriate. As far as I know, he gets all the pronunciations right, which is nice. The music may not win an academy award, but it feels appropriate in tone. The Silmarillion is not for everyone. Even people who consider themselves fans of The Lord of the Rings may find it pretty off-putting, because it’s written in an extremely “high mythic” style. But if you want to understand all the obscure references in LOTR and The Hobbit to the elder days (Gondolin, Elbereth, Eärendel, Gil-galad, etc), then this is the place to come. There are a few small audio glitches as of this writing, although they don’t impact the overall experience significantly. I’ve notified Audible about them and they say they are looking into it. [UPDATE: The audio glitches have been fixed as of January 2019.]
278 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Scooter
- 16-02-19
Ponderous
I’m a big Tolkien fan. I’ve read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings many times over the years but never The Simarillion. I wanted to know the back story but had never gotten around to reading it. The narrator’s voice was perfect for the material but lacked inflection and I found myself zoning out. I had to go back several times and listen to the chapters again. It’s ok for a Tolkien fan but I would not recommend for the casual reader.
52 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-10-18
Remarkable in it's epic form,it's depth and beauty
My favorite Tolkien book. Great story telling. great theological and mythical exploration. tackles everything from the meaning of life through the problem of evil to the problem of free will.
46 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anna M. Boley
- 14-07-19
I couldn't do it
I've been forcing myself to try to finish this for weeks, I finally give up. I was excited to read this, I've read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books and loved them. I've read tons of books in my life, I by no means am a light reader. But this book will drive me mad! It's almost impossible to follow, continuous repetition of so and so son of so and so. It reads like a textbook, I would have to take notes and cross reference just to get a grasp of the content. While I will eventually finish it only because it's a Tolkien I don't think I will ever revisit it as I have his other tales numerous times. I realize he never finished this story and it was released by his son, perhaps there's a reason he didn't release it? Die hard fans only.
44 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paul Castellano
- 22-10-18
One of the best readings I've ever heard
This is, by far, one of the best readings of the best books I've ever heard! If you're familiar with Tolkien and haven't read this book, look no further than this audiobook narrated by Martin Shaw. I've listen to over a dozen male narrators of fantasy books (Michael Kramer is a good one, particularly his Mistborn performance), and no one has topped Martin Shaw's performance with the Silmarillion. I definitely recommend listening to this book and then actually reading it (if you want to read the hard copy or Kindle editions), as Shaw gives you the proper pronunciations of the literally hundreds of names of people and places. Also it would be a good idea to have a map of Beleriand/pre-LOTR Middle-earth handy while listening, as on the first listen it can become difficult to keep places straight. Beyond the performance, this is my favorite work of Tolkiens' to date. It has so much packed in, particularly the Ainulidale ( the first part) that I have gone back and listened to the whole book three times now, and the first part eight times. I'm so glad they brought this to the US store, as before it was only available in the UK Audible store and had to jump through a few hoops to get at it. It's worth every penny (or credit) and more to add this title to your collection! I can't recommend this highly enough. Enjoy!
127 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kyle cacurak
- 30-10-18
classic
at first this is a difficult book to grasp however, after the second or third time through it's awesome!! normally it's not available for purchase in the US and,I travel to California for work and lo and behold it was available to purchase on Audibe. that was a great day!
15 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- TheSuz
- 01-11-18
Finally!!!
I’ve been waiting forever for an English version of The Silmarillion! I was so close to learning German just so I can listen to this amazing book. The wait was worth it. Martin Shaw did an amazing job narrating and I shall listen to this about ten more times before deciding to go onto another book. Beautiful performance for a beautifully written piece of work.
86 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Red
- 03-12-18
Some tech flaws, still awesome.
It had some glitches, but overall it's a great retelling of my favorite JRRT story! I took a star off only for the audio issues. 5 stars to the narrator (even though he occasionally said 'Angbang' instead of 'Angband' because hey, I do that too.)! The audio overlaps only last about 15-20sec max at the start of one of the middle chapters. Great stuff, I listened twice in a little over a week!
20 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cameron
- 21-11-18
The Hype is real.
This book lives up to its legend. Do your life a favor and give it a listen.
59 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stuart Shaw
- 07-01-16
awesome
fantastic listen, only issue is that in one of the (luckily) more boring chapters, the title replays about 20 times
43 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Allpressto
- 28-08-17
Great but with random audio glitches...
Great way to read the silmarillion as the book itself can be a bit impregnable to read. Great performance as well, but one thing that did start to get a bit annoying was the frequency of audio glitches throughout. Examples being:
- Chapter intro music playing randomly mid chapter
-The chapter title repeatedly being said over the top of the narrator.
- Audio jumping in the final few chapters.
27 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rasmus Jensen
- 30-08-17
Great book. Shameful production.
The stories were great, but that's to Tolkien's credit and not the creators of the audiobook. Numerous times throughout the audiobook I encountered glitches in the track where suddenly the narrator would be repeating the title of the chapter or other pieces of the story in the background, thus resulting in near gibberish as the doubled tracks made it impossible to hear what was being said. I went back a few times to check if it had simply been my phone that glitched out but found that each instance of this glitch occurred consistently at the same timestamp. In other words it's a production error. And considering how many times this occurred, the production company have no excuse not to be absolutely ashamed of their work. Had it happened once I would have shrugged it off as a simple mistake, but when it happens just about a dozen times it becomes negligence. I recommend Tolkien's The Silmarillion, but I can't say I recommend this particular edition of the audiobook.
101 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ookster
- 29-03-19
Martin Shaw
... Is the best casting decision I've seen on Audible to date. Can't praise the narration enough. As a kid reading it and ever since, the inflection and cadance I had in my mind is served up wonderfully by Martin Shaw. Two thumbs up.
12 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Raj
- 10-02-16
Fantastic
Truly loved it, though it was a struggle to get into at first. Martin Shaw helps bring to life one of my most beloved epics in such an engaging and atmospheric way.
12 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- jasper elwes
- 20-11-15
Only for Tolkein fans.
If you aren't really into middle earth, this isn't for you, but personally I enjoyed it, it's well performed and interesting.
22 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julie Baker
- 02-11-16
Get yourself a map
Brilliant, the world from the begining of middle earth. Do have a map handy though and perhaps a pen and paper to write some family trees. It certianly fills in a few blanks from There and Back Again.
14 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-07-16
A Tale of Good, Evil , Gods and Men
I've always wanted to read The Silmarillion, but could never get past the first chapter as the story was so complicated. Listening to it via Martin Shaw's soothing tones enabled me to keep a grip on the characters and plot. I may even read the book, now!
14 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- simon j vanhinsbergh
- 16-06-16
AWESOME
fantastic. Tolkien at his best The world of middle earth and full history
I believe
6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MR ANDREW CAREY
- 23-02-19
Great retelling of a mode, courtesy of Martin Shaw
A very accessible audio experience of a book onerous to read. Highly recommended if you enjoyed Lord of the Rings, and wanted more of the rich world of Middle Earth.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dave
- 15-06-19
The Silmarillion - reader Martin Shaw
I first read The Silmarillion when it was first published in 1977. Compared with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings it is a much more difficult book to read being a semi-academical version of several myths and historical legends of the creation, the histories of the Elves, humans and their struggles against evil. It is the Bilbo Baggins' translation of some of the Elvish historical records retained in Rivendell. Bilbo worked on the translations after his leaving of The Shire on his eleventy-first birthday. As such the style doesn't flow as well as the other JRRT tales. However this version is an absolute cracker of a book and that it works so well is down to the wonderful reading by Martin Shaw. For me he brings the dry histories into real flowing life. I consider this performance to be one of the best I've heard. It is a truly wonderful rendition. Yes I'm a Tolkien nerd but I highly recommend this. I'd love to hear Martin Shaw perform The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-01-19
The History of Middle Earth
When reading/listening to this story it must be taken into account that this is a saga and a collection of short stories that all link. The first few chapters regarding the creation of Arda is very abstract and the coming of the elves to Valinor is a little dry but contains essential background information. Then Feanor Finwion's behavior begins the Flight of the Noldor and everything, pardon the expression, goes to hell for our beloved characters but interesting for us listeners/readers. It is a story better heard than read as with the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion contains stories of nearly very type. The best love story ever written is included here (though the full version was recently released). Forget that crap Romeo and Juliet where they only knew each other for a few days then died (with Romeo pinning after some other girl in the beginning) The tale of Beren and Luthien puts all other love stories to shame. The best tragedy stories is included here. The tale of the children of Hurin is tragic from page one and goes downhill for the main character from there, though his fostering as a child was a happy time for him as the foster son of an elvish king. My favorite character Beleg Cuthalion did not deserve to die by his best friends hand the way he did in this tale. It will leave the audience crying every time. These stories consist of one tragedy after the next, the fall of Nargothrond, Gondolin, Doriath, Numenor. The fall of the great kingdoms of Nargothrond, Gondolin and Doriath. The elven kinslayings which claimed the lives of many including, most likely, Elrond's twin uncles who were only very young children at the time, all because of the love of shiny baubles. Other character that are mourned greatly in these various tales is Finrod Felugand (Galadriel's Brother), Fingolfin, Celebrimbor and many others. There is 2 words for hope in Sindarin. Estel: hope without reason. Amdir: hope with reason to hope. Many of these stories contain both when all seems lost for the characters. The first sunrise on Arda. The first sighting of the Gil-Estel (The morning and evening star, translates to bright hope). The finding of the seedlings of the white tree. The coming of the elves from the west to aid in the battle against the first dark lord. The coming of the elves from Gondolin to aid the fight in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. The story was well read and much suited to the genre and very much suited to oral telling of tales as though by oral tradition. The only criticism I have is that I was not fond of the fate of Aredhel. She deserved better story wise and feels very much like the product of the time. Other than that one exception, these stories were very much ahead of its time.
10 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-05-19
A tad lofty
Martin Shaw delivers a capable performance, given the pronunciation difficulties inherent to the text - his pronunciation can at times seem lofty and excessive, but he does the job well. The story is a bit bland and factual, but it certainly adds to Tolkien's world for invested fans of his mythos and narrative.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rory Pearson
- 03-09-20
The best of Tolkien
An amazing experience. The performance of the narrator makes an otherwise dense book really digestible and a pleasure the read.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 13-06-20
Astounding.
This book is one of my favourite ever written, being able to listen while working has made my life better!
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 24-06-19
I believe I may have to listen again
narrator was good but son of, son of, son a bit long winded. to keep up with but that's Tolkien.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 30-09-20
Disappointing
Really awkward and boring language. Wouldn't recommend. Sounds like someone reading a Bible. It has interesting lore but is written in such a way that it's just not enjoyable.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-09-19
a story for the ages
one of the best books ever written. a tale of true wonder and written in a fashion which is too rare. a book you will not regret.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Millsy
- 15-11-18
I really wanted to enjoy this...
I really wanted to enjoy this but clearly it’s not for everyone. I absolutely loved the LOTR series of books and was looking for something similar but I found the million unfamiliar names a pain and for me the creation of the characters and the world FAR to long winded. I think I also found it less enjoyable because a great deal of it is in Shakespearean language. Clearly going by the reviews this book is going to be very popular with some people but I just struggled with this one.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 19-06-19
Really good book just not for long car rides
Love the names and the story, lore etc but I'm I thought it was a new land.