# recommend books like the silmarillion?



## driftw00d

forgive me if this question has been asked and answered before. are there any books similar in style and brilliance as tolkien's the silmarillion?

or any authors who writes/have written work like the above-mentioned book? i really need some new books to read and after reading this book (twice) i find all other fantasy books to be uhm... mediocre.

many thanks in advance.

driftw00d


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## Grond

I've been reading since I was 6 (over 41 of my 47 years) and I still have not come across anything like the Silmarillion (unless you count The Bible). Nothing compares to the unbelievable world JRRT put together.

Having said that, I can recommend some other books of this genre that would stimulate your imagination and have some similarities to Tolkien although not on near the scale. I would recommend three of Frank Hebert's Dune books. 1)Dune 2)Dune Messiah 3)Children of Dune
Anne McCaffrey's books. 1)Dragonflight 2)Dragonweyr 3)The White Dragon
Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles... specifically 1)Interview with the Vampire 2)The Vampire Lestat and 3)Queen of the Damned
Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mist of Avalon
Mary Stewart's 1)The Crystal Cave 2) The Hollow Hills 3) The Last Enchantment

There are many more..........send me a private message for more after you've read these. I am an endless fountain of fantasy/scifi/horror stories...although I haven't read nearly enough.


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## Tulkas

I also enjoyed The Sil, but if you haven't already, and you love the Sil, then I suggest HoME (The Complete History of Middle-Earth). It has 12 books seperated into 3 volumes and contains origional stories of the 1st age, poems, and many other "rare" stories. I'm reading it right now and it's very interesting.


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## Rosie Cotton

Welome to the forum Driftw00d!


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## Thorin

Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien is very akin to The Silmarillion. It is more satisfing and interesting then Sil in some areas and gives a lot of information that relates to LoTR and The Hobbit (i.e. all that is known about the Istari ((Gandalf and the other wizards)) the meeting of Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield in detail that is not in The Hobbit and much more). Definitely read Unfinished Tales!


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## ¤-Elessar-¤

ok, i guess we can all come to an agreement that there is not a single fiction book out there to even compete with the sil. However, straying a little from tolkiens work, i would recommend the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. He doesnt write with as much power as tolkien, but he has an immagination that could rank with the greats...


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## Courtney

I don't know if i've said this before, but The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock is very complex, if that's what you're going for. About parallel universes and stuff like that. I like it anyway. Of course, it can't measure up to the Sil., but it's the closest i've found.


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## driftw00d

thank you all for your replies.

to Grond: i have read anne rice's the vampire chronicles, but up to pandora i think. the first few were great and i do enjoy the philosophical aspects of her works. have heard a few recommendations for frank herbert, but i'm more interested in fantasy than sci-fi at the moment (although anything stimulating or enchanting will do). will definitely check out the other authors you mentioned as well. thanks!

to Tulkas: i have seen the 12-volume HoME books and am dying to read them but simply can't afford to buy all of them 

to Rosie Cotton: thank you for your warm welcome 

to Thorin: guess what? i am reading "unfinished tales" at the moment, for the second time!

to ¤-Elessar-¤: thank you, will add terry goodkind in my to-read list.

to Courtney: thank you too, will add "The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock" in my list.

yippie, now i've got a list of great books to look for next time i go to a bookshop. thanks again all.


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## Telchar

Welcome to the Tolkien Forum driftw00d! 

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a book you ought to read, it's sci-fi, but it's great and really funny!

As for HoME, you don't need to buy all the books at once, you can buy 1 or 2 and read them while you save some money to buy the rest. You'll find a lot of information in HoME that will make you see how great the mythology created by tolkien was..


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## Tulkas

To Driftw00d: Expensive as it looks, if you buy them 1 by 1 it isn't that bad. Start with Lost Tales (about $12.00 for both) and work your way along. Thats what I'm doing.

Christmas is coming! You could ask someone to get you a few.


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## Gloer

After you have read Illias&Odyssey you may embark up on Kalevala.
It has a nice creation story, plot wounds around fight over Sampo that is forged by a smith as price for a princess. Sampo is something that make sthe immensely rich and successful.

There are characters that are very much like Tolkiens. The only problem is that it is all written down in repetetive poetric form that the singers would remember it. Very boring. 

Here is a good link. Also other mythical stories are here. Just print them out.

Sacred Texts: Legends and Sagas 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/index.htm


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## Cian

Indeed, JRRT once penned that the "germ" of his attempt to write legends of his own to fit his languages was the tale of Kullervo in _Kalevala_.


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## Treebeard

How about Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy? I really enjoyed it.


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## Telchar

Welcome to the Tolkien Forum Treebeard!


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## syongstar

*books like tolkiens*

I also love all the books by J.K. Rowlings also C.S. Lewis who was a freind of tolkien.


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## Treebeard

Of course, how could I forget C S Lewis's space trilogy? Great stuff.


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## Courtney

Anything by Robin McKinley. Hero and the Crown, Blue Sword, etc.

The Clan of the Cave Bear: It's about prehistoric people.


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## ratodelmorte

*books*

there are many tomes of interest on the shelves of the children of iluvater.....beowulf, fuast, the pearl, sir orfeo, and the green knight(the three were translations of tolkien's they are still available)....the dune saga, the white gold weilder,hp lovecraft, 
joseph campbell, many many many choices

my personal favours

the dante poems
the poetic edda
the helga saga
the illiad
the odysey
ovid's metamorphoses
franz kafka's metamorphosis
sardte's saint genet
the decammeron
machiavelli's the prince
the necronomicon, yeah the ladders i've clomb in that dark tome.
the vampire chronicles, to meet her would be to meet darkness
various anglosaxon primers
la'morte'du arthur

as you can see i know many, i have many tomes, that i stole from the ruins of orhtanc
there are indexes posthumously published and edited by Tolkien's son christopher.....the lays of belerain....ah the home of play....and Aelfwyn the mariner....there are atleast 9 books in the series, but they are serious reads....i have read them twice and gone back to them many times just to refresh the mind.

have fun with my suggestions, be looking to hearing from all who read this, for if you are here, then verily speak, friend, and enter
but it's got to be in the elvin tongue for me to reply, and if you do get in, remember you are entering moria of old, and i am deep.


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