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drmirage809 t1_iu9ca8x wrote

Reply to comment by LaughingLafayette in Feanor's Speech: The best in all of Fantasy Literature by CanadianCultureKings

I'm a history student, you're doing a great job selling me on the book. If it's a bit like The Illiad and Odyssey then I should be able to handle it.

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LaughingLafayette t1_iu9h3qg wrote

I wouldn’t really compare it to them so much, it’s more of a historical overview of the story with several more focused stories peppered throughout, more in the vein of Livy’s work I’d say.

If you do like epic poetry though, Tolkien actually wrote different versions of some of those stories in the Silmarillion as epic poems, though unfortunately I don’t think he ever finished any of them. They are all collected in one book, the Lays of Beleriand, and they tell slightly different versions of the complete stories told in the Silmarillion. If you like seeing the development of his work through its early stages, I’d recommend picking that up (and the other books in the 12 volume series!) after reading the Silmarillion.

EDIT: Didn’t realize autocorrect didn’t recognize Livy.

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