[amyrlis]

I'm glad I came across this thread, and several others regarding the HoME series. This is my first attempt at reading any Tolkien beyond UT and I need a little inspiration to keep me going. I am currently a little more than half way through BoLT1, it's a bit tough to get through, what with the footnotes and all (which I'm not skipping). I'm a big fan of reading series in 'order', so I can't skip around and must get through this before moving on to BoLT2, then the rest of the HoME series. Knowing that there is some amazing writing about Finrod (one of my favorite characters) in later volumes will help light a fire under me.

At any rate, it is fascinating reading. I am especially enthralled by the extra attention and detail given to the characters of the Valar. The reader is really given much more insight into their relationships, motives and mind-set. In contrast to the Sil, it's as if the Valar are the 'main' characters and the elves are secondary.

It is interesting how true to their original disposition many of the Valar remain in later writings, and to see which themes were abandoned. For instance, the two Warrior Vali, Measse & Makar, do they appear anywhere else in the series?

I can't help but be blown away (for lack of a better term) by the amount of detail poured into each of the Tales, for example, The Tale of the Sun and the Moon. Just imagining how long it must have taken to write such a tale as that, and then to realize that it is a mere 21 pages in the thousands and thousands of pages of Tolkien's works. I am, and forever will be, in humble awe.