The Shaping of Middle-Earth is about the history of Middle-Earth prior to the Lord of the Rings triliogy. It is a part of the fantasy fiction genre. Specifically this book is about the Silmarillion, the fight between Morgoth and his servants against the God’s of Middle-Earth. Moreover this is written as the genesis of Middle earth including maps and how the various races of dwarves, elves and the aldar were created. Other main characters of the book include Manwe, Tulkas, Aldaron and Tavros. I am scoring this book a 4 out of 5.
This book is fantasy fiction. The reason I know this is because there are mythical creatures and magical beings in it which is fantasy. Furthermore this also points to fiction because those types of creatures and beings are not real. Some of the creatures and beings included dwarves, elves and the aldar. Some of them performed magical spells.
My favorite character is Manwe. The reason I like him best is because we are very alike. We are both very curious, methodical and smart. Manwe was trying to figure out how to prevent Morgoth from taking over Middle-Earth. He enjoyed stragey as much as I do.
The setting of the book is year zero of Middle-Earth. It was a heavenly type of place with grassy meadows. However there were also barren places in the land as well. The author made it so that I could understand what the book was about sometimes but other times I struggled through the text to understand what was happening. The setting was a beautiful place that Morgoth wanted to rule over but his brother Manwe wanted to stop him from destroying it.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoy the history of Middle-Earth. It provides context prior to the Silmarilion. People who are not fans of Middle-Earth are going to get very lost in what the book is trying to tell. I scored this book a 4 out of 5 because I loved what happened prior to the Silmarilion and the mapping that was included. Additionally I did not give it a 5 because I got lost in parts of the story.