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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books I have ever read!!!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Dark Tide (Iron Tower Trilogy) (Book 1) (Paperback)
I read this book and trilogy a few years ago and could not put it down. Now Dennis L. McKiernan is my favorite author.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lord of The Rings Knock-Off?,
By
This review is from: The Dark Tide (Iron Tower Trilogy) (Book 1) (Paperback)
You might think from my title that this will be a negative review. My rating for this book says otherwise. Let me first say, that over the past twenty years I have read, and re-read, The Lord of the Rings about seven or eight times. It remains the standard by which I judge all other fantasy. Other reviewers, including myself, have called The Iron Tower Trilogy a The Lord of The Rings cliff-notes. But perhaps a better appellation is, The Lord of The Rings companion. It is not as rich in detail and history as Tolkien's work. Nor is it quite as epic. But the story is every bit as compelling, every bit as gripping, and certainly as worthwhile a read. The language is awkward in places and not as polished. Does McKiernan's work stand on its own, apart from comparisons to The Lord of The Rings? I think so. As with The Lord of The Rings I found myself near tears at certain points and almost laughing aloud at others. Will you like this book? I don't know. But as a Tolkien fan of twenty years I loved it. I prefer to think of the Iron Tower Trilogy as a tribute to the genius of Tolkien; much like Moorcock's Kane of Old Mars was a tribute Edgar Rice Burroughs.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A WARNING FOR THE DISCERNING READER,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Dark Tide (Iron Tower Trilogy) (Book 1) (Paperback)
Dennis L. McKiernan's Iron Tower Trilogy deserves a 6 or 7 for fast pacing and plotting, but rates an Absolute Zero for originality. After only the first chapter, it is readily apparent that this trilogy amounts to little more than a half-baked imitation of Tolkien's famous masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. McKiernan retains many of Tolkien's plot events, fictional places, and characters, changing only the names and select details (though in the case of Gildor, he borrows the name also). Thus the siege of Minas Tirith becomes the siege of Challerain Keep; the Shire becomes the Boskydells; the Hobbits become Warrows; the Orcs and Trolls become Rukhs, Hloks, and Ogrus; The Rohirrim become the Vanadurin; Aragorn becomes Galen; the journey through Moria becomes the journey through Drimmen-deeve (complete with the book's very own simulation Balrog and Watcher in the Water); and Barad-dur becomes The Iron Tower. McKiernan borrows most of Tolkien's plot but abandons Tolkien's themes and theology, while introducing none of his own. To quote the Kirkus Reviews (in commenting on one of McKiernan's later books), "If [McKiernan] ever had an original idea, it isn't apparent here." For the discerning reader, I would suggest reading J.R.R. Tolkien or Ursula K. LeGuin instead. For readers still interested in McKiernan, I would suggest skipping The Iron Tower, as well as the Silver Call (which, unfortunately, is much of the same), and beginning with Dragondoom, which shows far more creativity and originality, both in plot and in theme
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