Customer Reviews

The Dwarves

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let me start with the negative. I found the book to start very slowly, and struggled for some time getting going. It is a large book and I'm not sure if some of this, as well as some of the dialogue problems owe to the book being writting originally in German and translated for us to English. However, once past the first 100 pages or so I literally couldn't put the book down. It was a quick, enjoyable, action packed, and at times humorous story, with great backgrounds and backdrops.

Is it the greatest piece of fiction ever written? By no means will it be mistaken for that. However, it is an exceptionally enjoyable ride to read it. Maybe akin to the summer action flick blockbuster, that is never going to win an Oscar, but may give you the most enjoyment for your dollar all year. That is this book. Flaws aside, the characters are captivating, the ideas though common enough to fantasy have their own unique and interesting twists, and the book is just darned hard to put down once it gets going.

I couldn't recomend it highly enough, it sits in a treasured spot now in my collection.

The main heroes in fantasy novels are usually the special human 'chosen one', magicians and elves - so a story where the dwarves take center stage totally got my attention. The story is set in Girdlegard, an enchanted land wherein for hundreds & hundreds of years, the dwarven kingdoms have protected the borders against evil. I started reading the first chapter (prologue) on a whim and just couldn't quite put it down afterwards. This one was a winner - a really well-written prologue about how the dwarves of the Fifthling Kingdom fell victim to the evil of the Perished Land, thus opening up Girdlegard to invasion by evil creatures. That first chapter had heroic dwarf characters and epic battle scenes marked by betrayal and grand tragedy. Sucked me in for sure!

Then the novel goes into the present story proper, and we are introduced to the hero, the scholarly blacksmith dwarf and human foundling Tungdil. He ends up on a mission to save not just his fellow dwarves, but also all the good men and elves of Girdlegard. Markus Heitz doesn't really try to break new ground with his fantasy creatures - elves are elves, dwarves are dwarves, orcs are orcs... same as in 'Lord of the Rings'. He does add new evil creatures like the alfar (twisted elves), and he also give the dwarves a complex and well-structured society & culture (including politics) that hasn't really been delved into that much. And since Tungdil has grown up only amongst humans & knows as little about dwarves as we do, we discover dwarven-society with him as he goes about his mission.

Tungdil is a really likeable character, and I've always had a soft touch for the outsider / nerd turned hero. And the band of characters who end up being on Tungdil's team are a likeable (if mismatched) bunch too - a pair of dwarven warrior-twins, an alcoholic dwarven mason, a drama troupe that includes human (and not quite human) actors & prop master, a rebel magician & her mysterious demon bodyguard - I found myself just drawn in on all the action as Tungdil traveled across Girdlegard before the final battle with Nod'onn (former good magician who is turned by the Perished Land into evil).

I have to say though that the rest of the novel doesn't quite measure up to the brilliance of the first chapter; the quality of the writing becomes a bit uneven after that. For some strange reason, Mr Heitz writes majority of the dwarven characters really well, but fails when he has to write humans. Any chapter that concentrated on the humans (kings, magicians) ended up with stilted dialogue and wooden, flat and poorly developed characterization. Another disappointment for me was how weak Mr Heitz' villains were - from the supposedly villain-to-end-all-villains Nod'onn to the smaller villains - such as Bislipur (a dwarf who becomes Tungdil's adversary).

All in all though, I had a rip roaring time going through Tungdil's journey with him, and if the journey seemed a bit too long and circuitous at times with a bit too many X saves the day coincidences (the book really needed a good editor to trim-off many unneeded scenes), well, gosh-darn-it, I liked Tungdil too much and found the story too entertaining at that point to give up. I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the series 'The War of the Dwarves' next!

"The Dwarves" begins an exciting saga following Tungdil Bolofar, an orphaned dwarf raised by humans. The German translated novel presents a phenomenal story packed with great characters, a rich history, and a fun adventure. The blend of excellent political maneuvering and kick "axe" battles in the name of questing generates an instant classic.

The notable secondary characters are Lot-Ionan, magus and father figure to the blacksmith Tungdil, and the giant warrior Djerun, a mysterious guardian to Andôkai, another maga. The magic system though somewhat vague requires great attention from a magus. The dwarven attitude and comments are very entertaining.

An enhanced map of the significant terrains and a more comprehensive appendix would have been useful.

I haven't enjoyed a storyline as much in over a year and highly recommend the series to any fan of the fantasy genre.

Thank you.

I thought for a while about giving this book three stars, but that is as much as it deserves. I think it had the potential to be much better, however. Several of the characters show hints of something great, but in the end remain flat and poorly developed. The setting borrows much from common ideas about dwarves, elves, and orcs, and the author does some interesting things with them, but nothing truly noteworthy. The weakest part, in my opinion, is the dialogue. It is awkward and sometimes even silly. The taunts that characters shout at each other in the battle scenes are laughable. This may be partially due to the fact that the book was translated into English, perhaps it reads better in the original. In the end I found this book to be interesting and at times entertaining, but I was continually frustrated by the author's failure to craft a better book from an appealing idea.

I had not read a fantasy book in a while but was noticed the book because of the cover and picked it up. I thought that the idea of a dwarve protagonist would be fun. I was not disappointed and found the book an enjoyable read. I do agree with some of the other more negative reviewers that the dialogue was sometimes wanting but I didn't feel that it detracted to much from the readablity. Overall the book is great escapist reading.

"Ugh," is really pretty comprehensive here but I'll try to be a bit more descriptive.

Here is a story about dwarves (which one could easily pick up from the clever title). Granted, dwarves are the heavily stereotyped and often times dark, anti-heroes of the fantasy world, but here they are the main characters.
Admittedly, I did like the fact that an author took the time to try and flesh out dwarven society a bit more than just "we like to dig and use hammers" the problem is that it was a half-hearted effort. The book started off okay with a fish-out-of-water style story about a dwarf that was raised by humans. It even went so far as to give vast promise by showing depth of the main character's concern for his adopted loved ones that have slowly aged and approached death while he stays the same.

Unfortunately, from about the first third of the book on, it quickly devolves into a tragic flotsam of cliché magic weapons and quests for enchanted items to bring down a big bad intent on taking over the world. There was one semi-interesting portion of barricaded dwarves battling it out with the undead but overall I was unimpressed.

In a book comprised of poorly thought out quests and uninspiring magic weapons, the action also flopped. The majority of the fighting consisted of ridiculous and unlikely battle moves that seemed clunky and more at home in a video game for the uncoordinated than a pitched battle.

Don't let me make it seem like the author was completely uninspired or uncreative. There were some very interesting applications of a dwarven calendar that gave the timeline a sort of Tarantino feel that I really like because it keeps the reader thinking, but I've seen it done before. More likely than not, this book was the product of an author who based the entire writing on a combination of MMORG video games and books that are themselves very, very derivative from cleaner sources like the Elder Edda or Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson. The problem with works like this is that they are like literary Chinese food: they might be quick and tasty but they leave the reader feeling undernourished and hungry again in a half hour... and that's the parts that are appetizing (Although Chinese food by comparison is my dirty little pleasure and it's wonderful).

You're welcome to purchase this book and make your own decisions. But seriously, I lent it out to see if it was just me. Later it turned out that the lendee's child spilled chocolate milk on it and it was ruined. I actually found myself relieved since that meant it would never take up space on my bookshelf again.

In the Fourth Kingdom Tungdil Bolofar the dwarf was found as an abandoned infant and raised amidst the long-uns. He works for master magus Lot-Ionan the Forbearing ruler of the enchanted realm of Ionandar, who is one of the great sorcerers protecting the Girdlegard Valley; a land also defended by mountains on all sides with five passages watched over by the five tribes of dwarves.

However, all is not well in Girdlegard in the 5199th Solar Cycle. The evil ones want to breach the natural and species fortification. The alfar, gnomes, trolls, orcs, and others have apparently found an egress through the deserted Fifthling Kingdom while the sorcerers are busy trying to prevent the spread of the Perished Land where those who die reanimate as tormented revenants. However, a traitor from within has placed Girdlegard in jeopardy. On an assignment for his master, Tungdil meets dwarves especially a female he is attracted to; but the mission comes first.

The incredibly deep vivid descriptions of the five kingdoms is a two edged sword as readers become fully versed with the Heitz fantasy realm but also can slow down an exciting sword and sorcery saga. The cast is strong as the culture of with long-uns, magus, and dwarves come across as genuine. Fans will enjoy Tungdil's escapades as he goes from a blacksmithing ward to adventures to save the world as he knows it; ironically his quest changes that world because he begins seeing it differently. With a nod to Willow, DWARVES is en entertaining well written quest fantasy that at time times slows down with the mountains of detail.

Harriet Klausner

This book was amazing!!!! I loved every bit of it. I couldn't put it down and read all of its pages well within a week. I am still blown away by the pictures the author painted in my mind and the characters are fantastic and at times hilarious. I am currently reading the second book and it is just as good. If there is a third one I will be waiting in line for that one. Overall one of the best fantasy books I have ever read.

This book is well written. It's funny, action packed, and keeps you reading. If you loves fantasy pick this book up I was not disappointed grabbing this one at random. The story is about a dwarf that was raised by humans and sent on a mission from his magnus to journey across the realm and deliver atifacts to another companion of the magnus. Along the way is he to meet others of his kind that he has never seen before. He gets into many situations that his dwarf side starts to come out with the help of two of his kind. Between run-ins with hordes of orcs, dark elves, and plenty of black magic to go around the excitment never ends!

Book was a great read. It fly's by, and is quite a page turner.

Author does a great job of not overburdening the reader with descriptions of places, people, etc. that lets you fill in the world how you think it should look. Wonderful pace, very rich fantasy world, i.e. types of inhabitants, culture amongst different clans, etc. Also vibrant world itself, with interesting rules pertaining to magic.

Great read. I will certainly buy the next in series when I get another hankering for fantasy.