Soulsmith [Mass Market Paperback]

Tom Deitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1991

Soulsmith (Mass Market Paperback) by Tom Deitz

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books; First Edition edition (November 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380762897
• ISBN-13: 978-0380762897
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #816,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A very average effort, May 1, 2005

By 

not4prophet (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soulsmith (Mass Market Paperback)

The prologue to "Soulsmith" is brilliant. I'll begin by saying that. It starts with a lawyer who's in jail ... for pig-stealing. Moreoever, he has the ability to predict the future by listening to the playlist on an oldies station. I loved this prologue, because it had everything: mystery, comedy, intrigue, well-drawn characters, and more.

Too bad the entire book can't be like that. As a matter of fact, the pig-stealing lawyer is never seen again. Instead we get Ronny Dillon, who gets injured in an unfortunate fall from a high diving platform and loses his parents to a car accident on the same day. Sent to live with his aunt and cousin in rural Georgia, Ronny soon gets caught up in a magical duel between Matt Welch, the local gentry, and his family. The Welch family possesses inherited magical ability. We first see Matt looking into the future in order to help a neighbor cheat on the SAT (I guess not all wizards can fight Balrogs for a living). Later we learn that the magical ability carries a more sinister side as well. The problem with this opening section is that it's too wordy. The sentences ramble on and on, and tons of extra details are included for no apparent reason.

Later on Deitz does manage to pull his writing together, and focus on the story at hand. But while he has all the elements - solid characters, a mysterious wanderer from out of town, dangerous past secrets to be revealed, a meaningful theme, and a whiz-bang ending - it somehow fails to add up to a great story. You feel like you're reading, if not a first draft, then maybe a second draft. Everyone's motivations are a little bit unclear, with too much unexplained running around purposelessly.

As with all his stories, Deitz is determined to set himself aside from standard fantasy. In "Soulsmith" he struggles hard and generally succeeds at capturing small-town southern life, throwing in detailed trips to the story for ice cream, outdoor barbecues, and so forth. Also, just as in the Tales of Eron series, he takes the reader for a spin on the sexually deviant side. Besides a not inconsiderably amount of simmering homosexuality, we also get everything from an old history of incest popping up to a bizarre seen involving coin-operated vibrators and dildos. Deitz may think that he's being hilariously raunchy here, but I found it to be a little bit off the mark.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great beginning, October 29, 2000

By 

Annette Hrisko-Allen (pdx,usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soulsmith (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first Tom Deitz book, and I was very impressed. The author wrote about the creative process in artists so well that I came away with the feeling of being able to achieve my own goals with more confidence.

The villians in the book were expertly portrayed, with enough background given to show them as being all too human in their weaknesses. Anson is very real--a psychotic bully who is led along by his own greed. With the support of Matthew Welch, the Master of Cardalba, these two make a very sinister pair.

Ron Dillon, as the reluctant teenaged hero, was very believable. His dreams were shattered along with his body; and all he really wanted to do was get on with his life in a new high school as unobtrusively as possible. Deitz doesn't let Ron rest for very long, and proceeds to lead his protagonist through a dark maze of mental and physical pain, the discovery of an incestuous past, and a familial confrontation involving magic and violence. Ron's weapons: the application of the Luck that is his birthright, and the development of his gift for smithing under the bizarre tutelage of the enigmatic Road Man.

A dark read without the cutsey fluff of other books.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deitz is masterfull in bringing fantasy to current times., January 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Soulsmith (Mass Market Paperback)

Like Tom's books involving David Sullivan (Windmaster'Bane, ect ), Tom does an incredible job bringing fantasy to the current times. I love reading Tolkien-type fantasy, but when a story is written in the 'real' world, it makes you think about the possibilities. The Soulsmith trilogy is involves fantasy that could be reality without streching your imagination too far. I'm not sure how Tom comes up with his ideas, but they not only entertain, but make you think. I have read all three books again and again and am always waiting for another Deitz novel to come out.