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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent sequel to Lord of the Rings (no mistake), November 6, 1998
By A Customer
Dennis McKiernan takes a few elements from Tolkien's Return of the King (Lord of the Rings vol 3) and creates a wonderful story. The names of characters and peoples are changed for the sake of copyright. Through my many re-readings of the Lord of the Rings I often wondered if the Dwarves were able to return to Moria. In the appendix of return of the King there is a tantalizing geneaology of Durin's line. Durin VII (and last) is listed and the reader wonders if this last Durin led his people back to Khazad Dum (Moria) after the fall of Sauron. This is the story of his battle to win back the home of his people. The horn presented by Eomer to Meriadoc is the key to the battle. While often criticized for emulating Tolkien I think this is a book that old J.R.R. would have written himself if he'd been given the time.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Return to Middle-Earth's clone, September 6, 2004
While the "Iron Tower" trilogy was published prior to publication of the "Silver Call" duology, the duology was actually written first and published second. Was McKiernan's first-written book, "Trek to Kraggen-Cor," better than the ones published before it? Not that much. It's still a poor clone of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterful works.
Perry is the descendent of the great Tuckerby Underbank, living in the Boskydells. As a rather nerdy scholar, he dreams of legendary battles and adventures -- and his fantasies come true when Lord Kian and two Dwarves show up on his doorstep. They need help reclaiming the ancient Dwarf citadel of Kraggen-Cor from the evil Spawn that have invaded, and Perry has memorized the old maps and directions.
Perry's thrilled, but his handyman Cotton Buckleburr isn't that thrilled (since he wisely recognizes that war is messy, bloody, and deadly). They travel with Kian and the Dwarves, training and learning to fight as they go, and soon meet up with their allies, the Dwarf army and the Vanadurim. But Perry is about to find out that what's ahead is not a glorious battle, but a horrific slaughter...
"Trek to Kraggen-Cor" is the sort of writing generally classified as "fanfic": stories written by fans of a TV show, movie, or book. McKiernan is clearly a huge fan of "Lord of the Rings" -- how else could he have taken so many details from Tolkien's masterful epic and transplanted them into a similar backdrop? Among things copied are the Dwarves, every single thing about Warrows, the evil villains, the Elves, and the Vanadurim. The whole thing stinks of Middle-Earth. Even small details smack of Tolkien's life's work.
Very little actually happens in this book; most of it is talking, travelling, or both at once. It's even worse when they TALK about travelling. The trek to Kraggen-cor is excruciating, since McKiernan details every dull step of the way. The dialogue is a bit more relaxed, but there's too much melodrama (and, in Cotton's case, poorly-written country-Brit dialect). And McKiernan keeps fixating on hysterical laughter, clothing, and food -- at least one of these shows up regularly.
Perry is apparently supposed to be a naive yet plucky hero. But he merely comes across as a massive drip who has no contact with reality. Cotton's folksy attitude wears thin, but he's an acceptable character. Kian really isn't very interesting; he's a pretty typical benevolent warrior-prince. The Dwarves are all utterly interchangeable, including Borin and Anval.
The first is not always best, and such is true with "Trek To Kraggen-Cor." Only if you liked his excruciating "Iron Tower" trilogy will you like the travesty of Dennis McKiernan's first duology.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you liked Moria in Lord of the Rings..., January 12, 2000
If you liked the chase through Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring, then these two books are for you. While the Silver Call duology is not as much of a rip-off of Lord of the Rings as the Iron Call trilogy was, all of McKiernan's books have been a good read and enjoyable.In the authors defense, he did say in the beginning of one of the books that he could not find anything else as epic as Tolkien and set out to create something similar, albiet a little too similar.
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