The Dwarves (The Dwarves, 1)

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 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 really liked Nicholls' [[ASIN:0316033707 Orcs]], because of the originality in presenting the story from an Orcish point of view. (The book is not perfect as it suffers from a weak plot.) So when I saw Heitz's book the other day, I assumed the author had used the same trick to write an interesting and innovative story... This is not the case! The book may be one of the worst fantasy books I ever read, in that it could have been written by an average [[ASIN:1872372163 Warhammer]] player with no loss to style or plot. There are indeed many features borrowed from this fantasy universe, including dwarf bersekers and dark elves, and the story is not more inspired than a standard Warhammer game that would involve most of the different races... The characters are unidimensional and predictable, the multiplication of coincidences is beyond the acceptable, the (lack of) logistic of the world is appalling, the use of subterranean railways is ludicrous, the cover is reproducing Gimli in the [[ASIN:B0026L7H20 The Lord of the Rings]], and so on... There is no pleasure in reading this book!

I really liked Nicholls' [[ASIN:0316033707 Orcs]], because of the originality in presenting the story from an Orcish point of view. (The book is not perfect as it suffers from a weak plot.) So when I saw Heitz's book the other day, I assumed the author had used the same trick to write an interesting and innovative story... This is not the case! The book may be one of the worst fantasy books I ever read, in that it could have been written by an average [[ASIN:1872372163 Warhammer]] player with no loss to style or plot. There are indeed many features borrowed from this fantasy universe, including dwarf bersekers and dark elves, and the story is not more inspired than a standard Warhammer game that would involve most of the different races... The characters are unidimensional and predictable, the multiplication of coincidences is beyond the acceptable, the (lack of) logistic of the world is appalling, the use of subterranean railways is ludicrous, the cover is reproducing Gimli in the [[ASIN:B0026L7H20 The Lord of the Rings]], and so on... There is no pleasure in reading this book!

Story is very contrived. Villains always happen to be at the right place and time. New heroes arrive out of no where to save the main characters. Lost my interest very quickly. There are lots of much better fantasy books out there. Don't waste your time on this series.

How can anyone give this fantastic book just 3 stars is beyond me. My gosh I was hoping it would never end. It might have been a little heavy on the battle stuff for me but that is just me. I hate it when they do all that fansy dansy stuff with the wizards and warlocks. This guy peppered it just right with all the magic. The only thing I wish he had done was shorten making of the axe. Other than that I loved it and can hardly wait for the next book. 3 Stars? Who are you kidding? 5 PLUS Stars and I urge everyone to get this book and read it. Best book I have read in a very long time.

I started reading this book on a whim since I was on a fantasy kick, and my favorite race is the dwarves(no surprise)! When I began reading it, I had no idea I would be reading one of my all time favorite series from that point on. The book does not merely revolve around the tales of dwarves, but it incorporates the storylines of many different races and unique characters. You will follow the novel from the perspective of our heroes, villains, and all important characters ranging from a traveling band of actors, to the most powerful wizards on earth, to the kings and queens of the human kingdoms, and even to the war camps of the Orcs or the hauntingly beautiful but terrifying lands of the dark elves (Alfar).

My favorite aspect of this book is that it reminds you that no hero is immortal, rather than just one major climatic death, it reminds you time and time again that no matter how amazing you are, you are only mortal. It knows how to tug on your emotions and read further to see how the heroes deal with seemingly impossible odds.

I definitely loved this book and highly recommend it to others!

"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.

Something about books that are translated that just makes the dialogue feel forced and empty. I love dwarves and love the premise of this book. It had potential, I wish I could read German because I bet things would have made more sense and lines would have been better. I could not get into the writing. It felt quirky and forced and the way the translation described the characters and what was happening was hard to tune in to. Eventually I had to put it down because I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. Like anything, you have to read it for yourself to decided. I couldn't get into it. Hopefully there will be a better dwarf novel written by someone in English.

If you enjoy fantasy writing with any degree of narrative complexity or real character development you will quite simply hate this book. I bought it at the airport without reading any of prior to purchase. It took 5 minutes on the plane to realise what an error I had made. It's dull. Very, very dull. Read Memories of Ice or Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson instead. These two books are so far apart from The Dwarves they're not even in the same genre. I was another victim of the cover. It's quite good. Forget the rest. It is probably the worst fantasy novel I have ever bought.