Rating: 
Summary: Too Many Characters
Review: I have read almost every one of McKiernan's books and this was the most hard to read through. After reading his other novels, I've become tired of his stories centering around warrows, which is a minus. The only other problem with this book is that so many characters were met by the main two warrows that when you see that some of them have died you wonder who they were. By allowing Beau and Tip to have adventures around most of the world of Mithgar, it is near impossible to care for any of the people that the two warrows meet. However, if you enjoyed Into the Forge, you won't be disappointed by the ending in Into the Fire.
Rating: 
Summary: When's it coming out in Paperback!!!!!
Review: I just want to finish the series! I can't afford hard cover books
Rating:
Summary: COOL
Review: I think that Into the Fire is a book that brings together action, fiction, and a bit of romance. Tip and Beau return in the sequal to Into the Forge. As Tip and Beau become seperated form their friends they incounter many dangers, and in them also many havens and friendly people.
I recomend this book to anyone who likes Lord of the Rings, or something of the sort.
Anyone reading this will notice simularities to Lord of the Rings and some may not like it because it relates to much.
This book, I reccomend, to anyone above the age of thirteen and up, and to both male and female audiences, although males may like it more.
Rating:
Summary: Watch out for this one, it's gonna make you late to work
Review: Mckiernan will take your mind, heart, and soul and guide them through the journey of two kind-hearted warrows fighting for all that is good in the great war. I'm sure, like I did, you'll fall in love with this duology. I wasn't sure, at first, I would like this book so I simply told myself I'd give it a chance and read the first couple pages. Now, two months later I have read and finished these two books and I now own about ten other books by Mckiernan and I want to read them all so much, but, at the same time I dread every turn of every page because I know that it's just one less page of the magestic land of mithgar I have left to read.
Rating:
Summary: It's all connected, you know.
Review: McKiernan's creative genius shows again with the conclusion to this magnificent tale of the Great War of the Ban. His many stories from the world of Mithgar are stunningly drawn together in this long awaited book. When I first read the Iron tower trilogy many years ago, I was hooked; since then I've managed to buy all of the stories from Mithgar. The events of Into the Fire have been alluded to in all of his works, and finally the whole of his work is brought together in this one book. The events that were only hinted at before now become clear, explaining much of the history of his world. The characters once again become people, become real in a way that far too many writers cannot accomplish. The story is as good as ever, the places as wonderous. McKiernan truly is a master of the fantasy epic.
Rating:
Summary: It's all connected, you know.
Review: McKiernan's creative genius shows again with the conclusion to this magnificent tale of the Great War of the Ban. His many stories from the world of Mithgar are stunningly drawn together in this long awaited book. When I first read the Iron tower trilogy many years ago, I was hooked; since then I've managed to buy all of the stories from Mithgar. The events of Into the Fire have been alluded to in all of his works, and finally the whole of his work is brought together in this one book. The events that were only hinted at before now become clear, explaining much of the history of his world. The characters once again become people, become real in a way that far too many writers cannot accomplish. The story is as good as ever, the places as wonderous. McKiernan truly is a master of the fantasy epic.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible, but still enjoyable
Review: The characters are flat. The battles are ridiculous (30k men killed by a rockslide). The story is weak. The villians always have outrageous odds in their favor, yet manage to lose by either cleverness or obscene misfortune. The villian's plans are always excellent, the hero's plans are always foolish, yet the clever wearling seems to manage to pull things out time after time. Suddenly the enemy is an idiot. Lots of Deus Ex Machina. In short, the book is terrible.Yet, after finishing the book yesterday, Im already beginning to miss the characters--go figure. For some strange reason, I miss old Tipperton and his annoying wife Rynna. McKiernan is a master cheerleader and knows how to tug at the heartstrings.
Rating: 
Summary: OH, MY
Review: The title of this review is the expression used by one of the characters 16 times in the first 23 pages of the book. It is used 4 times on page four. Obviously, I could not force myself to read any more of this bad writing, so I stopped there. Nor will I again pick up a book by Mr. McKiernan. On p. 23 we have this sentence: "None else said aught as they rode onward." If the whole book were written in this faux-Olde-Englishe, it would be bad enough; but since the bulk of the text is in contemporary formal English--or as close to it as Mr. McKieran's extremely limited gifts permit him to get--pearls like this only provoke the laughter of the reader. Also of great interest is the map in the front of the book. The scale is given as 1/2 inch = 400 miles. That means the bay called the Avagon Sea is larger than the Pacific Ocean, the land mass shown on the map is larger than Asia, the planet must be the size of Jupiter, and, more to the point, no movement taking place in the novel--unless it involves teleportation or supersonic travel--can be usefully followed on the map. You might read this thing if you are a struggling writer and need encouragement, or for a laugh, or if you teach writing and are looking for some ghastly examples with which to appall your students, but otherwise stay away. I do commend the author for his choice of a title, however: the title perfectly describes what should be done with the book.... Oh, my.
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Late Addendum: If you are uncertain as to whether or not you might like Mr. McKiernan's works, I urge you to go to his website. On the opening page you will find something called "Quote from Dragondoom." (Since it is a full page long it's not a quote, it's an excerpt, but that's not the point here....) Read it, keeping in mind that Mr. McKiernan must have selected this page from his volumnious writings because he thinks it is particularly good. If you can get through just the first eleven lines without starting to giggle, McKiernan may be for you--and please e-mail me and tell me why you liked the 'quote,' as I'd love to know. If, on the other hand, you find yourself laughing, staring in disbelief that anybody could write such stuff and think he would be taken seriously, shaking your head in wonder, etc., you are of my opinion, and should stay away from this author.
Rating: 
Summary: A So-So Conclusion
Review: This book is somewhat better than its predecessor, mostly because things finally happen. That silly coin actually does get to Agron, Beau finally acquires a love interest other than Tip, and we learn, only in the final 120 pages out of 950, why this mini-series of two volumes is called Hel's Crucible. There are loads of battles, but the battles are wildly unrealistic; it just isn't as easy to kill people with a sling or bow and arrow, even with a direct hit, as McKiernan pretends.
The big finale isn't very successful; a series of armies appears pretty much out of thin air to push the plot forward, and the final twist, because it is heavily foreshadowed but absurdly carried out, manages to be at once predictable and unbelievable.
The book has two themes, both heavily and frequently underlined, that every action has consequences, ultimately unpredictable, and that freedom isn't free. True enough, but the author has nothing particularly original or insightful to say on either topic.
The bottom line is that this is just not very good Tolkien cribbing. There are quite a few other Mithgar stories by McKiernan, but I have no plans to read any of them.
Rating:
Summary: Into the Repetition (Part 2)
Review: This book was hard for me to read. I've reviewed the first one of this duology, and the same problems exist for this book. It is too repetitive, chiefly in the areas of travel and philosophy. There is no reason for these novels to be this long. Such a waste., and I was able to finish it.
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