Rating: 
Summary: TWO PANZIES GO ON JOURNEY
Review: Actually, this book caught my interest in the beginning, but it went downhill from there. The book is written in one continuous stream, therefore, not a complicated plot. The two main characters are so wimpy that I couldn't get too involved with them. They feel an urgent need to deliver a coin, yet wimp out and hang around an elf town for several months waiting for spring because winter soooo cold - ooooo(oh my!). Their big conflict is who should carry the coin(such sacrifice - oh my!). Then the two idiots spend several chapters just asking dumb questions(a cheap and 'beginners' way of telling the story and informing the reader of details - oh my!). Actually, this book has some value. You can see how NOT to write a novel. By all means, go ahead and buy this book. You have to read bad books to appreciate good books. Buy it now(oh my!)
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy Masterpiece!!!
Review: Although I thought this book was going to be another Tolkien ripoff, I found that the story was an original in it's own right. Also, a book can not be considered a "ripoff" whent the author admits to have gotten "ideas" from a previous author. This book did a great job of telling the tale of the war of the Ban which is what all of his books have centered around since The Iron Tower Trilogy. This Title is Mckiernan's second best novel ever...only to be beaten by part two of this Duology, Into the Fire. but that is another tale...and it IS all connected you know!
Rating:
Summary: The tale of the Great War of the Ban!!!
Review: As I read through the scathing reviews of this book, I couldn't help but wonder what goes through people's mind when they give a fantastic book such as this poor reviews. Dennis McKiernan is one of the greatest fantasy writers in the genre. To call his work a blatent rip-off of Tolkien is a grevious sin. It must be said that Tolkien tales urged Mr. McKiernan to get into writing in the first place, and his Iron Tower Trilogy was originally written as a sequel to Tolkien's works; however, Tolkien's Estate declined to endorse such a sequel. Before typecasting McKiernan's works as unoriginal and boring, please read more of his Mithgar story arc. He is one of the most original authors around.
Rating:
Summary: A must for the fiction fantasy readers
Review: As with all of his books, i have loved this story. I cant wait until book 2 is released, so i may finish this journey with Tip and his friends. Mckiernan once again spellbounds you with his
story and remains tied as favorite author along with Terry Goodkind. I do hope book 2 is to be found soon though.
Rating: 
Summary: Tolkien Revisited, but the Lite Version
Review: Beau and Tipperton are Wallows. Little people. Not quite pixies, but closer to the Tolkien story. Tip is going to deliver a coin to Agron somewhere over the mountain, after the coin drops in his lap when a soldier drops dead on his doorstep.Why is he doing this? Well, someone has to. Why is Beau along for the ride? Well, it seems like a good idea. Then there are the problems with adults in small bodies acting like kids. The author forgets that Tip has run a mill for four years and Beau has served an appreniceship to be a healer. Why are they so immature?
Rating:
Summary: A surefire winner
Review: Dennis L. McKiernan's HEL'S CRUCIBLE DUOLOGY, BOOK ONE: INTO THE FORGE is
a good read for fantasy lovers.
The story begins with a man wounded on the steps of Tipperton's mill. Tipperton is a Warrow, a
race of beings similar to midget elves. The man turns out to be associated with High King Blaine,
and his dying wish is for Tipperton to deliver a mysterious coin to Agnor, whomever or whatever
that may be.
Along with Beau, another Warrow, the two journey through a forest of evil, meet up with elves,
and get swept up into a war that is linked to their own quest for Agnor.
INTO THE FORGE is a pretty easy book to get into with its memorable characters and its story
of epic proportions. It's a good book to sit down with on a rainy day or weekend.
Casey Thomaston
Rating:
Summary: The journey of two twits and a coin
Review: Don't expect Dennis McKiernan's earthshattering War of the Ban to be half as epic as it sounds. Instead, the first book of the Hel's Crucible duology, "Into the Forge," focuses on people as far away from the actual war as possible. Paper thin, poorly characterized, this is a mind-numbingly slow journey with a pair of little twits.
The book opens in a small village (mostly populated by Men), where the Warrow Tipperton Thistledown is woken by weird noises in the middle of the night. It turns out to be a Man, fighting Rucks and who ends up being killed by them. Before he dies, he gives Tip a little coin on a thong and tells him to go east, give the coin to "Agron," and "warn all."
So, for reasons not entirely clear to them, Tip and Warrow healer Beau Darby set out through the Drearwood. They have to get to this guy Agron and give him the little coin. They hang around with Elves for a very long time before actually getting moving; in the meantime, the sinister Sauron-clone Modru is trying to take Mithgar over...
It's not much of a plot description, because there isn't much of a plot -- this duology might have worked better as a single work. It opens strongly, with some action and suspense, but as soon as Tip and Beau meet up with the Elves, the action stops dead. Apparently the weather is so rotten that they can't keep travelling, so they're forced to hang around and talk for hours with the interchangeable Elf lords. (Every Elf is a lord or a lady -- is any Elf NOT of the nobility?)
The only sense of urgency that McKiernan can summon up is the need to finish the book. Readers are told how horrible it would be if Modru conquered the world -- then are treated to pages of the Warrows and Elves ambling around, waiting for the weather to improve. The dialogue is absurd -- what half-asleep person thinks "distant metal striking metal"? What's with all the medieval English? And how many times can Beau say "oh my" before someone strangles him?
McKiernan's writing is not much better, full of odd old words like "siss" and "whelm." It's trite, flowery and overblown. And McKiernan throws in some obligatory romance for half the characters, usually involving lots of googly eyes, soulmates, and "making sweet, gentle love" several times. Yick. There's even an Elf pervert, who keeps talking about seeing Tip naked.
Tip is annoying and immature; it's hard to imagine entrusting a shopping list to this little idiot, let alone a fate-of-the-world mission. Beau is a little more memorable, but he also responds to any crisis by saying, "Oh my." You can guess how annoying it gets. Phais and Loric are dull, generic Elves. Warrow girl Rynna is apparently supposed to be spunky, but ends up being irritating -- what's even stranger is that Tip finds true love with her, merely because she's the first girl of his own kind that he's met.
"Into the Forge" is one of the worst fantasy books in publication -- a slow, lumbering, brain-dead behemoth of a story. Only to be read by aspiring writers... as an example of what NOT to do.
Rating:
Summary: Just Great Adventure!
Review: Every so often, I just want to read a story of Good Vs. Evil. War, Intrigue, Hero's, Elves. And, I hate AD&D books. That is why I love McKiernan so much. Classic Fantasy written well. Every book I've read from him I've enjoyed immensely, including this series. Excellent! I couldnt rate it higher.
Rating:
Summary: Not even close to the story of the Hobbit.
Review: Great book! Best book I have ever read (along with the second book)! It starts you right into the action of the war of Ban. And at the end it leaves you wanting more. I am a 7th grader and I read this book in 3 days. I read 100 pages the first day I got it from amazon. I am really into fantasy so this book is just perfect for me.I recommend this book for fantasy reader from ages 11-35.
Rating: 
Summary: Where I red this story before?
Review: Hey yo! Hobbits go... oh, sorry, they are not hobbits, they arewarrowans - litle guys from peaceful land, but with some strange anddark areas nearby. So, I will not re-tell whole story here and yes, Ihave red, that McKiernan planned this series to be some kind of squeelto Tolkien's LotR and Tolkien's estate denied that. Till reading thisbook I have thought, that the biggest plagiat of LotR is Terry Brooks'Shannara (first two or three volumes), but after reading INTO THEFORGE I thing this one wins. Just compare - warrowans are likehobbits, the task is to deliver coin to somewhere (to elf lord Agronliving on the far east - nearly same direction as Sauron in LotR),crossing dead forrest with enemies on trail can be easily compared tofirst encounter with nazguls in LotR, first encounter with elves -here dylvans - likewise. And dark Mage Modru in Iron Tower let meremember Sauron and his Dark Tower (and even Saruman with histower). And the stories goes on like copy of LotR in nearly every way- save they didn't cross mountains "underway" (like throughMoria in LotR), but dwarves showed them narrow and top-secret path. Atthe end of this story we have "Companion" of two warrowansnamed Tip and Beau, two elves Lorric (he) and Phais (she) and, ofcourse, one dwarf Bekki. And together they will keep going andgoing... ...till they deliver this ordinery coin (no magic in it? No,it's just symbol). Considering characters - warrowans are... (explicitly said) and they behave like ... (or 5- years childrens)even in situations when they are supposed to keep mouth closed(interrupting even elf-lord or so). Of course I have to admit, thatthe story is well made, profi-written, but still it's only LotR's copyand it will never be more (for me) than that. Sorry, bu I will not buy2nd volume, may be I'll borrow it from some of my friends but may benot.
|
