Rating: 
Summary: The same old story told the same old way
Review: I don't expect anyone to ever really rival Tolkien, but I do wish that McKiernan could have been a little bit more creative in his efforts. Tip and Beau are such dull characters--almost as if they'd been cut out of a generic book. Tip's nsudden love interest, Beau's constant "Oh My" just gets more grating as the story goes on. I'm afraid this is another forgettable fantasy novel. What happened to the good old days of Shannara, Jennifer Roberson and Raymond Feist? Even the Iron Tower Trilogy seemed to have elements of deep thought rather than simple rehashing. DM can do better.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll go thru Hell's Crucible just to finish this book
Review: I don't think I've ever read a more derivative piece of crap in my life. Do yourself a favor and DON'T buy this book. Get Tolkien instead. The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings. Any of those 4 will do. If you've read any of them, you will realize that McKiernan cribbed almost every bit of readable text in this book from the Master, Tolkien himself. Yes, Warrows=Hobbits. Drearwood=Mirkwood. The evil Modru, disciple of Neddra (=Sauron) appears to those he's seducing as if he's a shimmering rainbow of light -- Can you say "Saruman the Many-Colored," boys and girls? SURE you can! There's even an evil advisor who's remarkably like Grima Wormtongue. Does he get his comeuppance at the end of the book? No, he escapes and runs away!Not only are all the elements of the story completely unoriginal, but the language is trite, flowery and overblown. The warrows are inevitably described as "wee." No stream or river is ever "clear" or "fresh," it is always "pellucid." (Somebody must have gotten a thesaurus for Christmas.) When our hero, Tipperton Thistledown, and his new girlfriend finally get it on, they make "sweet, gentle love" not once but twice. In the same paragraph. Ack. Do yourself a favor. Skip this book. Read Tolkien. Watch the LoTR movies. Play with your kids. Or your dog. Or your spouse. Something worth doing. This isn't it. I only read it because my stepson begged me to, promising me it would get better. It didn't. I want my time back.
Rating:
Summary: He dragged the story to fill the pages...
Review: I enjoyed the first book and overlooked as he started to add silly characters (moving stones, one swamp giant lizard, the elf ritual) it was not a tight, focused story. Alot like Eddings.. lets get some characters and have them travel... and wander.. and battle... then rest... then over to more travel.. introduce walking rocks... It seemed to me between the 2 books he had one long book or a book and 1/2 to make it good.
Rating:
Summary: Boring ripoff wore me out early
Review: I like fantasy. I will read even junk fantasy. I read quite fast and am willing to skim through pretty much anything. But I just couldn't finish this darned book. I bought this book, plunged into it, got to page 106 out of 410, and just surrendered. I couldn't read any more. This is a very rare experience for me. First off, this book is not a veiled ripoff of Tolkien because THERE IS NO VEIL. A couple of hobbits [Mckiernan translation: warrows], who are good with bows and slings, are given a magic ring [uh, a coin with a hole punched in it] by a dying Ranger [King's man] who has been set upon by orcs [Rucks] and set off through the Mirkwood [Dreadwood] to take it to Elrond [Agron], dodging the trolls [trolls] and Uruk-hai [Hloks] and Nazgul [Ghuls] who have been sent by Sauron [Modru], ruler of Mordor [Gron] and servant of Morgoth [Gyphon], and finally meet some elves [elves], including Gildor [Gildor], who give them some waybread [waybread!]. "Well, it certainly puts cram [crue] to shame." I'm sorry, but I can only take so much of this. I mean, of course Tolkien is the mitochondrial Eve of modern fantasy, and of course anyone who writes about Elves and Dwarves at all in these latter days is inevitably borrowing from Tolkien either consciously or unconsciously. And of course the whole genre of the tiny party of unlikely heroes setting out cross-lots pursued by the whole army of evil is straight from Tolkien, and anyone who attempts it will be compared to Tolkien. The first hundred pages of Jordan's "The Eye of the World" have the air of the Shire. But the difference is that Jordan quickly, much to the reader's relief, lets you know that he has many ideas of his own. Not the case here! It is a Bad Thing when the story is so uninteresting and the ripoffs so common that the reader just ceases to be at all interested in the story and is reduced to just playing "Tolkien match-up", sort of like playing the "License plate game" on a long and boring car trip. At page 106 I got out at a service area, and I refused to get back in the car. Worried that I hadn't given the book a fair shake, I skipped ahead and sampled about eight or ten pages in the last three quarters of the book, wondering if there might be something interesting there. I found no evidence for this. Just a lot of wandering with elves speaking in medieval English ("Nay, Sir Beau, inconsequential art thou not") and some battles and slaughters and I guess there is even some love interest, but nothing that would convince me to get back into the car. Not without getting paid.
Rating: 
Summary: excelent!!! highly recomended to any fantacy novel reader.
Review: i've already read it three times and plan on reading it again. i can't wait to read part 2 into the fire.
Rating:
Summary: An amazingly bad book.
Review: I've read a lot of fantasy and science fiction in the last 20 years. This is, without a doubt, the worst piece in either genre I've read in that entire time. Anachronisms abound. The characters are paper thin. The plot is predictable. The battles are not stirring. The very best things about this book (and the sequel, which I read for this very reason) was the chance to laugh at the bad writing, and the chance to guess which other story some particularly awful bit had been borrowed from. I don't think that Dennis McKiernan is deliberately writing this badly, or trying to be this derivative. It's not that derivative is always bad (the Belgariad series by David Eddings is both derivative and delightful). I think Dennis must have been in a hurry, or a had a contract he was forced to honor. A pity.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Into the forge was not slow. It was a fast going battle filled book. I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: 3.5 stars, actually..
Review: It's hard to say exactly why I like McKiernan so much. There are some flaws of course; sickeningly sweet interludes: all the heroes (the ones that live, at least) manage to fall completely in love with one perfect person on first sight, and they spend the rest of the book fawning over each other. Anachronisms and modern sayings abound. There's a fair amount of bland and obvious preaching. But, somehow, it works. I care for the characters, annoying as they get. There's a charm to all his stories that still makes me smile (and I'm the least romantic-minded person you'd ever meet). I don't mind the old-fashioned dialogue or even the constant repetitive "Barn rats"'s and "Lor"s and "Oh my"s. I end up rolling my eyes and sighing only occasionally, but the rest of the time I'm completely engrossed. Just don't take it too seriously and you'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: Want my copy?
Review: Let's see -- slow, derivitive, unengaging characters. The authors who let themselves be quoted on the cover (Jennifer Robeson?) should be ashamed of themselves. I'll stay away from this author in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Tolkein Snobs...Get a Life!
Review: Look, I like Tolkein as much as the next person, but I'm sick of the Tolkein snobs who criticize any book that happens to have a quest or elves and dwarves. Okay..guess what Tolkein snobs...Tolkein didn't invent Elves, Dwarves, quests, evil Gods, or goblins. And L. Frank Baum used talking trees long before Tolkein so get off your high horse! Now, Into the Fire is a good book, not a great book. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could. Yes it is a bit on the slow side as the two main characters travel from location to location, and yes the map included doesn't even come into play until about 2/3 of the way through the book which is annoying. Still, despite the slowness of travel, the dialog kept me interested, especially once the finally met up with the elves and the elves related stories of the background of Mithgar. A bit light on action and we don't get much of a viewpoint from the antagonists, which is why I downgrade the book a bit. I liked how the Warrows grew in character from two almost children thinking they are going on a weekend trip, to the seriousness and brutality of the war, which McKiernan describes in graphic detail. I am looking forward to the 2nd book.
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