Rating: 
Summary: In response to the detractors, below:
Review: Many people are speaking of a Tolkein rip-off. Well, _Into the Forge_ has a person of diminutive stature as the main character, he is on a quest, and possesses an important object that is round (for Bilbo a ring, for Tip a pewter coin). But folks, that's about as far as it goes. The main character being a Warrow (similar to a Hobbit) does *not* automatically make it a rip-off. And as every fantasy novel has a quest, that's hardly offensive. It's actually rather classic. So that's my support for the book. I will agree with the comments about the characters being slightly immature, but that is most likely from McKiernan's efforts to make them "ordinary people", i.e. innocent. It works-- you sympathize with the characters and feel for them througth their trials. This book was not the best ever, but it's good. And it's definitly McKiernan. It's worth reading if you've read any other McKiernan (probably not the one I'd start with, as he uses a lot of stuff from previous books--none of it's necessary, but it may help). So, four stars on my list-- a good, solid fantasy quest with touches of greatness and, yes, originality.
Rating:
Summary: The journey into this fantasy is awesome.
Review: Mithgar is an incredible place to wander off in. I love the twists and unforseen events. I only can hope that Mr. McKiernan continues writing about this wonderful place. I have enjoyed every tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Once agian Mckiernan shows he is the best
Review: Not very much to say but "bravo" Dennis you have done it agian. The Mithgar series is one of the best Fantasy collections I have ever read. Keep them coming and we will keep reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Naught but Aught and Naught
Review: Ok. In Dragondoom it was 'whelmed'. I have to admit that I enjoyed Dragondoom (the only other book I've read by Mr. McKiernan) but if he used the word (or some form of the word) 'whelm' one more time... In this book it's 'aught' (or some form thereof). I get the impression that Mr. McKiernan has an obsessive nature and once he gets something into his head, he just can't seem to shake it out. His characters also do alot of 'sissing' during one section of the book. I was rather taken aback until I realized that for some reason he was substituting this word for 'hissing'. I dunno. I kinda wish they'd just hissed. I also get the impression that either he doesn't have an editor or has a very poor one, as a good editor would point something like this out to him; would also bring to his attention various continuity problems. For example, on the first night of the elven festival "...the sun set, with the waxing half moon in the sky.", and on the very next night of the festival, we have "...the gibbous moon nearing fullness." Kinda makes yer head spin, no? Another problem with this book is Missouri-born Mr. McKiernan's insistence on writing with 'an Irish brogue'. He explains in his foreward that elves speak in an archaic tongue, and I have no problem accepting this. But when this creeps into his narrative, all hell breaks loose, and we're forced to stumble through sentences like: "He clambered onto the bed beside Tip and under the remaining cover, flopping and flapping the one he had used for wrap in a futile attempt to spread overtop all." (direct quote...I swear!) Also, Mr. McKiernan seems a little confused about who his target audience is here. Having his two heros behave like five-year-olds (even though they're adult, Mr. McKiernan seems to believe that because they're small, they can't be very bright.) leads me to believe that he's targeting the adolescent/pre-adolescent market. But all the thees and thous and 'whelms' and aughts and naughts would make any but a language scholar's head spin! Finally - the map. It's a rather attractive map; pretty well thought out and rather detailed. And yet not a single location referred to in the story is indicated on the map! Generally when I read a book that has a map, I refer to the map whenever a location is referred to to see where we are. I gave up about halfway through the book and decided that the wrong map had been printed in the edition that I was reading. Mr. McKiernan! Why do you create a map for a book and then obstinately refuse to include the locations that you've written about!
Rating:
Summary: A Good book, but doesn't beat his previous Tales
Review: Pretty good book about some great characters, but I didn't have trouble putting the book down. McKiernan's books usually get read within 1-2 days, this took me a week. Interesting story. can't wait to read the "Into the Fire"
Rating:
Summary: a really good book ith some bad reviews
Review: Some people may think that these books are a rip-off of Tolkien's work, but I have read many books, and while there are some similarities in the works, these books are entirely original in their story. His books are very in depth and very interesting, and are some of the best books I've read in a while, which I've read quite a few. All of his stories go together really well, and even though some stories take place millenia apart, they intermesh very well. If he reads this I give him credit and say keep on writing!
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Summary: The quest of two wusses and a coin!
Review: The first book of the Hel's Crucible Duology combines the worst traits of all I have read by Dennis McKiernan before. I would have expected that the War of the Ban story would be epic, but instead focuses on people and events that are as far from the actual war as possible! It's also stretched to paper-thinness, badly characterized, and mind-blowingly slow. The book opens in a small village (mostly populated by Men), where the Warrow (hobbit with shoes) Tipperton Thistledown is woken by weird noises in the middle of the night. It turns out to be a Man, fighting Rucks (orcs) 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 us, Tip and Warrow healer Beau Darby set out through the Drearwood (Mirkwood). 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. The opening chapters are pretty good, but as soon as Tip and Beau meet up with the Elves (we have both Vanidar and Vanidor in this book, and heaven help anyone who tries to figure out what the difference is) the action stops dead. Apparently the weather is so rotten that they can't keep travelling - as a result, they spend about half of the book sitting on their behinds and talking with lots of interchangeable Elves, none of whom really have any personality. There's no sense of urgency. We're told how horrible it would be if Modru conquered Mithgar, and how incredibly dire the situation is. Then we're treated to pages of the Elves and Warrows casually ambling around, waiting for the weather to improve. Tip is about as unmemorable as it is possible to be; the only noteworthy personality facet is the fact that he acts like a little kid. Beau is a little more memorable, in that he has a fairly nice personality -- but he also responds to any crisis by saying, "Oh my." You can guess how annoying it gets. Most of the other characters are Generic Elves -- we have the fully interchangeable Vanidor and Gildor, the wood-elf Vanidar, and the utterly bloodless and unmemorable lovers Phais and Loric. And we also have the return of Talarin and Rael (boring clones of Celeborn and Galadriel); Rael's entire purpose in the plot is to look at a crystal and occasionally make dire predictions. Rynna is apparently supposed to be spunky, but ends up being irritating; it's impossible to tell why Tip gives a "barn rat" about her. Dialogue is absurd -- I mean, what half-asleep person thinks "Distant metal striking metal"? Why do the Elves insist on speaking in medieval English? And how many times can Beau say "oh my" before someone strangles him? We are also treated to a long list of words either made up or dug from old texts: "whelm," "aught," "siss," and so on. McKiernan's tendency to focus on insignificant details and boring travels is at its peak here: For almost a year, the heroes are wandering all over the place, but never accomplishing anything or really going anywhere! Let's face it, if Tolkien had written like this, "Fellowship" would have ended with Frodo saying, "Okay! Let's take the Ring to Rivendell now!" And his different races are getting weirder with every succeeding book. The Warrows here show constant immaturity and an underlying twittiness that begins grating on the reader after Chapter Two. And the Elves increasingly resemble aliens from Babylon 5, with names like Phais and their weird "season-changing" ritual, which is actually just a very slow line-dance. This might have been interesting, except they seem to do it every few pages. (They also seem to have pretty active libidos) Along the way we encounter an Elf with a zest for life, who made my skin crawl. We even encounter an Elf pervert; Elissan spends about half the book teasing Tip about seeing him naked in the bathtub. And, as always, we have romance; with a few exceptions, all Men, Elves or Warrows will either be paired up or dead by the end of the story, even the minor characters. However, in this story McKiernan departs from the squeaky-cleanness of the Iron Tower Trilogy and the Silver Call duology. We are treated to a couple of love scenes (non-graphic and very vague) between Loric/Phais, and Tip and a damman named Rynna (who nearly matches Merrilee Holt for the most annoying female character ever). In the latter case, it gets really, really weird. We are expected to believe that Tip finds instant true love -- with the first female member of his species that he's ever seen. Am I the only one who sees a problem here? The Tolkien ripoffs are mostly those of the other books too: Hobbits/warrows; Shire/Boskydells; the annoying seeress Rael/stately Galadriel; Drearwood/Mirkwood; rukhs/orcs; lokhs/uruk-hai; ogrus/trolls; Modru/Sauron; Gyphon/Morgoth; the war of the Ban/the war against Sauron when he lost the Ring, and so on... they're even carrying a ring-like coin, for crying out loud! It doesn't just carefully copy Tolkien elements. "Into the Forge" is just astonishingly badly written, with obvious flaws in just about every area. Terrible.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Read from McKiernan!
Review: The Hel's Crucible duology is another example of McKiernan's prowess as a writer of High Fantasy. The Warrow heroes (Tip and Beau) are every bit as enjoyable as McKiernan's other Warrow heroes. Moving scenes of bravery and utter defiance in the face of an evil juggernaut seem to be a trademark of the world of Mithgar, and these traits are certainly present in this duology. Action packed and imbued with an interesting storyline , this duology is set in the era of 'The War of the Ban', a decisive time in the history of Mithgar. All in all one of McKiernan's better works and a great read for new fans and veterans of Mithgar.
Rating:
Summary: Bad plot development
Review: The main characters assume the possesion of a coin from a dying warrior. They are told to bring it to Agron and "warn" others. So are intrepid adventurers just pack up and leave...that's it, no motive, no reason. They just want to do it! Like Nike, just without the sneakers. The story from there grows stagnant and uninteresting. I was not eager to finish this book, I forced myself to read it. The characters are shallow, the evil guys are unknown and their motives for WORLD DOMINATION are questionable. The elves kept calling the main characters "wee ones", they did it so much it drove my NUTS. The story grew old and annoying, save your money for another novel.
Rating:
Summary: Ooh, that McKiernan chant, so elegant
Review: There is a difference between imitation and emulation.
Imitation is the lowest form of flattery, as far as I am concerned, when it comes to writing. The reason this is, is because it's easy to rip off what someone has already done.
Emulation, on the other hand, is a high form of flattery. The reasoning behind this is that the work is in respect and acknowledges the influence of the one emulated.
McKiernan, though if he acknowledges this or not, is one of the finest emulators of Tolkien around. I have always enjoyed McKiernan, but with _Into the Forge_ I have a new respect for him. It came at a point in the novel when I could actually mentally hear Tolkien's Elves singing to Bilbo in conjunction with the Elves hailing the Warrows in this volume.
That's when I said "My God, McKiernan has definitely got it."
This is worth your time, and that is a compliment.
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