Rating: 
Summary: Lamer than a two legged horse
Review: This book is a veiled rip-off of Tolkien. The plot is week and character development is non existent. The two main characters go a mission for no good reason. Oh Wait, we have to save the world! Please, that is so old. They travel through a dangerous forest (hint MIRKWOOD) and get nothing but a scratch. The only wepons they carried was a bow for a 3 foot tall guy. HELLO! Reality, are you there! Take your girl out or better yet, re-read Tolkien. You will be glad you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfull Book
Review: This book is an absolute must read for any Mc kiernan fan, ever since I read the Iron Towers trilogy I've been hooked on Mythgar, and for all those that think that McKiernan is coppying the hobbit, obviously youve never read the hobbit, bilbo baggins is a barefoot thief that goes on adventures with a bunch of dwarves, I dont see the conection, anyway this is a great book, ive read it twice already.
Rating: 
Summary: Into the Repetition (Part 1)
Review: This book was hard for me to read. No, it wasn't the strange dialogue, and no, it wasn't because the material was similar to Tolkien. It's the repetition.This is the third book I've read by McKiernan. All were recommended by a friend who really enjoys his work. I can understand part of the interest. The battles are entertaining, and the world developed is intriguing. After finishing all of his books I do wonder about the characters and the questions unanswered. Nonetheless, this book, like the others of his I've read, is too long and too full of useless material. There is too much philosophy, which never seems to be answered in any way to satisfy the characters, much less the reader. This would be fine if it didn't repeat itself (down to the same arguments and counter-arguments) every few chapters. Add to this the descriptions of the characters' travels, from the look of the trees to the time spent going each direction, and you have one boring story. Movies avoid these issues by having things like cut scenes to skip the boring parts. This book could have moved from my two stars to three (or perhaps higher) by employing a similar tactic. Still, it isn't a total loss, and I was able to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Titus Reviews "Into the Forge"
Review: This book was not very good at all. McKiernan has unfortunately become more boring with each new book. This book mainly consisted of a detailed journey of a band of "heroes". Their travels were not exciting and were generally predictable. McKiernan still has a talent for describing battle scenes, but they are few and far between in this book. I've already bought "Into the Fire", so I'll probably end up reading it though I'm tempted to return it.
Rating:
Summary: Titus Reviews "Into the Forge"
Review: This book was not very good at all. McKiernan has unfortunately become more boring with each new book. This book mainly consisted of a detailed journey of a band of "heroes". Their travels were not exciting and were generally predictable. McKiernan still has a talent for describing battle scenes, but they are few and far between in this book. I've already bought "Into the Fire", so I'll probably end up reading it though I'm tempted to return it.
Rating:
Summary: Will the journey never end? Just put the book down.
Review: This is the first book of McKiernan's that I have read and it will be the last. After checking out the rest of the reviews posted here, I see that I am not the only one. Whether or not this was a Tolkien copycat was immaterial. I've read a lot of fantasy books that have similiar quests. The problem I had was that the writing and the characters were simply boring. I felt no emotional connection with any of them. If Beau or Tip had been killed at any point, I wouldn't have cared. There was nothing especially likeable about any of the characters. And I have never read a book with such an interminable journey. By page 200, the characters have been travelling for nearly a year. Nothing has happened. There's an interesting war going on all around them, but they are not involved in it in any way. I think the most amazing thing was that the entire world wasn't already conquered by Modru during the time the 'heroes' were travelling! He certainly had plenty of time as they wandered back and forth along the mountain range--all described in excruciating detail. Several chapters could have been completely deleted without affecting the story whatsoever because it only described the TRAVELLING--THE ENDLESS TRAVELLING! Who cares if they travel 3 days south, then 4 days east, then a week south again, blah, blah, blah. It would have been one thing if they were hounded by the evil army or went through some sort of peril, but absolutely nothing happened during this boring journey. Nowhere is there any sense of urgency about getting this coin to the High King. Instead they dally around with the elves and take their time trying to find a way through the mountains. A good author knows when to just move the characters along to just get them where they need to be so the action happens. This was about as interesting as writing a book about me driving to work. Still, a long journey could have been salvaged by some interesting character development and interaction. But, sadly, there was nothing. Tip and Beau were never advanced beyond the grade school level of taking direction from their elders. The elders had no more depth than an encyclopedia. They only provided information--no emotion. All in all, this is one of those books that makes you wonder how it made it past a half-decent editor. I can only assume that Mr. Mckiernan's other works must have been significantly better to even warrant publishing this thing. But based on this sad tale, I won't bother to find out.
Rating:
Summary: Will the journey never end? Just put the book down.
Review: This is the first book of McKiernan's that I have read and it will be the last. After checking out the rest of the reviews posted here, I see that I am not the only one. Whether or not this was a Tolkien copycat was immaterial. I've read a lot of fantasy books that have similiar quests. The problem I had was that the writing and the characters were simply boring. I felt no emotional connection with any of them. If Beau or Tip had been killed at any point, I wouldn't have cared. There was nothing especially likeable about any of the characters. And I have never read a book with such an interminable journey. By page 200, the characters have been travelling for nearly a year. Nothing has happened. There's an interesting war going on all around them, but they are not involved in it in any way. I think the most amazing thing was that the entire world wasn't already conquered by Modru during the time the 'heroes' were travelling! He certainly had plenty of time as they wandered back and forth along the mountain range--all described in excruciating detail. Several chapters could have been completely deleted without affecting the story whatsoever because it only described the TRAVELLING--THE ENDLESS TRAVELLING! Who cares if they travel 3 days south, then 4 days east, then a week south again, blah, blah, blah. It would have been one thing if they were hounded by the evil army or went through some sort of peril, but absolutely nothing happened during this boring journey. Nowhere is there any sense of urgency about getting this coin to the High King. Instead they dally around with the elves and take their time trying to find a way through the mountains. A good author knows when to just move the characters along to just get them where they need to be so the action happens. This was about as interesting as writing a book about me driving to work. Still, a long journey could have been salvaged by some interesting character development and interaction. But, sadly, there was nothing. Tip and Beau were never advanced beyond the grade school level of taking direction from their elders. The elders had no more depth than an encyclopedia. They only provided information--no emotion. All in all, this is one of those books that makes you wonder how it made it past a half-decent editor. I can only assume that Mr. Mckiernan's other works must have been significantly better to even warrant publishing this thing. But based on this sad tale, I won't bother to find out.
Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: This is the story of two hobbits, I mean warrows, who set off on a journey to deliver a ring, I mean coin, that may help save the world from the evil mage Sauron, I mean Modru. Along the way they are aided by elves, dwarves, and sorcerers, and threatened by various magical monsters, not to mention clumsy prose.
McKiernan has an ugly habit of switching between a sort of bastardized faux-Middle English and normal modern English, as well as stealing all his plot ideas from Tolkien. The charcters are pretty good and their adventures at times exciting, but there just isn't enough here to recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: McKiernan Rules!
Review: This, with the sequel Into the Fire, is by far my favorite McKiernan novel. McKiernan does have a tendency to go on about scenery, but I didn't find it that much of a problem as opposed to some of his other novels. The philosophy he puts into his novels is one of my favorite parts about reading a McKiernan novel. You really feel for the characters in this book, and I always end up crying at least once. You get excited for them and cry with them. The battle scenes are always exciting. The only warning I have for you is don't pick this up when you have a lot to do, because you won't be able to put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: A word or two about _Into the Forge_
Review: _Into The Forge_ is book 1 of the Hèl's Crucible duology, a story of the Great War of the Ban. The war itself swept over much of Mithgar, and as such was of epic proportions. However, _Into the Forge_ and the subsequent volume, _Into the Fire_, are told from the viewpoint of two "ordinary" people--if there is such a thing as an "ordinary person"--Tipperton Thistledown and Beau Darby, who get swept into the conflict. As such, we see the war through the eyes of these two Warrows, and the things that befall them as they struggle with mission thrust upon them.
The total story of the Ban War would cover many volumes, but I chose to tell only Tip and Beau's portion of it, and even that bit covers two full volumes of text. But fear not, it is an adventure well worth the telling.
I hope you enjoy it.
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