Post by wordy on Dec 4, 2010 16:11:30 GMT 10
Giantkiller's Bookshelf: The Dwarves by Markus Heitz
by ladyarianne
The Dwarves by Markus Heitz is the first of his Dwarves series to be translated into English from his native German and it shows to English speaking people all over the world that there are many books, originally written in other languages that are worth reading.
Abandoned as a child, the dwarf Tungdil is the only dwarf within the land and is looked down upon for it. Blacksmith for a great wizard he accidentily starts a fued with one of his apprentices which calls him from his forge and sends him to the far reaches of the world in order to deliver a message for his lord. But like in all stories there are things that get in the way and soon Tungdil finds himself in the middle of a quest to save the world from a great power which wishes to take the whole of the world under it’s control.
“You’re a … dwarf!” Tungdil gasped in surprise, scrambling to his feet
“Of course I’m a dwarf! What did you think I was? An elf?”
Knowing nothing about his past and where he comes on he is sent on a task to deliver a message and on the way to learn about his past from the wizard he serves, but on the way he is thrust into the middle of a conspiracy about the leadership of the dwarves, and the survival of the entire world.
Tungdil starts out as very niave about the way of dwarves, because despite being one he had always been brought up by humans with no knowledge of the customs and culture of dwarves, so he is immensley curious when he meets the warrior twins Boindil and Bisliphur who somehow - against his will - get him in the middle of a fight for the crown of the dwarves and from there for the ability to destroy the evil that is threatening the whole of Grindlegard.
This story is all about the struggles that a person must take and the decisions that they have to make before they truly learn who they are and this is shown perfectly through Tungdil’s story. He struggles to learn all there is to learn about Dwarves, he falls in love and he is forced to go on a quest to create an axe with the ability to kill the man who has so far managed to destroy the most powerful wizards in the world.
There is also a great struggle and hatred between the races of Dwarves, Elves and the evil relation of elves - the Alf. And it shows the brutality of war in an almost poetic way showing both the falls and the rises of Tungdil from a simple blacksmith in the land where he is the only elf among thousands of humans to being a hero of the whole world and of all the good races who unite under the banner of good to defend their land from the evil disease which is spreading and killing everything it sees.
The Dwarves is the first of four books based in the same world, and the first one to be translated into English from German. The Sequel - The War of the Dwarves - is just as epic and shows the continued development of Tungdil. The third in the series - The Revenge of the Dwarves, is to be released later this year in English and the fourth has yet to be written.
Markus Heitz has created an enchanting world in The Dwarves that concentrates on a race that is mostly ignored in fantasy writing and when I first saw it I was sceptical about it - but once I picked it up I could not put it down reading it wherever I went, including on the train each morning, I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good epic fantasy book to read and wishes to be enchanted by a fantastic read.
It is a classic that will always remain on my bookshelf alongside Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
I give this book 10/10.
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!