The Dwarves (The Dwarves, 1) Paperback – Illustrated, July 3, 2009

Good book

This story is about a dwarf named Tungdil, raised by humans, who is sent on an elaborate journey, to reunite with his kinsmen and save the dwarven race from doom.The beginning of this book is cheesey and hard to get into. Disease and war is quickly devastating the dwarven race, and everybody is fighting with everybody for no apparent reason. There are metaphors that are intended to give a poetic visual, but don't make a lot of sense in hindsight.The character seem incapable of experiencing emotion which makes the story hard to connect to. The characters keep time in Orbits and Solar Cycles; I've determined and Orbit is like a day, and a Solar Cycle is like a year, but if an alternative time unit is going to be introduced, it should also be explained at some point.The original was written in German, and I think part of the cheese is that the translator tried to translate exactly...Not that I speak German, so I could be wrong, and it might be cheesy in both languages, but if its anything like Spanish, translations don't always need to be exact... For example, the names of the Magi...Nudin the Knowledge-Lusty... I might have gone with Nudin the Philonoist (means lover of knowledge) or Nudin the Scholar. Maira the Life-Preserver, could have been Maira the Preservationist, instead of being named after a floatation device... But again, I'm torn between the oddness of the titles and my inability to read the original text.On the upside, there were some attributes that made this story better. First the ease of flow; sometimes in epic fantasy there is a lot of storytelling, a lot of side trips down where the ancestors went when they were alive... There isn't any of that, not really, so the hardest thing you're going to have to remember is the difference between Gandobur and Gandogar. I think the adventure was decent, fast paced once Tungdil's journey started; plenty of battles and disputes between the characters, and there was a large range of personalities. I think the plot was easy to follow, the bad guys are always clear from the good guys. Everything tied up nice and neat at the end.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I purchased this novel. Being a lover of fantasy writing, I was interested simply by the cover and the title (in some cases, I think you CAN judge a book by its cover). My only concern was that the grace of the prose might have been lost with the translation. This was not the case by any means. This book has everything any fan of fantasy looks for: honor, action, journeys across hazardous landscapes, humor, and plenty of bone-crushing, descriptive battle scenes. As I read the book, I found myself growing more and more attached to Tungdil, the main protagonist. The pace at which I read increased exponentially until I was reading well over a hundred pages a day.The only notable flaw that I found lies with the dialogue. Some of the dialogue, particularly taunts that enemies throw at each other, is downright corny and unrealistic. Maybe this is a result of the translation. I don't know. The rest of the book makes up for it, however, and I found it easy to get past the ridiculous lines that pop up every now and then.The one other thing I would like to warn people about is the book's slow beginning. It took me between 100 and 130 pages to really become hooked, but as I said earlier, once it got me, there was no escape. The Dwarves is a keeper for sure.

I enjoyed the book. A few plot twists, but would've enjoyed it more if the realism of battle and death been present. It always seems like authors are afraid to kill off the main characters and good always triumphs. Not many shades of grey in this one.

I really enjoyed Markus Heitz's first foray into the mythology of the Dwarves. Though the book starts a bit slowly, once Tungdil leaves his human settlement and embarks on his quest, the action never lets up. Loosely, the plot follows the template of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings--there are multiple races threatened by a common, timeless evil foe. But where that novel focused on Hobbits, the Dwarves are the heroes here. Don't get me wrong--this isn't a rip-off OR even loosely based on Tolkien. The Dwarves is its own fully realized, fully original world centering on a number of Dwarven Kingdoms and their relationships with one another and their Elven and Human neighbors. Though somewhat naive at times, Tungdil is a hero who grows into his role, surrounded by a vibrant, enjoyable cast of secondary characters of all races. Looking forward to Book 2!

If you like the fantasy of Tolkien then the world and inhabitants of The Dwarves will feel very familiar to you. However, the writing of Markus Heitz makes this story infinitely more enjoyable and entertaining to read. Whereas Tolkien had a writing style which was unnecessarily detailed and drawn out (in my opinion), Heitz writes in a way that feels fresher and more natural. This means, not only the story of The Dwarves, but also the tone of the book, ensure you’ll be whisked away on an epic fantasy adventure!

Great first book of the series.I am not much of a reader but have always liked fantasy novels and have always enjoyed when books delve into the race of Dwarves, because of this I decided i would give this a go and I am very glad to have done so, I loved the character development and I got a real feel for the story, as well as some nice underlying comedic tones.Overall I really enjoyed the book, and it was an excellent read, and I went onto the rest of the series and I'm very glad I did!

As expected

Great book! This is the second time I have read it and it failed to disappoint. The characters and story are well done and once you get past the general weirdness, it becomes a fantastic and enthralling read. I especially like the chapter end when the group initially use the rail! I can't rate the first 2 books any less than five stars, and anyone interested in great fantasy adventures and battles should consider this book well worth a read!

If you like The Hobbit\Lord of the rings type of books then this book is a definite for your collection. Great story, characters,elfs,orcs,mages etc. Excellent read.