If this was all just for one book, I’d say it was a bit too deep, but as this is a four set, it adds a lot. They don’t play too big a role in the first book). The first book is pretty easy to follow, although there’s a lot of information on the politics of Girdlegard you have to take in, and wrapping your head around which dwarven kingdom is which takes a while (there are five, but the thirdlings are outcasts. Wow, that’s some serious goings on, eh? The plot follows on well from book to book, really giving you a sense of wanting to get your hands on the next book. Sometimes though, you haven’t got a choice. Tungdil isn’t sold on helping out though, he just wants to sit back. Dragons and magicians control huge swathes of the land. Or is it Tungdil, because some people aren’t so convinced? Boíndil is joyful at the return of his friend, as all is not well in Girdlegard (again). The final book is another few hundred years on (Dwarven lives are long), and an evil looking Tungdil returns from the Black Abyss. As previous ally, magus Lot-Ionan is beginning to feel a little strange, Boíndil is called on scene to get things straight. Poor old Tungdil is called on again to save his people but five years have passed, and Tungdil is now a drunken wreck. Orcs have been spotted in the caves bordering Girdlegard, whom should have been destroyed.

The third book follows the peoples of Girdlegard as they face an invasion of magical creature-machine hybrids. Tungdil, helped by familiar faces Furgas, Rodario and Narmora are forced to pull up trumps again.

Oh, not forgetting the treacherous thirdlings, who are out to take the Dwarven Kingdoms back for themselves. find themselves pitted against a horde of evil Orcs, as well as the mysterious Eoíl. Thing is, this guy can only be killed by a special axe: Keenfire. He is sent to find his people, and guided by dwarf twins Boíndil and Boendál, he finds himself thrust into a war against a corrupt sorcerer – Nod’onn (formerly Nudin). The series follows Tungdil Goldhand, a dwarf smith raised amongst humans. If you know what goes on in the books, you don’t need to read these synopsis – there’s one for each book so it’s pretty long. Come on, a black book with an exceedingly grumpy looking Dwarf chap on the front, combined with a blurb telling of a lost Dwarf whom has the burden of his people thrust onto him? How could I not? In this review I’ll be reviewing the series as a whole rather than single books, but I’ll reference them all. Markus Heitz wasn’t an author I’d ever heard of before, but hey, that doesn’t mean anything. The Dwarves is a series I only found last year, whilst browsing around in Waterstones.

The dwarves markus heitz series