Dennis L. McKiernan
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Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McKiernan, Dennis
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7
Average rating: 3.0 of 5
If you liked Moria in Lord of the Rings... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
If you liked the chase through Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring, then these two books are for you. While the Silver Call duology is not as much of a rip-off of Lord of the Rings as the Iron Call trilogy was, all of McKiernan's books have been a good read and enjoyable.In the authors defense, he did say in the beginning of one of the books that he could not find anything else as epic as Tolkien and set out to create something similar, albiet a little too similar.
Return to Middle Earth's clone 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
While the "Iron Tower" trilogy was published prior to publication of the "Silver Call" duology, the duology was actually written first. Was McKiernan's first-written book, "Trek to Kraggen-Cor," better than the ones published before it? In a word, no. It's still a poor clone of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterful works.Perry is the descendent of the great Tuckerby Underbank, living in the Boskydells. As a rather nerdy scholar, he dreams of battles and adventures -- and his fantasies come true when Lord Kian and two Dwarves show up on his doorstep. They need help reclaiming the ancient Dwarf citadel of Kraggen-Cor from the evil Spawn that have invaded, and Perry has memorized the old maps and directions.
Perry's thrilled, but his handyman Cotton Buckleburr isn't that thrilled. They travel with Kian and the Dwarves, training and learning to fight as they go, and soon meet up with their allies, the Dwarf army and the Vanadurim. But Perry is about to find out that what's ahead is not a glorious battle, but a horrific slaughter...
"Trek to Kraggen-Cor" is the sort of writing generally classified as "fanfic": stories written by fans of a TV show, movie, or book. McKiernan is clearly a huge fan of "Lord of the Rings"; how else could he have taken so many details from Tolkien's masterful epic and transplanted them into a similar backdrop? Look at the Dwarves, the "Watcher" kraken, the death Ghath, every single thing about Warrows, the evil villains, the Elves, the Vanadurim. The whole thing stinks of Middle-Earth. Even small details -- such as the little silver horn or the mushrooms -- were written by Tolkien first and best.
Very little actually happens in this book; most of it is talking, travelling, or both at once. The travelling is excruciating; McKiernan gives us every dull detail. The dialogue is a little better, but there's too much melodrama (and, in Cotton's case, poorly-written country-Brit dialect). The preoccupation with clothing details, hysterical laughter, and to-be-continued sign on the end make it even more frustrating.
Perry is apparently supposed to be a naive yet plucky hero; he merely comes across as a drip who has no contact with reality. Cotton's folksy attitude wears thin, but he's an acceptable character; Kian really isn't very interesting. The Dwarves are all utterly interchangeable, including Borin and Anval.
The first is not always best, and such is true with "Trek To Kraggen-Cor." Only if you liked his excruciating "Iron Tower" trilogy will you like the travesty of Dennis McKiernan's first duology.
