The Dark Tide

The Iron Tower Trilogy, Book 1

By: Dennis L. McKiernan

Narrated by: Cameron Beierle

Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Tuck Underbank is a Warrow -- think a hobbit with shoes and "large jewel-like eyes" -- living in the peaceful Boskydells. When an unnaturally cold winter strikes and the evil Modru threatens the world, he and a number of his fellow Thornwalkers go to the High King's aid. But a vast expanse of lightless blizzard called the Dimmendark (sounds bad, doesn't it?) is spreading over the land, and Tuck soon finds that the "dark tide" is going to swamp them all.

Despite the fact that they're tiny and temperamental, the Warrows get included in the military forces. But the High King doesn't have enough warriors to hold off the horde of slobbering monsters who are coming to attack. And the battle goes horribly wrong, separating the friends from one another and possibly dooming them all.

©1985 Dennis L. McKiernan (P)2009 Books In Motion

It is what it is

Many people will see the obvious similarities between the adventures told by Mr. McKiernan and those of Tolkien. The books were originally written to take place in Tolkien's world, but for licensing reasons had to be placed into a world of his own. I am quite happy that this story was told. McKiernan is a masterful storyteller; his use of the English language superb and effortless.

The narration is also excellent. As always, the voice of the narrator takes some getting used to, but Mr. Beierle is great. I strongly recommend this series and I hope more of McKiernan's books from my childhood make their way to audiobook. Revisiting them on the long drive to work as a grown-up takes me back.

Light, Derivative, No Regrets

The Iron Tower Trilogy gets a lot of heat for ripping off The Lord of the Rings and it does!

An Alliance of do-gooder men, elves, dwarves and 'wee folk' with no interior conflict - check. A massive rabble of short and tall abhuman brutes, massive trolls and evil swarthy humans led by a faceless sorcerer who never leaves his distant tower and happens to be the lackey of a greater evil - check. A band of heroes fleeing through a lost dwarven city stalked by the ancient evil that brought it down - check. The list goes on and on. The Iron Tower's effortless comparison to LotR is its greatest weakness yet here me out.

I remember reading LotR and it was a heavy, boring read that I struggled to get through. The Iron Tower is a darker, more violent product of 1985. More truly a war story than a band of adventurers. While good and evil remain in glaring stark contrast here, the villains have a bit more variety in undead ghoul cavalry, instant sunlight death across the board and a sorcerous eternal night required to advance. The villains are more competent, maneuver and even win some battles.

Imagine LotR where there is no Gandalf. The good guys LOSE at the Battle of Helms Deep. The Shire is sacked and brought to ruin and the 'wee folk' are not so laughably helpless as LotR but will quill you full of arrows without batting an eye. The good guys must triumph by physical might in forlorn struggle, some very patient prophecy and a few magic trinkets in the right place at the right time, good and bad, all set into motion long ago by competing Gods.

And compliments to the Narrator, Cameron Beierle. An excellent reading with an impressive array of easily distinguished character voices. His performance is nearly flawless. Too, one must credit the world building lore of the setting in the races, their origins and related conflicts of old that are fully explored in spin off books outside this trilogy. A pity only Trek To Kraggen-Cor is here in Audible.

I shall commit nerd heresy and declare that despite looting Tolkien's legacy, I enjoyed The Iron Tower and its spin offs far more than I did LotR.

knock off Tolkien, but that's fine

Is this a telling of the same old story? Yes. Is it very much like Tolkien? Yes. But that's why it's great.
Tolkien is hard to get through with all the descriptions amd family histories. This cuts that out.
Simply a cosy fantasy

Fantastic story I revisited after over 10 years

Loved the story, the reader did mispronounce a few words which detracted some from the story.

The reader mispronounced winding as "win-ding" instead of "whine-ding", several times.

The reader also mispronounced copse as "cops" at least twice.

With the somewhat older English and less common terms used, it stood out more when words were mispronounced.

All time favorite.

I love all 3 books and was so happy it was on audible. I enjoyed the readers voices which made it more clear and enjoyable. Some folks have complained of its similar tone of LOTR but I just love it more.

I like McKiernan, but Beierle is distracting

I read these books when I was a teenager (back when I actually had time to read printed books for fun), and I was excited to "re-read" them now. Unfortunately, the narrator's delivery is patchy. I really enjoy the way he portrays the characters, giving each a distinctive tenor, but his narration style for the descriptive parts of the text drones. It is very reminiscent of Paul Harvey. I find myself zoning out for long sections of the book unless one of the characters is talking...even during battle scenes. When I tune back in, I keep expecting to hear him say "and now you know...the REST of the story."

The Dark Tide

Dennis McKiernan's Masterpiece and Cameron Beierle does it justice ! Lovers of high fantasy will enjoy this trilogy.

Superb!

A riveting book of high-fantasy. loveable characters with an engaging story that leaves you craving the next book.

Epic Medieval Tale of good vs evil

Absolutely wonderful tale of good folk from different lands forced to fight evil to survive.

Good book

I love the world the author creates! The main characters are engaging and you feel there plight.