For countless millennia, the dwarves of the Fifthling Kingdom have defended the stone gateway into Girdlegard. Many and varied foes have hurled themselves against the portal and died attempting to breach it. No man or beast has ever succeeded. Until now...
Abandoned as a child, Tungdil the blacksmith labors contentedly in the Kingdom of Fifthling the only dwarf in a kingdom of men. Although he does not want for friends, Tungdil is very much aware that he is alone - indeed, he has not so much as set eyes on another dwarf. But all that is about to change.
Sent out into the world to deliver a message and reacquaint himself with his people, the young foundling finds himself thrust into a battle for which he has not been trained. Not only his own safety, but the life of every man, woman and child in Girdlegard depends upon his ability to embrace his heritage. Although he has many unanswered questions, Tungdil is certain of one thing: no matter where he was raised, he is a true dwarf.
And no one has ever questioned the courage of the Dwarves.
©2012 Markus Heitz (P)2012 Hachette Audio
Commodities broker, father, husband, and avid scifi/fantasy/self help fan.
"A Great Fantasy Story! More, Please!"
I'll keep this brief, as we all have lives to lead and things to do. Crack open that dusty wallet, pull out that Audible credit, and GET THIS AUDIOBOOK. Why? If you like a rousing story, in-depth characters, deep story lore, a fantastic narrator AND it's only one in this enjoyable author's series, THAT'S WHY!
We all want a good listen, and all of the elements come together to make this exactly that.
Here's a fact: I'll be acquiring every single one of this author's work.
You read correctly.
Every. Single. One.
Done. Finished. Go get the audiobook.
Why are you still reading this?
Enjoy!
"A Must Read ( or Hear) !!!!"
I hate to compare authors to authors but it is to me the best way to explain how well written and completely put together this book is. If you have missed that first excitement upon read your first J. R. R. Tolkien or an Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman book. The magic is back in this book!!! A Must Read!!!
I think the hero (Tungdil Bolofar aka Tungdil Goldhand) is my favorite character. I know that's very cliche but his story is will thought out. Well drawn character who you cant help but to pull for.
Matthew Wolf helped bring the characters alive with his voice and inflections. I hope the producers continue to use him to record the remainder of the series. To me Matthew Wolf is up their with the likes of Scott Brick!!
Yes!! But since I use these audio books to get me through my daily work day I had to refrain from listening to them outside of work.
Please Please Get the rest of the series their is another 3 books in the collection. I know the author writes in german but translation can't be that hard. Its not like its a unknown language.
"Dwarf Adventures"
Yes, 22 hours is a huge investment of time. For me, there were good and bad but all in all Im glad I did take the time.
The length was the drawback for me, but the storyline kept it together just enough for me to continue.
Spelling the names is a mystery for me so Ill say the main character and the twins are the most enjoyable. They are funny, brave and unique. Although, there are other characters I liked these were my favorites. The adventures and travels of these Dwarves with a renaissance feel were nice company for several days.
"There and back again, a dwarve's tail"
Story starts with a dwarf's (Tungdil) journey to complete a chore a wizard assigns to him (Sounds familiar?) Tungdil who is also raised by the wizard from birth knows nothing of his own kin and very curious. This aspect of the story leads into how human perceived dwarves as well as the self image of the dwarves. Tungdil, incidentally, also turns out to be an important player to resolve succession issue within the dwarfish politics. Book is a translation, but it does seem to go through a lot of details of how dwarves might interact and govern themselves as well as their long animosity against elves.
Story has a pretty evil antagonist and turns out that Tungil is the character who is willing to work purely to defeat the evil without any concerns about his own gains. Eventually another journey of adventures takes place to rid of the evil. Party consists of interesting and mysterious characters. Sense of humor is great and delivered expertly by the narrator. Over all though it is pretty standard adventure in the scheme of different books.
Only gripe I had is that in the counsel of dwarves, they knew who the schemer was, but they took no action to stem his action and schemer keep on going about his business. I find that difficult to believe and frustrating to otherwise well written story.
I would pick up the next book in series due to entertainment of how dwarves interacted with each other. Especially the twins : )
"Decent book. I tried to like it more but failed."
It was decent. Not spectacular. Sometimes it felt like the plot twists were written by a child. It was also very predictable on many occasions. Not sure if I will go on to the rest of the series.
For background, my favorite authors are George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Jacqueline Carey, Ken Follett, Bernard Cornwell, Kevin Hearne, Jim Butcher and Margaret George.
"Welcom to Girdlegard"
I actually started to listen to this a few months ago and set it aside but boy am I glad I gave it another shot! It is seldom that fantasy stories revolve around Dwarves, in fact they are usually just background characters or a token drunkard or some other cliche. In this story we get to explore dwarves as a race. I cheered for them, I laughed out loud and I even teared up. For me it was about the characters that I couldn't help but want to hear more about them.
It is an adventure story and there are several points of views that you need to keep track of but I believe it was done very well and I eagerly await the next in the series.
If you are interested in high fantasy, this is definitely worth listening to with a clear resolution to it. Yes there are more books in the series but you aren't left hanging.
The narrator was good, giving different voices for the various characters and not once was he distracting but instead pulled me in deeper into the story.
All in all I do believe I will even give this another listen in the future.
"Something lost in translation"
Nothing new or notable here, just dumb, uninspired fantasy. Got fooled again by good reviews and ratings.
"Nice Job"
Some very good characters
My favorite is a dwarf with a temper problem
Very good performance by Matthew Wolf - easy to listen to, and does the characters well. :-)
"Tolkien like dwarves. Good story. Fun characters!"
I never read the book but the narrator was very good.
The characters.
The personalities if each character.
BOOK LOVER IN THE DESERT SUN....
"Dwarves"
yes it would it is well written and excitting
the main charater
he peformed well with out over doing it
it made me laugh