Into the Forge

Into the Forge (1996) Dennis McKiernan

The first book in the Hel’s Crucible duology. Tipperton is awakened by sounds of battle outside his door, and thus is drawn into what is to become one of Mithgar’s great battles of good versus evil, as Gryphon seeks to dominate not just Neddra, but Mithgar and all its people.

This duology tells the story of the War of the Ban, the war that relegates the creatures of Gryphon to the night, making the light of the sun deadly. As the Ban plays a large part in the majority of the Mithgar books, it’s good to get the history of the war.

As always, I enjoyed Dennis McKiernan’s writing and his characters, although I could really do without the romantic bits. He tries to make them nice and short and sweet, but… jeesh. Just stop. Please. As this is the war of the ban, there is fighting from the very first chapter, and death and destruction.

The running theme for this book was consequences and secondarily, the nature of God. As is obvious when considered, all actions have consequences, but he considers also unintended consequences, and the innocent actions that can lead to dilemma and even catastrophe. But we cannot be frozen into immobility by wondering whether our every small action could lead to unexpected disaster. More interesting, although not discussed as much, is the nature of God, and what makes a being a God. We have authority and power over our pets, but does that make us gods? It’s an interesting point to consider.

One thing I love about this book is the cover. The scene depicted is from the first chapter and the artist got the details exactly right, down to the scar in the man’s forehead. Because the scene is in the first chapter, it’s not giving away anything that happens later in the book, which I really like. Either give me a somewhat generic scene with the main characters (Mercedes Lackey’s Tamara and Kethry books are good for this) or depict a scene at the start of the book, so you’re not wondering 1) who or what the artist was depicting or 2) when on earth you are going to get to the scene on the cover.

If you like Mithgar, this is a book you’ll want to read. Is this the place to start if you haven’t read a Mithgar book before? Maybe not. What made this book so interesting to me was that it was telling the history of a major even that is mentioned time and again in the series. You might prefer to start the series at Eye of the Hunter or Tales of Mithgar.
Rating: 7/10

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