October 29, 2004

Instead of reading Wrath of Ashar, I switched books because it was starting out too slow and I'm now wary of Wells. Instead I'm reading Into the Forge by Dennis L. McKiernan and within the first two pages I knew I was going to like it. It started right off and its main characters are a little hobbit-like, at least in size. My mind's eye automatically chose Elijah Wood for Tipperton 'Tip' Thistledown and Dominic Monaghan for Beau Darby. So far there aren't any other characters (seeing as I'm only five pages in). The background for Mithgar is so broad and the story is presented like Tolkien himself presented his, the author telling the tale of a long-lost world from old writings, done partly by the characters themselves. I learned what this was called in the Tolkien class, but I'd have to look in my notes or ask Trabue what the name of it was. I have a feeling I'm going to like this story and that I'll be collecting more works my Mr. McKiernan.