Silver Wolf, Black Falcon

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, After a Slow Start
Review: "Silver Wolf, Black Falcon" will be enjoyed by any fan of Dennis L. McKiernan's Mithgar stories. First timers would be advised to start elsewhere. This book starts slow, but picks up and improves throughout, although the ending is somewhat anti-climatic.

McKiernan himself describes this book as a sequel to all his prior Mithgar stories. The problem is that this is a lot of extra baggage for a less than 500 page novel. This is not the author's best work, although it is enjoyable.

The Mithgar novels are not for everyone. Mckiernan writes in a highly formal style that can best be described as "High Tolkein". McKiernan has been the great master's most slavish imitator, not that there's anything wrong with that. But if you get irritated by an overdose of "thees", "thine", "thou", etc., these books are not for you.

"Silver Wolf, Black Falcon" is chronologically the last of McKiernan's Mithgar novels. It tells the story of Bair, a young man born to a female elf, and a Baeron, a human shapechager of mixed heritage. He is called an Impossible Child, because elves cannot give birth on the plane of Mithgar. Millenia ago, the ways between the planes were sundered to defeat the forces of evil. Only those who have the blood of another plane can travel to that plane. Thus elves can return to their home plane of Adonar, but can't return to Mithgar; the foul beings of evil known collectively as Rucks, can return to their evil plane of Neddra, but can't return to Mithgar, etc. Bair is of mixed blood, so he can freely travel the planes. This novel spends the first 100 plus pages watching Bair grow to the age of 16, and then, finally, picks up speed as we accompany Bair and his Elven "uncle", Aravan, on a mission of great importance.

As I stated, this is not the author's best novel. He provides no explanations for certain mysterious events (perhaps for future books), but the result is he provides solutions out of nowhere. Mithgar fans should know that the author leaves room for future Mithgar stories.

This book starts slow and has too much baggage. The book is also too short to be a worthy climax of the Mithgar saga. Still, McKiernan fans will be entertained.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, After a Slow Start
Review: "Silver Wolf, Black Falcon" will be enjoyed by any fan of Dennis L. McKiernan's Mithgar stories. First timers would be advised to start elsewhere. This book starts slow, but picks up and improves throughout, although the ending is somewhat anti-climatic.

McKiernan himself describes this book as a sequel to all his prior Mithgar stories. The problem is that this is a lot of extra baggage for a less than 500 page novel. This is not the author's best work, although it is enjoyable.

The Mithgar novels are not for everyone. Mckiernan writes in a highly formal style that can best be described as "High Tolkein". McKiernan has been the great master's most slavish imitator, not that there's anything wrong with that. But if you get irritated by an overdose of "thees", "thine", "thou", etc., these books are not for you.

"Silver Wolf, Black Falcon" is chronologically the last of McKiernan's Mithgar novels. It tells the story of Bair, a young man born to a female elf, and a Baeron, a human shapechager of mixed heritage. He is called an Impossible Child, because elves cannot give birth on the plane of Mithgar. Millenia ago, the ways between the planes were sundered to defeat the forces of evil. Only those who have the blood of another plane can travel to that plane. Thus elves can return to their home plane of Adonar, but can't return to Mithgar; the foul beings of evil known collectively as Rucks, can return to their evil plane of Neddra, but can't return to Mithgar, etc. Bair is of mixed blood, so he can freely travel the planes. This novel spends the first 100 plus pages watching Bair grow to the age of 16, and then, finally, picks up speed as we accompany Bair and his Elven "uncle", Aravan, on a mission of great importance.

As I stated, this is not the author's best novel. He provides no explanations for certain mysterious events (perhaps for future books), but the result is he provides solutions out of nowhere. Mithgar fans should know that the author leaves room for future Mithgar stories.

This book starts slow and has too much baggage. The book is also too short to be a worthy climax of the Mithgar saga. Still, McKiernan fans will be entertained.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, After a Slow Start
Review: "Silver Wolf, Black Falcon" will be enjoyed by any fan of Dennis L. McKiernan's Mithgar stories. First timers would be advised to start elsewhere. This book starts slow, but picks up and improves throughout, although the ending is somewhat anti-climatic.

McKiernan himself describes this book as a sequel to all his prior Mithgar stories. The problem is that this is a lot of extra baggage for a less than 500 page novel. This is not the author's best work, although it is enjoyable.

The Mithgar novels are not for everyone. Mckiernan writes in a highly formal style that can best be described as "High Tolkein". McKiernan has been the great master's most slavish imitator, not that there's anything wrong with that. But if you get irritated by an overdose of "thees", "thine", "thou", etc., these books are not for you.

"Silver Wolf, Black Falcon" is chronologically the last of McKiernan's Mithgar novels. It tells the story of Bair, a young man born to a female elf, and a Baeron, a human shapechager of mixed heritage. He is called an Impossible Child, because elves cannot give birth on the plane of Mithgar. Millenia ago, the ways between the planes were sundered to defeat the forces of evil. Only those who have the blood of another plane can travel to that plane. Thus elves can return to their home plane of Adonar, but can't return to Mithgar; the foul beings of evil known collectively as Rucks, can return to their evil plane of Neddra, but can't return to Mithgar, etc. Bair is of mixed blood, so he can freely travel the planes. This novel spends the first 100 plus pages watching Bair grow to the age of 16, and then, finally, picks up speed as we accompany Bair and his Elven "uncle", Aravan, on a mission of great importance.

As I stated, this is not the author's best novel. He provides no explanations for certain mysterious events (perhaps for future books), but the result is he provides solutions out of nowhere. Mithgar fans should know that the author leaves room for future Mithgar stories.

This book starts slow and has too much baggage. The book is also too short to be a worthy climax of the Mithgar saga. Still, McKiernan fans will be entertained.

Rating:
Summary: Tying It All Together
Review: All I can really say is wow. In perhaps the very last book of Mithgar, Dennis McKiernan has really done it. This is the book to finally tie together all the loose ends and questions that plagued us during the other books. I would give this five stars, but the one thing that he still hasn't answered is, why don't the Drimma ride horses? He had said that the Impossible Child would find the answer. Still, this was an incredible book and worth the cost for a hardcover version. I really recommend this to any fan of Dennis McKiernan's books, or just fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: The end of a saga
Review: As always, Mr. McKiernan has written an outstanding novel. The novel ties up all the loose ends and prophecies from the previous novels. Bair was a great character and McKiernan did an outstanding job of developing him and his relationship with Aravan. I found the idea of Bair questioning Adon's previous actions quite fascinating. I only wished McKiernan spent more time discussing that aspect of the novel. Also, the section in the novel where Dalavar spoke to and tried to convince the dragons to switch sides was classic. Its sad to think that this may be the last novel about Mithgar. I pray that McKiernan will decide to write at least one more.

Rating:
Summary: The End of a Great Era
Review: Dennis has truly out done himself with the Silver Wolf, Black Falcon book. It was a none stop roller coaster ride. From sun up to sun up, I could not put this novel down. From the beginning all the way to the end you are hook on it. From the birth of Bair to the his first shapshifting form. To what the redes of Arin Flameseer, faeil, and Rael it is all connected in a way thats beyond anything that we could possible imagine. This is one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time all that has a ending u would have never expected.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Dennis McKiernan's done it again! After picking this book up at a book store I found myself saddened that this may be the last of the Mithgar series, but excited that the story of the Impossible Child had come. After arriving at home, I could not stop reading until it was all done. It was non stop action as he developed both Bair and Kutsen Yong. I found myself going to my bookshelves and pulling out the older books as he alluded to so much throughout the novel. It was a very well written story and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: A great novel from a great novelist.
Review: Dennis McKiernan's Silver Wolf, Black Falcon presents a new novel of Mithgar: while familiarity with past adventures will lend to an appreciation of this, newcomers will find it easy to access this story of Bair, cursed with a prophecy which will make him Hope of the World or the bringing of chaos.

Rating:
Summary: If only every author would end it so well
Review: For a while Mr. Mckiernan's characters discussing right and wrong, and the philosophizing behind it grated on my nerves. But his characters remained consistent throughout the series, from the humble and virtually carbon-copied-from-Tolkien origins in the Iron Tower Trilogy, to complex and reader-testing writing style that Mr. Mckiernan first introduced in full with Dragonsdoom, and carried on through the rest of the novels of Mithgar. His stories were consistent, and they were not overly predictable, and he always had a story to tell. Silver Wolf, Black Falcon continued that tradition, and did it triumphantly. I was impressed by how consistently Mr. Mckiernan kept to form, and with how consistently he kept to details to which he kept refering. The only real weakness is that I had to refer to the map more often than I would like, but I have that problem with many authors, and this is a small point. Also, his maps, while never quite complete to my satisfaction, are consistent with each other. I have found many inconsistencies in the works of other authors, and I believe that they detract from the story;there's always that slight voice in the back of the mind saying "that's not right." The only real problem I have with this storyline is that there is an author-generated element that this is a proto-history of our world. That is Conanesque, and usually cheapens the quality of the fiction. It does not in this case. I will miss this universe, but if Mr. Mckiernan decides not to write any more Mithgar novels, he certainly is ending on a high note. The progression of the writing from first story to last(in order of publication)is a model for all authors-to-be.

Rating:
Summary: Classic McKiernan
Review: For those of you who love fantasy and science fiction, this is the book for you. I have been a fan of Dennis McKiernan's for several years, and was happy to discover this latest novel, which brings together most of the Mithgarian novels, was available in paperback. This is a classic story of good versus evil, and McKiernan weaves this tale with threads from most of his other novels, and brings the whole series to a conclusion that leaves the reader feeling as if he has seen a struggling world finally achieve the peace it has so ardently fought for.