The Fall of Dorkhun by DA Adams (The Brotherhood of Dwarves series: Book 3)

9/10

‘The Fall of Dorkhun’ continues the story of the dwarf Roskin. In the newest adventure of the series, Roskin returns home to a kingdom divided by war with the ogres.. On one side, his father desires to restore peace, but on the other, Master Sondious, seeking revenge for having been crippled, seeks to escalate aggression against the ogres Roskin and his friends make a desperate attempt to resolve the growing rift, but unknown to the dwarves, new and powerful menaces threaten to destroy the entire kingdom...

The third entry in the series begins with an episode straight out of Dodge City with dwarves cast in the roles of Wyatt Earp and misbehaving cowboys. Adams immediately illustrates how comfortable he is with this material showing bold and creative flourishes.

This one has more depth, Adams knows this world and its characters and it shows. His writing is assured and confident and the story rattles along at his trademark fast pace. My attention was gripped throughout this tight and incident packed adventure.

We learn more about the characters as well as the different societies and cultures. The flashbacks and back-stories are subtly handled and this has more introspection and insight as well as the usual staples of action and adventure.

We also learn how false propaganda and gossip has driven a wedge between the races and cultures in Adams’ world. Ignorance and lack of knowledge are mainly to blame for all the strife and intolerance that exists.

This is also about the folly of miscommunication and misdirection with often far-reaching and tragic consequences. Let’s make one thing clear: this is not a jolly little story about quaint dwarves getting into fun scrapes but rather a very dark, mature story about the value in learning from life’s harsh lessons.

Without a doubt Adams has hit that writers sweet spot with this entry and ‘The Fall of Dorkhun’ is by far the best so far. Not to be missed!

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Published 2011 by Seventh Star Press
ISBN: 9780983740254

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