Review: "The Nameless Dwarf - The Complete Chronicles"... as close to fantasy/horror perfection as you can get... 5 + Stars
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2012
"The Nameless Dwarf - The Complete Chronicles" is a five book omnibus of an epic fantasy adventure by author Derek P. Prior. This Kindle e-book was a 1343 Kb download and sold for $5.99 at the time of writing this review.The five books in the omnibus are1.) The Ant-Man of Malfen2.) The Axe of the Dwarf Lords3.) The Scout and the Serpent4.) The Ebon Staff5.) Bane of the Liche LordPlease Note... this review comes from reading each individual book as soon as it was made available on Amazon.com. All books except the last, of which I received a free finished draft copy from the author, were purchased by myself.SpoilersThis series follow four adventurers thrown together under some unusual circumstances... that being our main heroes, Nameless (the dwarf), Nils a thief, Ilesa a shape-shifter assassin and Silas, a down on his luck, third-rate wizard.Early on we learn that Nameless has, under the malevolent influence of the Black Axe, slaughtered many of his own people... resulting in his banishment and having his name stripped from him (thus Nameless). Guilt and a desire to atone for his grievous deeds of the past lead him on a journey to find his surviving fellow Dwarves who inexplicably have gone missing.Little do they realize that their ongoing quest has been influenced all along by an ancient evil... the omnipotent wizard, Dr. Otto Blightey. Thus the tale begins with our heroes traveling to Malfen and ending with a thrilling final showdown.End Spoilers.Some thoughts on "The Nameless Dwarf"...The Pros:1.) great writing... story telling of the highest quality2.) humor... many spots of humor, word plays and descriptions that had me  chuckling to myself if I wasn't laughing out loud.3.) horrors... some events and descriptions that are just plain vile... skin crawling creepy4.) enemies... some old standards but maybe more importantly, several new gruesome and mind boggling creatures... some with incredible and unusual 'abilities'.5.) character development... the author has taken the time to develop conversations and express inner-most thoughts of several of our questers, resulting in a great story with characters that we, the reader, can identify with and care about.6.) battles... many... both large and small, but all well described, tense and exciting. Page turning.7.) many, many unexpected twist and turns8.) important characters that can be severely injured or even die... adding a touch of realism to this superb fantasy adventure... no one is sacro-sanct.9.) map... a beautifully drawn map that is subtly colored and highly detailed. (see Concerns below)10.) cover art... a beautifully done, dark and foreboding cover. It captures the absolute essence of this terrific tale.The Concerns:1.) and this comment is not really the fault of the author, but the map contained so much info and detail that on the Kindle App version the markings were somewhat difficult to make out. And enlarging the map only made the markings more indistinct.Conclusion:A great five book series... not a weak link in the entire collection.Fantasy adventure writing that simply put, just does not get any better than this.In fact, the final book, "Bane of the Liche Lord" is my nomination for "Fantasy Adventure Book of the Year for 2012". It is THAT good!5 Stars...  more if I could.Ray Nicholsonraynicholsonsreviews@hotmail.com