The Return Of The Dwarves (The Dwarves book 1) by Markus Heitz (book review).
Markus Heitz is a German author probably best known in the UK for his ‘Dwarves’ sequence, which is something of a saga spread over five quite chunky volumes. He has also published a number of other series, including the ten-novella series ‘Aera: The Return Of The Ancient Gods’ and the shorter ‘Legends Of The Alfar’ (the Alfar are dark elves in the ‘Warhammer’ or Elric mode). Given that the Alfar peoples are mentioned plenty of times in ‘The Return Of The Dwarves’, then I believe the two series are related. Heitz has published a number of other books, including the ‘Doors’ series, standalone novels and short stories. Overall, it would seem that Heitz is quite prolific. Now in 2024, Heitz gives us ‘The Return Of The Dwarves’, which seems fairly clearly a sequel to the earlier ‘Dwarves’ series. This volume was translated from Heitz’s original by Sheelagh Alabaster.
The book opens on Barbandor Steelgold, who seems to be prospecting in the river Towan for Dwarven artefacts washed down from the Grey Mountains in the land of Girdlegard. Steelgold is in competition with humans looking for the same and soon witnesses the slaughter of said humans by orcs. Steelgold is of the Fifthlings, which is a sort of clan of dwarves, and, as such, is quite happy to fight a bunch of orcs with his battleaxe. Indeed, he does account for a number of them, but they soon overwhelm him, and so Steelgold flees to his home settlement. This opening quite handily introduces the idea of the five different clans and the fact that they are all exiled from their homelands. Some kind of catastrophe befell them in the mountains, which remain full of volcanoes. Most of the dwarves would love to return to their homes but see the volcanoes as judgement by Vraccas, who is their god.
In the second chapter, we meet Klaey, who is a human and the not entirely savoury youngest brother of the Omuthan, who rules the expansionist Brigantia. His older brother has little respect for Klaey, and so he has a plan to rise in stature and that way gain respect. He has therefore mounted a rogue group of Brigantians to steal into the mountains to raid a supposed treasure horde.
Alas, for his companions, they stumble across several Alfar. These, as noted above, are bad news. Much like Moorcock’s Elric, they are fantastically more skilled and also fantastically cruel. However, Klaey witnesses the Alfar being slaughtered in turn by what seems to be yet another Alfar named Mondarcai. Klaey is then captured by an Alfar prince named Vascalor, who refrains from killing Klaey outright as he is the only witness to Mondarcai’s presence. It turns out that Mondarcai is something of a legend to the other Alfar, who are not really sure whether to believe in him.
Thirdly, we soon meet Goimron Chiselcut, who is a dwarf of the Fourthling clan and the main protagonist of the book. The Fourthlings are not well respected by the other clans, as they are more diminutive and not great fighters. The book hints that maybe the Forthling’s talents lie elsewhere, but Goimron certainly starts off feeling very inferior. However, he has come into the possession of what appears to be a diary written by a great dwarven hero, Tungdill Goldhand, which implies he may still be alive. This would make Tungdill 1,000 years old and thus extremely unlikely to be true, but Goimron is possessed of a certainty.
Most of the story revolves around Goimron and Klaey, although they don’t actually meet in this volume. We do see Steelgold again, but only briefly. There are plenty of other characters, which notably include Doria Rodana de Psali, who is a famed puppeteer; her assistant, Choldunja, with a dark secret; and Stemna, who acts as the messenger and mouthpiece for Ura, Girdlegard’s largest dragon.
Goimron’s quest will take him quite a way across the land of Girdlegard from his home city of Malleniagard, which is a human city, and to the realms of the Thirdling dwarves and then eventually into the grey mountains. At the same time, we learn about the Alfar’s plans and the ambitions of various human rulers. Overall, Heitz weaves a fairly complex group of political entities who all have designs on bits of Girdlegard. This makes for quite a colourful and vibrant background for Goimron’s quest.
The reader must assume that Sheelagh Alabaster (great name by the way) is a good translator to retain much of the character, but this reviewer has not read the original German novel and so cannot speak to the efficacy of the translation. Nonetheless, lots of character shows through, and Heitz clearly has lots of skill in that he manages to keep the story going with ten or more dwarves at any given time, and they are all very distinct and well-portrayed individuals. The humans are less so, but then there are only a few humans that are continuing characters, so this is less important. There are only a few Alfar characters, but they are well portrayed as intelligent and cruel individuals.
Heitz keeps the complicated plot clear and easy to follow. The story takes in assassinations, battles and various magic users and in the end the feeling is an epic one. For the casual fan of fantasy, this has a lot to recommend it. For the more experienced treader of distant shores, it is nice to come across a volume that has very much its own character. Heitz’s combination of quests, politics and conniving neighbours comes across as quite fresh and unique.
I therefore am happy to recommend this. Indeed, this reviewer is considering heading off to buy some of the earlier books. If they have the same qualities, then they are probably a fine read in themselves. Heitz’s text is not quite as approachable as Eddings or McCaffrey and is probably more contemporary with Fiest in terms of ease of reading. This is by no means a criticism, though. In conclusion, I suggest diving into Girdlegard with little reservation, as a fun time should be had by all.
Dave Corby
January 2026
(pub: Arcada Fantasy/Quercus, 2024. 504 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-52942-486-7).
Check out the website: www.quercus.co.uk.
