The Mine Lord is a standalone story in A. Trae McMaken’s world of dwarven adventure, and takes place sometime after the 4-book series.

The book is, in most ways, loyal to the initial series. Some three or so generations after book four, which had seen a handful of daring dwarves venture to the place that hosted the first three books, dwarves are once again free and not merely laborers to humans, though how that happened isn’t described in detail.

However, these years haven’t been easy. Instead of soaring peak, the dwarves now live in lowlands – where the stone and what’s beneath it isn’t anywhere near the glamour of the ice-cloak. These lowland colonies had seen the dwarven population grow, but few have a decent living.

The story follows Yorvig, who travels to the mountains where his friends had gone a year earlier in search of riches. What he finds are two friends who are so absorbed in trying to find a good ore-bearing vein that they’re on the verge of starvation. The reason turns out to be simple – they’re both interested in the same woman and whoever finds the richer vein would have an advantage. Yorvig, free of this struggle, does his best to assure their survival in the harsh wilderness – though his friends grumble a fair amount.

In the sparse moments when he’s not trying to find food, Yorvig managed to dig as well, and it’s him who actually finds a promising vein, but the dangers of the mountains soon lead to more pressing matters as winter approaches. Under Yorvig’s lead, the dwarves manage to make it through the winter, and a few more friends (including the maid the two friends are interested in) join them in the coming spring, but the perils are just beginning. The ürsi – goblin-like creatures – harass the dwarves and survival becomes this much harder. Given his ability to keep them from starving, Yorvig becomes a leader of the group.

Over the coming months, more dwarves arrive, seeking to join them – or find their own fortune in the hills. But the goblins harass them in force. The small group is forced to use everything they can to secure their food stores for winter as well as keep the goblins at bay – while being outnumbered. New arrivals are a burden for the dwindling stores, even if their skills might help them get the mine set up, but Yorvig proves himself to be a good planner and becomes a leader – forced to hard decisions to keep them alive as well as make sure the needs of the growing group are met. Four years after Yorvig’s arrival, the group is over two hundred strong and have dealt a major blow to the ürsi but the enemy is not defeated and new challenges remain in securing the mountain for a growing population.

The late part of the book takes quite a strange form as it takes two major time skips until the final showdown between the dwarves and the ürsi – and, just like the previous books from the author, it leaves a lot untold by the end. Whether there will be another sequel, I don’t know.

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Read date: 8.-22.6.2024
Published: 28.2.2024
Goodreads/Amazon rating: 4,39/4,8
My rating: 80%
Length: 567 pages (Kindle edition)
My highlights

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The book has a good flow, which makes it easy to read, but the end could’ve probably been handled better – the two major time skips leave the impression of a large backstory untold.