The Dwarves is a 2003 high fantasy

High fantasy

High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...

 novel by German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 fantasy author Markus Heitz

Markus Heitz

Markus Heitz is a German fantasy author, most famous for his four-book "Dwarves" saga. Heitz has in the last couple of years gained popularity within Europe, due to the English translations of his books. As of October 2010, two out of four of the "Dwarves"-books have been translated into English...

. The story follows an orphan dwarf

Dwarf (Germanic mythology)

In Germanic mythology, a dwarf is a being that dwells in mountains and in the earth, and is associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting...

 by the name of Tungdil, raised by humans.

Although the book was originally written in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, it was translated into English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

after becoming a German bestseller.

Plot

Tungdil Bolofar is the only dwarf on Ionandar, one of Girdlegard's enchanted realms. These realms are ruled by magi while others are ruled by kings. His "foster father", Lot-Ionan, sends him to the secondling dwarf kingdom. Along the way he meets Boindil and Boendal, two secondling twins, who lead him to Ogre's Death, a fortress in their kingdom. They slaughter orcs and avoid Nudin, a magus who has fallen under the spell of The Perished Land, the evil spirit of Girdlegard. Nudin betrays the magi and kills them.The Perished Land attempts to infiltrate Girdlegard and defeats the dwarves' fifthling kingdom. Whoever dies on the Perished Land is raised as a revenant in service of the Perished Land's spirit. Tungdil has some books that explain how to defeat Nudin:forge an a magical axe. They kill Nudin but he is not dead.They meet Andokai,the last surviving magus, and her bodyguard Djerun. He is also involved in a plot to delegitimize Gandogar's claim to the throne, who thinks the elves betrayed the dwarves and wants to make war on them. He wins the election and meets some companions along the way who help him forge the ax and kill Nudin.