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Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf
Mabel Goldenaxe just doesn’t fit in with the other girl dwarves—and she likes it that way.
To please her father, and encouraged by her older brothers, she goes to work in the emerald mines. Still, she dreams of a better life—and becoming Gilliam’s top axe-throwing champion just might be her ticket out. Mabel is torn between her love of the sport—and her love for the elf Aramis. But loving an elf is forbidden.
Dealing with her overbearing family, jealous friends, and deep family secrets, Mabel will have to summon all her strength to conquer her fears and become her own dwarf—lovelorn or otherwise.
To please her father, and encouraged by her older brothers, she goes to work in the emerald mines. Still, she dreams of a better life—and becoming Gilliam’s top axe-throwing champion just might be her ticket out. Mabel is torn between her love of the sport—and her love for the elf Aramis. But loving an elf is forbidden.
Dealing with her overbearing family, jealous friends, and deep family secrets, Mabel will have to summon all her strength to conquer her fears and become her own dwarf—lovelorn or otherwise.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
293 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 26, 2014
2 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 27, 2014
I went into this book with low expectations. Everything about it, from the premise to the cover, said that someone was having some fun with a few tropes. I expected to be mildly amused, and hoped (more than expected) that it would be basically competent.
Well, I was mildly amused, but the author didn't seem to be trying for comedy; the absurdities of the tropes were played completely straight, not in the sense of "the author is apparently unaware of the absurdity" but in the sense of "the narrating character is unaware of the absurdity, because this is her everyday reality". Female dwarves with beards, dwarf/elf tension, axes - played completely straight. Even the obvious Tolkien references were slipped in as if they were the most natural thing in the world, not with a huge wink and a grin, which I appreciated. It was neither an unreflective tropefest nor a meta deconstruction, but something else, and I'm still not sure what, but I think it worked.
As far as competence goes, the basics are certainly there, particularly in terms of the story. The author credits an editor; as a former editor myself, I know that even a very good editor can miss things in a manuscript with a lot of errors, and this appears to have been the case, since some of the missed edits show evidence of sentence-level writing problems in the original. There are a couple of comma splices and a dangling participle, the tense is frequently off, the author uses "anymore" when it should be "any more" (three times), apostrophes occasionally appear in the wrong places, we get "waivered" for "wavered" and the usual finger-slip typos, but I've seen plenty of books much worse - including several from major publishers - and on 90% of the pages I didn't notice any problems at all. There's a continuity error when double rooms somehow become singles, but apart from that, the story makes sense in its own terms. (Note, too, that I'm reading a Netgalley copy, supplied to me for purposes of review, and the final version may not have these issues.)
One of the odd things about it is that, while it's clearly a Tolkienesque, even D&D story, it's at the same time YA (or possibly New Adult) women's fiction. The young female dwarf who narrates it is fascinated by movie magazines (they're magical movies), believes she's in love with an elf film actor, has to deal with a bitchy, self-centred best friend who's more attractive than she is, has trouble balancing dating (or rather not dating, and worrying about it), sports, work and trying to figure out who she is while resisting her family's attempts to define her, and gets genuine help from a self-help book. As a man in my late 40s, I'm not the target audience, and I can't say that those particular concerns swept me up into her story, but that's no failure of the author's. It's a perfectly good story, well told.
I did wonder, going in, whether the premise was going to be enough to sustain such a long book. It sounded more like a novella. But I didn't feel that the pace dragged at all, or that it was unnecessarily padded.
Is this my new favourite author? No, but she's not writing for me. For the people she's writing for, she's done a fine job, and I think she'll find success.
Well, I was mildly amused, but the author didn't seem to be trying for comedy; the absurdities of the tropes were played completely straight, not in the sense of "the author is apparently unaware of the absurdity" but in the sense of "the narrating character is unaware of the absurdity, because this is her everyday reality". Female dwarves with beards, dwarf/elf tension, axes - played completely straight. Even the obvious Tolkien references were slipped in as if they were the most natural thing in the world, not with a huge wink and a grin, which I appreciated. It was neither an unreflective tropefest nor a meta deconstruction, but something else, and I'm still not sure what, but I think it worked.
As far as competence goes, the basics are certainly there, particularly in terms of the story. The author credits an editor; as a former editor myself, I know that even a very good editor can miss things in a manuscript with a lot of errors, and this appears to have been the case, since some of the missed edits show evidence of sentence-level writing problems in the original. There are a couple of comma splices and a dangling participle, the tense is frequently off, the author uses "anymore" when it should be "any more" (three times), apostrophes occasionally appear in the wrong places, we get "waivered" for "wavered" and the usual finger-slip typos, but I've seen plenty of books much worse - including several from major publishers - and on 90% of the pages I didn't notice any problems at all. There's a continuity error when double rooms somehow become singles, but apart from that, the story makes sense in its own terms. (Note, too, that I'm reading a Netgalley copy, supplied to me for purposes of review, and the final version may not have these issues.)
One of the odd things about it is that, while it's clearly a Tolkienesque, even D&D story, it's at the same time YA (or possibly New Adult) women's fiction. The young female dwarf who narrates it is fascinated by movie magazines (they're magical movies), believes she's in love with an elf film actor, has to deal with a bitchy, self-centred best friend who's more attractive than she is, has trouble balancing dating (or rather not dating, and worrying about it), sports, work and trying to figure out who she is while resisting her family's attempts to define her, and gets genuine help from a self-help book. As a man in my late 40s, I'm not the target audience, and I can't say that those particular concerns swept me up into her story, but that's no failure of the author's. It's a perfectly good story, well told.
I did wonder, going in, whether the premise was going to be enough to sustain such a long book. It sounded more like a novella. But I didn't feel that the pace dragged at all, or that it was unnecessarily padded.
Is this my new favourite author? No, but she's not writing for me. For the people she's writing for, she's done a fine job, and I think she'll find success.
February 12, 2022
I don't ordinarily read YA, but this one has been on my reading list for a while and I was not disappointed. I love the premise and some of the very cool twists: braided beards on dwarves looking for mates, the responsibility of the females carrying on the family's line, and the pride of mining and all its fun side--axe throwing competitions. This had school girl crush on a movie star, feelings of shame and not fitting in, betrayals, loyalties, and a sweet resolution. The best thing was that I cared about her and her dilemmas. Teen angst can be hard for adults to read but I think we can all relate to Mabel's feelings of being on the outside and having parents who don't understand her. Well done, Sherry Peters!
February 4, 2016
Great book - exactly as it was described - bridget jones's diary meets lord of the rings. I'm not a huge fan of romance, but there was enough plot outside the romance to keep me interested, and the romance side of it was pretty decent, not cheap wish fulfillment romance, but with a strong character arc developing it and the main character. It's not the sort of book I normally pick up, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Read
March 9, 2024This was cute! I received it at the World Fantasy Convention. It's a YA dwarf tale that was pretty charming
November 17, 2014
I received a digital copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Mabel must discover who she really is against a backdrop of family dramas, friendship dramas and not having a thick enough beard.
I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand, I really enjoyed it while I was reading it - Mabel is an engaging character and the world-building and cultural aspects of Dwarven life were really well-developed and added to the overall plot. The plot moves from episode to episode in Mabel's life, forcing her to learn new things about herself as she overcomes various challenges that pop up along the way. The ending is nicely hopeful, with the way left wide open for happenings in following books in the series, but readers could be equally satisfied with the ending were they planning to read this as a standalone. So lots of good things to enjoy about the book.
On the other hand, I found this book to be far, far too long. A lot of Mabel's thought processes were repetitious both within each particular section of the plot and across different sections. There seemed to be a lot of time spent just going about her everyday business, with not much happening to move the plot forward. I really felt that this book could have done with some serious editing, to chop out the overabundance of introspection on Mabel's part and just let her actions speak for themselves.
As I said though, I really did enjoy this novel - partiularly the sections that turn elf and dwarf relations on their head, and the theme of gender image that runs throughout as Mabel struggles to fit in as a Dwarven woman when she doesn't have the right "look" or ambitions. It was refreshing to experience these familiar YA themes in such a different context and the author has done a wonderful job of keeping Mabel's experiences authentic in a fantasy setting.
If you're looking for a coming-of-age YA novel with a fun, well-imagined fantasy twist then Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf could be the book for you.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Mabel must discover who she really is against a backdrop of family dramas, friendship dramas and not having a thick enough beard.
I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand, I really enjoyed it while I was reading it - Mabel is an engaging character and the world-building and cultural aspects of Dwarven life were really well-developed and added to the overall plot. The plot moves from episode to episode in Mabel's life, forcing her to learn new things about herself as she overcomes various challenges that pop up along the way. The ending is nicely hopeful, with the way left wide open for happenings in following books in the series, but readers could be equally satisfied with the ending were they planning to read this as a standalone. So lots of good things to enjoy about the book.
On the other hand, I found this book to be far, far too long. A lot of Mabel's thought processes were repetitious both within each particular section of the plot and across different sections. There seemed to be a lot of time spent just going about her everyday business, with not much happening to move the plot forward. I really felt that this book could have done with some serious editing, to chop out the overabundance of introspection on Mabel's part and just let her actions speak for themselves.
As I said though, I really did enjoy this novel - partiularly the sections that turn elf and dwarf relations on their head, and the theme of gender image that runs throughout as Mabel struggles to fit in as a Dwarven woman when she doesn't have the right "look" or ambitions. It was refreshing to experience these familiar YA themes in such a different context and the author has done a wonderful job of keeping Mabel's experiences authentic in a fantasy setting.
If you're looking for a coming-of-age YA novel with a fun, well-imagined fantasy twist then Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf could be the book for you.
September 28, 2014
Given To Me For An Honest Review
Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf (Ballard of Mabel Goldenaxe Book 1) by Sherry Peters is her first YA novel. It is a fantasy and it is really a fun one to read. This book is one that is a real page turner. You won't stop reading it until you are finished reading, It is about Mabel who is a dwarf. She doesn't quite fit in with others where she lives. She experiences a lot of joy but pain as well. Mabel lives in a world of social pressures, prejudice and expectations much like those in our world. When you get to the end of the book, you are going to say "What"? Cliffhanger ..... So like myself and others you'll have to wait for the next book to find out more about Mabel and her search to discover more about herself. I gave this book 5 stars but it deserves more. I look forward to more from Sherry Peters.
Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf (Ballard of Mabel Goldenaxe Book 1) by Sherry Peters is her first YA novel. It is a fantasy and it is really a fun one to read. This book is one that is a real page turner. You won't stop reading it until you are finished reading, It is about Mabel who is a dwarf. She doesn't quite fit in with others where she lives. She experiences a lot of joy but pain as well. Mabel lives in a world of social pressures, prejudice and expectations much like those in our world. When you get to the end of the book, you are going to say "What"? Cliffhanger ..... So like myself and others you'll have to wait for the next book to find out more about Mabel and her search to discover more about herself. I gave this book 5 stars but it deserves more. I look forward to more from Sherry Peters.
September 25, 2016
This was a very good book. Very enjoyable. The protagonist is the kind of Clueless About Her Own Value kind of character YA fiction loves, but making her a dwarf does give it a fun twist, as she worries about not being fat enough, and her beard not being thick enough. The mystery throughout the book about what happened to Mabel's mam is done well, with clues being dropped along, until it builds to an emotionally satisfying moment. The book does feel, at times, a bit unfocused, with a major plot ending only halfway through the book, to be replaced by another plot. That gives it a certain feeling of being two books smushed together. But it's still enjoyable. The protagonist's arc is predictable but well-told and satisfying. The writing is sharp and entertaining.
All in all, this is definitely worth reading.
All in all, this is definitely worth reading.
September 22, 2014
I really enjoyed this book once I got involved with the characters. Mabel tries too hard to please everyone, especially her father, and friends. She goes to work in the emerald mines. She dreams about becoming Gilliam's top axe-throwing champion. She falls in love with Aramis an elf; because she is a dwarf loving an elf is forbidden. Great story, with quite a surprising ending. I won this book through good reads giveaway. Thank you, Sherry Peters for a fantastic tale. I wish you would have personally signed the book. Cindy
Want to read
November 22, 2014This book sounds so cute! After learning about Gnomes in The School of Good and Evil, I am willing to give this novel a chance. Just need to order it haha.
never-finished
January 21, 2015Though I thought this book was cute so far its just not a book for me
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews