The Gnomewrench in the Dwarfworks

Gnomewrench #1

by Nick O'Donohoe

A displaced group of dwarves lend their considerable skills in metalworking to the war effort -- and prove that the biggest heroes of World War II are also the smallest.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction

359 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Nicholas Benjamin O’Donohoe. Born in 1952.

Reviews

[David]

This was a neat fantasy novel with a really cool idea about dwarves manufacturing items during world war II. Our hero, a 4-F human salesman discovers their factory and trouble ensues. He discovers that the dwarves are entangled with a group of evil gnomes.

Okay, I don't want to ruin it for anyone. This book was fun, but very mediocre in its author's ability to further the plot and bring it to a satisfying conclusion. It had a few strong moments, but not enough to justify a 359 page novel.

I would encourage fantasy readers to avoid this one.

[Jack Doud]

This wasn't so much a fantasy story as a WW2 homefront alternate history that happened to have some fantasy elements. Characters discover that magic and mythological creatures exist and don't react in the slightest. The story focuses on personal issues, relationships, and wartime angst until the last 25% of the book when the fantasy elements suddenly matter. There are some good ideas here it's just presented in such a weird way that the book overall isn't very enjoyable. At the risk of making it sound interesting it's like if Harry Potter only cared about school and it became Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

[Allison]

The entire first half of the book was difficult to follow and was filled with technological descriptions of metal-working machinery and material science. However, the second half picked up with actual plot development and conflict, which I found myself following much more closely. Overall, interesting concept, and imaginative, but fell flat in its execution.

[Raygina]

I tried to like this book, but it was just okay for me. The plot was good, but the writing was difficult for me to follow.

[kashiichan]

Legitimately interesting ideas, but the execution was lacking and relied too heavily on tropes. The "romance" subplot felt shoehorned and unfortunately added nothing to the story.

[David Brawley]

I really wanted to like this one more. It’s a concept that has a lot of potential, but the author just couldn’t pull it off. The best I can say about it is that he doesn’t screw it up, but he doesn’t do anything good with it either.

The characters are a little flat, and the pacing just seemed off. The evil gnomes... well, they aren’t really like any gnomes I know, more like little demons, and I kept getting the wrong mental image.

[Dark-Draco]

I've just finished reading this and, to be honest, am still not sure what I thought of it!! I did enjoy the read - the premise and plot was fun, entertaining and unique as far as I know. My only problem was the lack of twists and turns I like - this was a bit simple. The bit with Kristen and Grady's refusal of her was just confusing; no real explanantion was given for it. But I did like the book and will look out for other things by this author.

[Elliot Jaffe]

Nice book set in the US during WWII. Lots of engineering references and a melancholy storyline. I enjoyed reading it.

[Heather Pearson]

this was a fun and totally amusing story

[Larry Wegman]

World War II on the home front, with fantasy creatures on both sides. Pretty good.

[Gwen]

I admit, I picked this up at the library purely because it looked ridiculous. Dwarves and evil gnomes filling defense contracts in WWII America?

It was actually really good, and I want a movie.

[Lee]

Nicely set up, but I the plot got murky in the middle, and I'm not sure why some things happened the way they did.

I will probably look for any sequels.