Hero in the Shadows: Waylander the Slayer Stalks an Ancient Evil - Hardcover

Gemmell, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345432231 ISBN 13: 9780345432230

Publisher: Del Rey, 2000

Synopsis

Waylander the Slayer confronts the forces of ultimate evil as it sweeps out from the ruins of the Lost City to engulf the land's villages and cities

About this title

Review:

Everything has its season, and in Hero in the Shadows Waylander, the assassin hero of some of Gemmell's earlier books, is now a middle-aged man looking for peace in a world that will, for the most part, let him alone. The crimes of his past come back to haunt him, however, as he finds himself responsible for a young prince whose grandfather he murdered, and as creatures of doomed legend come back to rule the world with blood and horror. An ageing paladin, and a loud-mouthed braggart whom a magic sword has chosen, and a kitchen girl who is unusually handy with her knives become his allies, along with a priestess who is not telling all she knows, or all she is...Gemmell is one of the best writers of fantasy adventure and this new book is attractively gloomy in its atmosphere and has a pervading sense of the ironic. The action sequences are powerful and well-visualised--Gemmell always knows how a particular sort of fight would feel. And there are no simple morals here--most of the characters, heroic or villainous, exist in the grey hinterland between dark and light, where evil acts are often performed in sorrow and good actions often have mixed motives behind them. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"Gemmell has every right to take his place amongst the SF and fantasy greats" (SFX)

"Gemmell is several rungs above the good - right into the fabulous" (Anne McCaffrey)

"Has everything a fan of heroic fantasy could desire" (Stephen Donaldson)

"I am truly amazed at David Gemmell's ability to focus his writer's eye. His images are crisp and complete, a history lesson woven within the detailed tapestry of the highest adventure. Gemmell's characters are no less complete, real men and women with qualities good and bad, placed in trying times and rising to heroism or falling victim to their own weaknesses" (R. A. Salvatore, author of Mortalis)

"Gemmell is very talented; his characters are vivid and very convincingly realistic" (Christopher Stasheff, author of the Wizard of Rhyme novels)

About this edition

• Publisher: Del Rey
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0345432231
• ISBN 13: 9780345432230
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 385