Ravenheart: v.3 (The Rigante) - Hardcover

Gemmell, David

4.31

7,172 ratings by Goodreads

9780593044384: Ravenheart: v.3 (The Rigante)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 059304438X ISBN 13: 9780593044384

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2001

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Eight hundred years have passed since the defeat of the army of stone by Bane the Bastard, and his father, King Connavar of the Rigante. Now, two men emerge from the mists of uncertainty to answer a witch's cry for help and again inspire Rigante as they fight for survival agains an age old evil.

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Review:

In Ravenheart, the time-scale of David Gemmell's novels of the Rigante, a Celt-like people living on the fringes of other, more aggressive cultures, reaches a historical period that is the fantasy equivalent of the early 18th century. The Rigante clans are oppressed by their Varlish neighbours, forbidden their traditional dress and culture; only in the hills do the old ways hold and there are plots to destroy even those strongholds by treachery. Young Kaelin is the son of a chief treacherously murdered by the Moidart, the local Varlish overlord; everyone waits to see what will become of him, especially his rowdy mentor Jaim and his cautious foster-mother Maev. What makes this such a likable book is that Gemmell is aware of the sheer complexity of the situation he has created--Kaelin's unsympathetic austere Varlish schoolteacher Alterith becomes practically a hero in his own right through an ethic of scholarship and legalism entirely alien to the Rigante among who he lives. The Moidart's son, Gaise, is a man of more honour than his father and clearly booked to be important in a sequel.--if Gemmell has been reading Walter Scott novels such as Rob Roy, it is considerably to the book's advantage.--Roz Kaveney

Review:

"'In the realm of people-driven fantasy fiction, Gemmell sets the standard'" (Time Out)

"'The blend of gentle humour and hard, bloody steel combine to give every fantasy fan what they most desire'" (Enigma)

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