The Swords Of Night And Day - Softcover

Gemmell, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593044576 ISBN 13: 9780593044575

Publisher: Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Div of Random House, Inc, 2004

Synopsis

Even in death, Skilgannon the Damned’s name lives on. Now, as an ancient evil threatens the Drenai heartlands, he returns.

A thousand years after they fell in battle, two heroes -- Druss and Skilgannon -- are revered throughout the war-torn lands of the Drenai where men and women live in abject fear of the Joinings, abominable meldings of man and beast, and of their mistress the dark sorceress known as the Eternal. None can stave off these ruthless foes. But what if the soul of a hero could be called back from the void, his bones housed again in flesh? An ancient prophecy foretold that Skilgannon would return in his people’s darkest hour. To most, this is a foolish hope, but not so to Landis Kan. For years Kan searched for the tomb of Skilgannon the Damned. And at last, he found it, gathered up the bones and performed the mystic ritual.

But the reborn hero is an enigma; a young man whose warrior skills are blunted and whose memories are fragmented. This Skilgannon is a man out of time, marooned in a world as strange to him as a dream, remote from all he knew and loved. Or nearly all. Before bringing Skilgannon back, Landis Kan had experimented with other bones in the hero’s tomb. That ritual resulted in a surly giant who possessed astounding strength, but no memories. To Kan, he is a dangerous failure. To Skilgannon, this giant represents their last hope.

As the ageless evil of the Eternal threatens to drown the Drenai lands in blood, two legendary heroes rise again.

About this title

Review

David Gemmell's latest heroic fantasy The Swords of Night and Day, latest in the Drenai series, stars the tormented swordsman Skilgannon the Damned and opens a thousand years after his debut in White Wolf (2003). Reincarnation is the secret, of course. Having died in his final battle and spent a fraught millennium in the Void, Skilgannon is deliberately brought back to take up his swords and fulfil a prophecy.

Other revenants include the body though not the soul of his old comrade-in-arms Druss the Legend, and more than one form of this era's tyrannical queen the Eternal, a woman once very important to our hero. This queen not only controls overwhelming armies but is literally eternal because technomagical wizardry makes death, for her, no more than a minor interruption. Her current lover is an obsessed psychopath carrying the only swords more deadly and cursed than Skilgannon's, the Swords of Blood and Fire.

The land is infested with sorcerously created man-beast "Joinings"; in an unusual subplot, one hapless and unheroic merchant tries to teach a pack of these monsters to hunt animal rather than human prey. Naturally there is copious swordplay, not to mention axe-wielding and archery, all described with Gemmell's usual kinetic skill at handling fluidly violent duels, skirmishes and battles. Even with help from a tiny remnant of Druss's folk, the Drenai Legend Riders, Skilgannon's quest seems utterly hopeless. But correctly interpreting the fantastic, colourful imagery of that millennium-old prophecy suggests a desperate course of action.

The storyline is as compelling as ever, punctuated by artful flashbacks, with a generous helping of unexpected twists, betrayals, tragedies and triumphs. Gemmell's countless fans will not be disappointed. --David Langford

Review

"'Gemmell is a fireside mythmonger; his characters and plots have the authentic feel of legends handed down through the ages'" (SFX)

"'The story flows like a torrent; and if the devil has all the best tunes, then the Damned definitely gets the best weapons'" (Guardian)

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Div of Random House, Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593044576
• ISBN 13: 9780593044575
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464