Customer Reviews

The Call of the Sword (Chronicles of Hawklan)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first in a four book sequence by British author Roger Taylor called "The Chronicles of Hawklan". One night in the middle of a snowstorm, Hawklan arrives at the ancient sealed castle of Anderras Darion. He has no memory of his personal history or even his name. The locals of the village below the castle re-name him Hawklan and he finds he is a natural healer of great ability with a store of knowledge that he doesn't know the origins of.

The real story of this book starts with the arrival of a harmless looking tinker who sells goods to the village people. However, what he sells are not what they seem. This leads Hawklan on a quest to discover the source of the poison that has been sold to the people he loves, and it's the start of world changing events for everyone, with Hawklan as the unexpected catalyst.

This book is well paced and written and Hawklan and his friends are characters which grow on you with affection. However, this book is really only an introductory novel in some ways, but if you enjoy fantasy its well worth reading.

The other books in this series are:
The fall of Fyorlund
The Waking of Orthlund
Into Narsindal

I read the complete series of Chronicles of Hawklan a number of years ago. I couldn't put them down. I read one after the other. All of the books were excellent, with the exception of Whistler. For some reason, I struggled with that one. But all the rest were a very good read. Interesting characters and plot - a lot of action. It is an epic story that I thoroughly enjoyed and was sad when I read the last book. This series would make a great set of movies (if you are a LOTR fan, you will enjoy these books!)

1 The Call of the Sword (1988) (ISBN 1-84319-078-8)
2 The Fall of Fyorlund (1989) (ISBN 1-84319-111-3)
3 The Waking of Orthlund (1989) (ISBN 1-84319-139-3)
4 Into Narsindal (1990) (ISBN 1-84319-147-4)
5 Dream Finder (1991) (ISBN 1-84319-155-5)
6 Farnor (1992) (ISBN 1-84319-179-2)
7 Valderen (1993) (ISBN 1-84319-189-X)
8 Whistler (1994) (ISBN 1-84319-197-0)
9 Ibryen (1995)(ISBN 1-84319-216-0)
10 Arash-Felloren (1996) (ISBN 1-84319-224-1)
11 Caddoran (1998) (ISBN 1-84319-232-2)
12 The Return of the Sword (1999) (ISBN 1-84319-240-3)

fantastic, shame you can't get it anymore

Wow! In the space of about 8 months I read not just Call of the Sword but the Entire multibook Chronicles of Hawklan franchise (the 5 Hawklan books + all the additional titles), and what I took away from this was the impressive, simple yet unique world building.

The world of the Call of the Sword is still very much in a pre industrial period, stories of ancient battles are far enough in the past though, that people considered them legends.

But are they legends, children's stories, simple allegories? Or are they in fact precise eye witness accounts of great armies, great beasts and god-like beings both good and evil?

Have they ignored the history that their great ancestors recorded and participated in? Orthlundy (sp?) is a quiet, peaceful, maybe even idealic land, so much so that not even a token civilian army protects its borders. But when legend begins to materialize into Orthulundy's reality, the country will have to stand up and be counted in a conflict that has spanned the eons, a conflict its people and the people of its neighbour states will become fully reacquainted with.

Call of the sword is the first in a long series of books set in a wonderfully fleshed out, and totally complete saga. I'd recommend this to any and all fantasy enthusiasts.