Customer Reviews

The Hawk Eternal (The Hawk Queen)

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

 

 

Caswallon is a highlands warrior from the Farlain tribe. Skilled with bow and short sword, he's a stealthy hunter and a merciless killer when enemies such as the fearsome aenir threaten the land of his fathers. The aenir enter a new land through a magic portal Which power has faltered over the aeons and no more gate keeper to re-seal it.. A race bent for bloodshed and ruin, they subdue all cities of the newfound realm. As soon as it's done, they turn eyes towards the highlands..
Characters good and bad, in the typical gemmel style, get a thorough description of their personalities you end up
Awed by them all (and ultimately, by their creator). Much research has been done about living in the forest and the book is peppered with details on tracking, making fires Or makeshift weapons. This lends a strong and much appreciated touch of realism to all of Gemmell's stories. Despite the realism of the story's framework, it remains heavily fantastic and supernatural, creating an intensely prosaic chiaroscuro. The sorcery and magic are entrancing, the evil extraordinarily vivid and graphic in its ruthlessness. It is opposed to a counterbalancing force that must at all times prove of a mighty resourcefulness.. the world of Gemmell is of parallel worlds that can interfere with each other through the magic gateways. Time is of no importance in each individual world. What gives it importance is what decisions people make in the worlds they cross. These same people exist in a different parallel world but are making different decisions, leading different lives.. and facing different futures and fates. We're constantly reminded that time is a blind beast we are trying to harness. It takes us wherever we're strong enough to steer it (at least while we're still alive). You'll also discover that gemmell has a knack for anagrams; Morgase, the aenir queen, can be spelled "orgasme" in French (: ,
giving you some help to imagine what this woman must look like, her slim white skinned body sheathed in black satin and lace... fancy a cold shower?...
this is a metaphorical work: the Aenir are us, the human race. we exploit our earth's resources mercilessly and punish the nature which gave us life. whenever a land is depleted of its resources, we move along toward a new land, a typically parasitic behavior.nature (and all creatures/beings who are still connected to Her) will retaliate ruthlessly at her desecrators.
I don't know if david gemmell had a wife or children at the time of his -untimely-passing
But he sure left orphans behind: his heroes and his readers. British fantasy and fantasy literature worldwide, has lost one of its main pillars somewhere in july 2006. he may not be among us anymore, but heroes don't die. Hail!
p.s. i just took a look at the poor ratings this book received... leaves me wondering about the attention span of the reviewers or whether they truly read this book...

This one was a bit harder to follow than Iron Hand's Daughter. The first book only touched upon the parallel and alternate timelines, this book wades deep into them. So if you want to follow along and make sense of it, you are going to have to pay attention. Though not as strong as his Drenai works, this novel is typical Gemmell. Great heroes, and even greater battles mixed with a tiny bit of magic and a monster or two. This is some of his earlier work, so if you have been reading them in the order that Del Rey has been putting them out, it may not seem as strong as what you have recently read. That is not the fault of the author, he has continued to grow as a writer. Read Legend first and you will find yourself hooked on Gemmell's work.

I have only read a few of Gemmell's books but so far I like his style.

I usually like to start at the beginning of a series but just happened to pickup this book and have enjoyed it alot. I will be looking for more of his books.

Gemmell introduces some more of that travel through time thing, as the Hawk Queen goes to aid an alternate version's people in trouble who desperately need a hero.

The man she meets and influence she has will be reflected in her own time in a younger life, if you can work that one out.

Still, Gemmell's Highland times are pretty good.

This is a companion review to Ironhand's Daughter. Again, I will try to write the review without any spoilers.
The Hawk Eternal is the sequel to the excellent Ironhand's Daughter. Being a sequel, one would expect that the book would again focus on the larger-than-life character of the warrior-Queeen Sigarni. However, this is not the case. Sigarni herself, does not apear until much later in the book, and is really a secondary character. There are two main characters in this novel and both are richly described. One of Gemmell's main strengths is his ability to always make his readers emotionally invested into the fates of his main characters. A clever way he does this is by making his characters flawed and usually seeking some form of spiritual redemption in their opposition to insurmountable and evil odds. We think that we could be these people, or we "wish" we could be one of these people.
The characters of Caswallon and Gaelen are no exception. Both have inner demons to battle. Caswallon has a shameful and selfish past, Gaelen has an abused and unloved childhood. Yet, the destiny of the highland clans is in their hands.
In this book, the evil forces are the Aenir who are clearly "Earth-similar" to the Norse/Goth tribes. The Aenir are a despicable race who live for suffering and war. The Celt-like highlanders are the last free people to stand in their way to total conquest. The Aenir are battle hardened and vastly outnumber the free highlanders. But the highlanders will not go down without a fight...
Like "Ironhand's Daughter", the HawK Eternal features a lot of battles and action scenes, strong characterisation, and the odd bit of interdimensional time-travel thrown in to boot. A worthy sequel (it can actually safely be read as a stand alone novel) that will not disappoint any Gemmell fan, particularly those who liked the Rigante series.

I just couldn't really get in into this book. It seemed messy and poorly put together as you go between worlds and such.
There were too many loose ends and the characters would do random, out of character things at times. It just may be me looking in to the book to much, but I felt that when the book was written, the author didn't put enough of himself into the characters. As a result, the characters seemed to have lacked definition.
But, on the bright side, the plot was certainly interesting and unique. Points there.

The first 2/3 of the book are classic Gemmell. The battle scenes, the challenge, the characters are all there. Then we take a turn into druids and their magic, time travel and portals, an ancient race and multiple realities. It is all very confusing and detracts from the novel.

That's the jacket introduction - and this is the set tone for much of the book - the current enemy is really from out of the past - but from somewhere in the future there is a chance to save the present. And so, what starts as a very easy read - ye olde speak, a battle, an orphan, a man who is a leader in the eyes of his people but is at odds with the leader of his people, some magic and a prophecy... slides into a game of Chutes & Ladders as the wires get crossed - gates are opened and closed - characters arrive early as old and dying and then return later from earlier times young and ready for battle - la la la.

I stuck with it - unknotting the story more times than I care to count. Not a bad read [it was a vacation airport purchase], but it's not likely I'll pursue others by Gemmell.

"Hawk Eternal" is set in historical Scotland (the author's favorite country). The Scottish Highlands are being invaded by a thoroughly nasty group of barbarians, who are intent on genocide. The action mostly follows C, a lighthearted middle aged warrior; and G, his adopted son, survivor of a barbarian massacre. The book opens with the barbarians leveling G's home city, concentrates on G growing to adulthood with C, and then moves to the highlanders' response to the eventual barbarian invasion. Other focal characters include S, a queen from the future, and T, a druid who can move and see through time. T. searches through possible timelines, in a desperate attempt to find a course of events that will defeat the barbarians. The point of view jumps quite a bit between C, G, the druids and the barbarians. The time travel interplay is intriguing.

S's and the druids' involvement is unnecessarily convoluted and confusing. The rules of time travel are not clearly defined, which occasionally ruined the flow of the story for me. Too, although the barbarians have conquered the Scottish Lowlands, the barbarians inhabiting that land are simply ignored. Having studied many old battles and invasions, I found this quite unlikely and thus obnoxious.

Though nicely performed and polished, I found this novel did not inspire me.

I tried to read this book, a couple of times, it's so derivative and such a pale imitation of other, earlier writer's better work as to prove not worth the time or effort, sorry, my two cents worth. The one star is over-rating Gemmell's book.