Customer Reviews

Highlander(TM): Scimitar (Highlander (Warner))

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

 

 

I was *very* hopeful when I picked up this book that it would do the TV show justice. This book not only does that, but does an excellent job of showing how the series could be, instead of regaling the flashbacks to mere minutes within the story. Here, as in the other Highlander novels, the flashback *is* the story, providing no small enjoyment and fulfillment to the fan crying out, "More history on Duncan MacLeod, please!"

Having just watched the movie version of "Finale", the episode which inspired this story, I was really psyched and ready for an explanation on how in the world MacLeod found himself in Algiers in 1653. It's not necessary to have seen or remember the episode to enjoy the whole story, as the flashback is deftly woven into the story itself. The reader is grabbed into the story and taken along for a really good ride. I really think this is an excellent read

However, I do have a quibble about the ending, and until I started typing this, I didn't realize it, as I'd enjoyed the story so much.

This was an excellent book cronicling (Spelling) the life of this MacLeod through his meeting with Hamza and also his Cairo and Arabian desert happpenings. I really admire the writing style of Ashley McConnell, and also I have read all the books in the Highlander based series and this was definitely the best one.

I really enjoyed this addition to the Highlander legend, particularly as it expanded on an intriguing flashback from the TV series -- when Duncan knew Hamza el Kahir in the 1600's in Algeria.

For martial arts fans, the info about fighting styles (particularly scimitar vs other swords) is very interesting.

The Highlander franchise has its highs and its lows; the original film, which was brilliant; the sequels, which were mostly not; the television series, which started slow, but became very good by the second season, only to lose its way a bit near the end. And then there is the series of books based on the television series and Duncan MacLeod as opposed to Connor MacLeod from the movies. This series was a very good extension of the television series, giving Duncan an opportunity to flesh out his character.

In Scimitar, the Highlander is given a legendary blade by his friend and Watcher (a secret society of mortals whose sole purpose is to observe and record the lives of the immortals) Joe Dawson who received it anonymously with instructions to deliver it to Duncan. What does this portend? Is it a warning from an immortal out for MacLeod's head? Is it a challenge from the Highlander's forgotten past? Our merely a salute?

Like the rest of the series (I have read the first five titles), this is a very good installment and I can highly recommend it to all Highlander fans...and if you aren't a Highlander fan, give it a read, you might get hooked.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

Not bad. This is a excellent Highlander book to read.

This author is kind enough to delve into Duncan MacLeod's and Hamza el Kahir's relationmship and history. I enjoyed understanding Macleod's adventure in Middle East.

MacLeod gets to play around in the desert in this one, particularly in the past. When he and Joe come across an Arab sword, it brings back some memories or a time when he was not quite as with it, and did some silly things.

Politics, skullduggery and swords in the Middle East, and some running away.