RAVENHEART : A Novel of the Rigante [Import] [Paperback]

David Gemmell (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 506 pages
• Publisher: Corgi Books; First Edition edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552146757
• ISBN-13: 978-0552146753
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,589,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Gemmell was born in London, England, in the summer of 1948. Expelled from school at sixteen, he became a bouncer, working nightclubs in Soho. Born with a silver tongue, Gemmell rarely needed to bounce customers, relying instead on his gift of gab to talk his way out of trouble. This talent eventually led him to jobs as a freelancer for the London Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Express. His first novel, Legend, was published in 1984 and has remained in print ever since. He became a full-time writer in 1986. His books consistently top the London Times bestseller list.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but now I must wait for more!!!!, March 22, 2002

By 

Killer Shrike (San Diego, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravenheart (The Rigante Series, Book 3) (Hardcover)

I am a hardcore David Gemmell fan. Ive read everything I can get my hands on, including all the Drenai books, the Stones of Power, Knights of Dark Renown, Mace, and the first two Rigante Books. An entire shelf's worth of books, when you get right down to it.

I stumbled over Gemmell about 4 years ago now (I think) and was struck by the thought 'How come I never heard of this guy before?'. I bought Legend first, and went back to the bookstore the following day to clear the shelf of every scrap with his name on it. Thus marked the meteoric rise of Gemmell to the top of my favorite writers list, to keep company with RE Feist and Dave Duncan.

Basically, Gemmell is the Louis L'amour of fantasy fiction. Sure, Gemmell's books are a tad formulaic for the most part, but since the formulae is a good one, I think I can live with it. Gemmells gift lies in telling the story of confident and skilled characters in a world of low-magic and gritty adventure. His action scenes are cinematic, and his characters dial in heavily with "cool" factor. Waylander, the Jerusalem Man (Jon Shannow), Druss, et al; Gemmell has a flair for bringing real hard bitten & tough heroes to life in a very concise but informative style that gets the story moving. You wont have to sit thru 10 pages describing the morning sunlight upon the dew-laced leaves of the BLAH BLAH BLAH to get to a single sentence of import. Gemmell has the gift of precise but descriptive language. As a former journalist, I suppose he was always under word-restrictions for his columns or something. Anyway, its refreshing in a genre lately filled with 1000 page monsters in which nothing happens.

All that said the Rigante series, started with Sword in the Storm and closely followed chronologically by Midnight Falcon take a different tack from Gemmell's usual formulae; rather than following a hero or band of heroes somewhat past thier prime facing overwhelming odds, the series follows the exploits of its central character from youth to adulthood. Further, the books are set in a variant Celtic parrallel to the british isles. Normally Im not a fan of Celtic flavored books that endlessly re-tell the Arthurian and/or Celtic myths in pointless variations, but fortunately these 3 books do not fall into that category.

All three books are great, but while I enjoyed Ravenheart very much, it isnt as good as the first two. Unlike Sword in the Storm or Midnight Falcon which essentially tell the tales of 1 central character each (though MF did give a secondary character some play, it was primarily focused on the main character), Ravenheart is much less focused on any one individual and instead tells the story of a collection of characters.

Ravenheart is set 800 years after the 1st two books, and much has changed in the lands of the Rigante. The Rigante clansfolk are a conquered people in an age-of-muskets timeframe to an oppresive white-wigged people from the immediate south. Very Scottish v English in other words. In fact, I was constantly reminded of the movie Rob Roy while reading Ravenheart (in a good way--I liked that movie).

The nominal principal character, Ravenheart aka Kaelin Ring is an 800-years-later descendant of Connavar (the main character in SitS). The book basically chronicles his growth into his majority and manuevers him into exile in the Highlands to avoid possible legal entanglements, where he meets his future bride and gets in good with the 'Black Rigante', highland outlaws who refuse to bend to the oppressor's yoke. He leads them to victory in a critical skirmish and is basically in position to assume leadership of the Black Rigante soon (though this is unstated...merely dot-connecting on my part).

However, his possible half brother Macon Gaise also gets some 'screen time', and so does a great character named Jaim Grymauch. Grymauch is another Gemmell classic best described as a laughing rogue that people cant help liking, despite themselves. Even the law enforcement types cant help but like him and secretly hope he gets away. A one-eyed giant of a man, Grymauch makes most of his living from stealing bulls from nobles and wealthy farmers...by stealth. He's also a renowned boxer, scrapper, and broadswordsman prone to tavern brawls.

So basically, the story kind of branches around and covers the three characters listed above and a few other notable supporting types for a few years rather than concentrating on 1 character over the course of many years as in the 1st 2 books. This lack of focus made the book a little less coherent by comparison IMO.

Also counter to the Gemmell schema, this book is not really tied completely up by the end and you can tell that it was obviously intended to be followed closely by a sequel to wrap up the loose ends. If I recall correctly, this sequel will be called Storm Rider and presumably will concentrate more on Macon Gaise.

So to sum up:

The story was very enjoyable and compared to other writers efforts (particularly of late), the book really shines. But compared to the first 2 books in the series it is not as epic in scope or as exciting.

Still, on a 1 to 5 system its easilly a 5; on a 1 to 10 it would be around an 8.5 (while the 1st 2 would be a 10 and a 9.5 respectively).

I highly recommend this series to any fantasy fiction reader and particularly to those who have read Gemmell before and enjoyed it. This book and the series is definitely a winner.....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book worthy of reading., August 15, 2001

By 

Librarian (Albany, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravenheart (The Rigante Series, Book 3) (Hardcover)

David Gemmell is one of the best authors I have ever read. His books pull you in and you feel you are living the life of a Rigante. His writing is poetic and his characters are so life like you feel they are alive. His literature is addictive and I find myself re-reading his books sometimes three times.

"Ravenheart" proved a joy to read. Kailen Ring, Maev Ring and Jaim Grymauch fill your heart with pride and love. His characters are not perfect which is a reason you can relate to them. The conflicts between the highlanders and the Varlish are well thought out and the human emotions are written so well you experience them along with the characters.

This book combines the elements of magic, love, and war into a novel worth reading. Few books cause me to shed tears but all of the Rigante series have thus far. This book moved me the most. I cannot wait to re-read this one and to read the seaquel "Storm Rider"

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The man can do no wrong, July 11, 2001

By 

N. Brett (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ravenheart (The Rigante Series, Book 3) (Hardcover)

It would appear impossible for David Gemmell to write a bad book, all of his stuff sits at the top end of the scale. Over here in the UK we were lucky enough to get this some while ago and are now in eager anticipation of the next. This one is the third in the Rigante series which has a very loose base on the English/Scottish battles from way back, but you need no knowledge of British history to enjoy this, but there is a Braveheart element to it! Most Gemmell books may sit in a series but can be read on their own, this is unusual as it does rather link into the next book, but it will not detract from your enjoyment. The flawed central character is based a little on one of Gemmell's relatives who recently died, and this was a worthy tribute to him. As always, well defined characters and strong action scenes. Ask not if this book is good enough for you, ask if you deserve to read it!!