The Swords of Night and Day [Hardcover]

David Gemmell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

With mythic sweep and epic scope, David Gemmell’s bestselling novels of magic and adventure feature brooding heroes who fight to preserve all that is good and honorable in themselves and in the worlds through which they stride like lonely giants. In times of terror and despair, theirs are the swords that carve a shining path, inspiring others to follow. Even after their deaths, their names live on. . . .

A thousand years after they fell in battle, two heroes—Druss and Skilgannon—are revered throughout the war-torn lands of the Drenai. Yet 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 one such 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, as the power of the Eternal grew, Kan searched for the tomb of Skilgannon the Damned. And at last, he found it, gathering up the bones and performing 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 experimented upon other bone fragments found in the hero’s tomb. That ritual resulted in a surly giant who possessed astounding strength, but no memories. To Kan, he was a dangerous failure. But to Skilgannon, this giant represented their last hope. For as the ageless evil of the Eternal threatens to drown the Drenai lands in blood, two legendary heroes will once again lead the way to freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this engrossing science fantasy, the latest in British author Gemmell's long-running Drenai series (White Wolf, etc.), 1,000 years have passed since the age of the heroic sword fighter, Skilgannon. A priestly class has reawakened ancient technology that allows them to prolong life indefinitely, create lycanthropic man-beast combinations called Jiamads and fashion magical weapons such as the two legendary blades Skilgannon once carried, the Swords of Night and Day. The greatest of the priests, Landis Khan, brings Skilgannon back to life in order to fight against the arrayed armies of another of Landis's resurrections, the empress Eternalâ€"aka Queen Jianna, Skilgannon's former lover and nemesis. Druss the Legend, the ax-fighter friend of Skilgannon from the past, has also been brought back in body. Skilgannon and Harad, the clone of Druss, join forces with Askari, a clone of Jianna, and various temporal locals, in a fight against the Eternal's Mongol-like hordes of were-creatures and ravaging soldiers. Though the story brims with standard swordplay and unremarkable battle sequences, the puzzling out of what a possessed sword might actually be (a nanotech-based artificial intelligence?), or how resurrection works (bio-engineered cloning?) provides delightful diversion and should make this one popular with idea-starved fantasy readers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In the latest of the prolific Gemmell's tales of the Drenai--a direct sequel to White Wolf (2002)--the half-animal, half-human creations known as the Joinings stalk the land, guided by their conquest-mad sorceress mistress, the Eternal, and they and their leader are again well developed and more than adequately terrifying. Various ancient champions also return for this volume, including Druss, who has a new comrade in arms, Skilgannon the Damned, who has been dead for a thousand years. What with the magical swords these two Barbarossa-like figures wield, the already fast and furious action get ratcheted up to virtually nonstop for more than two-thirds of the book. With that much action, Gemmell is guaranteed to hold readers, despite his not-always-top-flight world building and sometimes less-than-lucid prose. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1 edition (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345458338
• ISBN-13: 978-0345458339
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #693,493 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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gemmell Is The Best, Bar None...., July 7, 2004

By 

"The Woj" (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Swords of Night and Day (Hardcover)

I never was a big reader....Playstation 2, Cable TV, listening to cds & the internet was where I spent my downtime. Then I read my first Gemmell novel, "White Wolf", one year ago. Since then I have read every book of his I could get my hands on until I had read them all. When I saw this on the shelf at the local bookstore I couldn't wait (sorry Amazon), I grabbed it, bought it and finished it in about 3 days. It is/was another triumph. I could go on & on about how great Gemmell is, how great the characters are, etc, etc and it would all be true. But the main reason I love his books is that he puts you there, right there in the story. He takes you away from the sick kids, the fight you had with your wife, the bad day at the office, whatever your "ill" of the moment is and transports you into a world of heroic fantasy that seems all too real. It might be the fact he Gemmell touches on so many relevant human traits such as honor, loyalty, honesty, courage, friendship, respect that seem to be lacking in today's fast paced, "me first" society. Reading Gemmell puts me in a world I want to be part of and experience first hand. A world I wish could spill over into our modern one.
Anyway, enough rambling. If you are a Gemmell fan this book is pretty much a no brainer and you shouldn't even be reading this. If you are a person who has never read any of Gemmell's work, purchase this book along with it's predecessor "White Wolf". Add both of them to cart ASAP, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Skilgannon returns, April 13, 2004

By 

Scott Masterton (Blaine, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Swords of Night and Day (Hardcover)

David Gemmell has done it again. All of Gemmell's books are formulaic; however, that does not take away from the power of his message. Gemmell is the master of the archetypal, heroes journey story, and his characterizations and deep insight into the human condition always make his books memorable and lead the reader to examine the nature of evil, heroism, and the dark and light sides within their own being.

Skilgannon has been resurrected after 1,000 years. We learn that he has been fighting demons in the void (similar to the Catholic Purgatory). He has returned to fulfill a prophecy that he will destroy the Eternal...an old foe/lover from a thousand years ago.

As always, Gemmell's characters are never one thing; never one dimensional. The truly evil are capable of the highest good, and those that appear without flaw are shown to be anything but.

For Gemmell fans, there are no big surprises in "Swords of Night and Day", but both new readers and lifelong fans will come away entertained and as always somewhat enlightened concerning the nature of man and his place in the Universe.

This book is worth every dime.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Prophecy of Skilgannon the Damned, March 30, 2004

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Swords of Night and Day (Hardcover)

The Swords of Night and Day is the eleventh novel in the Drenai Tales series, following White Wolf. A thousand years before, Skilgannon the Damned had led three hundred of his Silver Hawk cavalry in a flank attack on the invading Zharn tribesmen and slew their king in battle. While the invaders were driven back, none of Skilgannon's force survived. After the battle, Ustarte the priestess and prophet acquired his body and hid it in a buried tomb.

In this novel, Skilgannon has been resurrected, his body reborn and his soul retrieved from the Void and implanted in the new body. At first he was unable to recall anything of his previous life, but the memories soon started returning in a haphazard sequence. Familiar items would trigger whole strings of memories. First came memories of his death, then he identifies a locket as his and remembers the name of his wife. Next he recalls Druss the Legend.

The resurrection has been accomplished by Landis Khan with the help of the empath Gamal. They have found Skilgannon's real tomb, with his bones inside. The tomb also contained the Swords of Night and Day, a locket containing bone and hair of Druss the Legend, and Druss's axe. Landis has also resurrected the body of Druss, but his soul is not available.

Landis has brought Skilgannon back to life to end the tyranny of the Eternal, the reborn of Queen Jianna. Landis has emissaries from the Eternal, Unwallis and Decado, as guests and introduces Skilgannon to them as his nephew Callan. Later he sends Skilgannon to Harad, the reborn of Druss, and they take a trip through the hills. While they are gone, Decado kills Landis and his Jiamads (mass produced Joinings) kill many of the servants and drive the others to the hills.

Askari is a reborn of Jianna, although she is not aware of it, and the Eternal has sent troops to recover her for use as a replacement body. Although she is not there when the troops arrive, she soon discovers the invasion and ambushes the Jiamads. Her friend Stavut the trader has brought her a new recurve bow and she uses it to shoot the invaders from far away and then heads for the hills. Stavut thinks Askari is crazy, but follows her into the hills; he is not about to stick around and try to explain himself to the angry Jiamads.

Skilgannon and Harad counterattack the Jiamads in the village and kill the officers. They see Askari ambush the Jiamads and watch the Jiamads chase after her. They track down the Jiamads and attack them from the rear as they storm the hiding place of Askari and Stavut. Rather than fighting to the death, Skilgannon negotiates a cease fire with the Jiamads and they leave after promising to not attack any more humans.

Later Stavut becomes the Pack leader of those Jiamads who survive the attack on Askari and himself. As more Jiamads show up, Stavut adds them to the Pack. When Stavut joins Skilgannon and others in defending the passes from the Eternal's forces, his Pack insists on following him into battle.

In this story, Skilgannon stills feels a strong attraction to Jianna, his former lover, despite a thousand years within the Void. Harad learns to love Charis, the peasant girl who had led Gamal out of Petar after Landis is killed. Askari has known Stavut for years, but his courageous behavior when they are trapped by the Jiamads leads her to see him as a lover.

This story is built around a prophecy that Skilgannon will terminate the reign of the Eternal. Since Jianna is aware of the prophecy, she has been looking for Skilgannon's tomb, but Landis got there first. However, Skilgannon cannot conceive of any way that he can fulfill the prophecy, but he decides the first step will be the finding of the Temple of Resurrection.

The story features a fair amount of fighting. However, today's enemies become tomorrow's friends. And today's friends are often tomorrow's enemies. Even the Eternal is not sure whether she wants Skilgannon dead or alive.

Recommended for Gemmell fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of intrigue and betrayal, expert swordsmanship, and magical mysteries.

-Arthur W. Jordin