Customer Reviews

The Swords of Night and Day: A Novel of Druss the Legend and Skilgannon the Damned (A Novel of Skilgannon the Damned)

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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.

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.

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

Okay. Let me confess that David Gemmell's novels are not high literature. This will never be considered a literary masterpiece. But it's fun, engrossing, thrilling fantasy that I couldn't put down until I'd read the whole book, and that was even after having read it once before (I am not a re-reader).

Most fantasy I've recently read has had interchangeable characters. For example in RR Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series I frequently found myself trying to figure out who the hell minor characters were. Gemmell's work uniquely imagines each of the characters, giving them all very different skills, motivations, and histories. They run the gamut from "good" (Druss and his code) to "mostly good" (Skillgannon sacking a city) to "mostly bad" (the Eternal's dominion) and "downright evil" (murderous Decado). Yet these characters are all capable of independent action, that is, acting in unexpected ways that will surprise the reader while remaining true to their character.

There are some weaknesses in Gemmell's style. He tends to overuse certain key phrases. At times it seemed as if too many of the main characters were "Reborns". But I am willing to overlook that in favor of fast-paced action, good characterization, a uniquely enjoyable turn of imagination, and an extremely satisfying climax.

A thousand years ago, Skilgannon heroically died in battle. Over time the legend of the hero grew to monumental proportions. Now Drenai is under threat of annihilation with no champion arising to stop the dark sorceress Eternal or her Joinings of man and beast into one. Desperate for a defender, none have any hope except Landis Kan, who has some doubts but wonders if he can fulfill the ancient prophecy that stated Skilgannon would return when his people were on the brink of disaster.

Landis believes he has found Skilgannon's resting place. He experiments on another set of bones bringing back a churlish individual who Kan writes off as a loser. He next performs the ritual on the remains of Skilgannon, but instead of a Herculean warrior, the reincarnation seems much less than the legend and even Kan questions whether this youngster could save the realm. Skilgannon realizes that not him, but the other experiment is the only chance for the realm to find victory

This Drenai epic sword and sorcery saga can stand alone as a delightful fantasy that points out what time does to heroes (similar to much of the George Washington legendary feats came out in a book in 1817 or about that stuck for decades as truth). The story line is fast-paced and loaded with action yet characters like Kan and Skilgannon come across as genuine. Though trying to make this book fit into the full saga will need an access database, fans of the series and newcomers will enjoy this fabulous fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

A little iffy at times. But it's about what I expected and a fun action packed read like any Gemmell book. Not one of his best, but still a good book.

This review is really directed at the whole Druss Series.

I really enjoyed the whole series and like the way Mr. Gemmell moves quickly, as apposed to getting to bogged down in the minutia; his writing style reminds me of Michael Moorcock (Elric Saga) in that regard.

I would only have one complaint and that is that he tends to travel all over the place in time-line from book-to-book. You never know if you are going to be reading a prequel, sequel, concurrent time-line, or mixture of those spanning many years.

The bottom line however is that if you enjoy good fantasy / adventure, this series will not disappoint.

For more reviews you should check out: [...]
BGJ: 3.5/5


Book: solid plot, interesting history, good action, defined characters, fantasy, resurrection, magic, evil, redemption, technology

Hero: resurrected hero, Skilgannon, intelligent, master sword fighter, general, needing redemption, self-defined, clones

Similar Authors: J. V. Jones, James Barclay, Robin Hobb, R. A. Salvatore, Matthew Woodring Stover

A 1,000 years have passed since the legendary fighter Skilgannon died. A class of priests have awakened an ancient technology that allows them near immortality, creating lycanthropic man-beasts and magical weapons as well. The greatest priests resurrects Skilgannon in order to defeat the empress Eternal and her armies. The priests also resurrects the body, but not the soul of Druss the Legend, an ax-wielding friend of Skilgannon.

The Swords of Night and Day: A Novel of Druss the Legend and Skilgannon the Damned (A Novel of Skilgannon the Damned) by David Gemmell raises an interesting mix of magic and technology, what is magic? when is it technology or is all magic just technology? Are the heroes created through a magical process or through bio engineering and are the swords evil or sentient nanotech blades?

Skilgannon's world is one that David Gemmell has used before, but for it being over a thousand years in the future, the world of Druss and Skilgannon have been books before, which are also worth a read as well, if just for a little more back history (not needed, Gemmell is apt at giving enough in the book). The Drenai Tales series takes place in the same world.

Gemmell has a rather unique voice, in that you can figure out it's one of his books within a page. I find it a little dry and flat, but his unique plot twists, defined characters, interesting dialogue and thought out battles help compensate for what could have been boring story telling. Also his characters tend to be more mature heroes, not bumbling children discovering they have heroic destinies (though they do as well).
This book came across as a little long but is over all well paced and keeps you reading for a number of reasons for one, to figure out what the issue is, to find out what is behind the magic and well to find how the plot ends of course.

David Gemmell is a prolific fantasy writer and has now taken to writing alternate-myth/history with a fantasy twist, ie Troy. I think you should read The Swords of Night Day if you are interested in a slightly different fantasy with good sword fights and reasoned characters.

A thousand years have passed, and a lot of the world is in a lot of trouble as crazed sorcery unleashes a new host of joining style beasts across the land.

A Nadir shaman tries to do something about this, after finding the bones of Skilgannon the Damned. The Damned will not be alone, as Khan has a couple more tricks up his sleeve. Alongside the bones of Skilgannon are the Swords of Night and Day, the axe Snaga, and a piece of hair.

Using other bodies, he is able to bring back the Silver Slayer, Druss the Legend, and Skilgannon's old lover, the Witch Queen.

Alliances shift and change as they look to put an end to the horror.

I've enjoyed everything that I've read by Gemmell and consider him one of the top five writers of heroic fantasy / Sword & Sorcery ever. That list includes Robert E. Howard, Karl Edward Wagner, and Glen Cook. This book, The Swords of Night and Day, is quite simply the best of the best.