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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Prophecy of Skilgannon the Damned, March 30, 2004
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
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by David Gemmell
by David Gemmell
by David Gemmell
by David Gemmell
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