This book makes an immediate contrast with it’s prequel, in that Waylander appears as a mortal enemy to the man whose life he saved at the beginning to book one. Yes, that’s right. The priest, Dardalion. Of course, with a Drenai novel (or any David Gemmell book for that matter!) absolutely NOTHING is what it seems so I will leave that particular conversational thread to unwind itself, and move on. The book simply reeks atmosphere. It opens with an intriguing prologue where the reader is introduced to a character interestingly called “Angel” who is an old acquaintance of Waylander and moves on to the isolated mountaintop retreat that Dakeyras and his daughter call home. But not for much longer. With a 10,000 gold currency placed on his head, Dakeyras is fully able to see the wood for the trees, even though his daughter Muriel has not woken up to see fate staring her (or her father) in the face. By the start of chapter four, Angel has been employed by Waylander to train his daughter so that she can defend herself against potential assassins and Dakeyras has set himself a bundle of side quests including information gathering, friend (and enemy) collections, and of course, maximising the entertainment factor for the reader.I am loving this book. The plot is more complex than book one and the antagonism between characters that used to be friends adds a huge amount of fun and interest to the reading experience. The world building is excellent and of course since this is book five, you would expect to have a certain degree of pre-existing civilisation already embedded in your consciousness. And it is. David Gemmell is a wonder. The Drenai saga books are (pun intended) legendary and are destined to be regarded as all time classics. Pick them up now, read them, saviour them, and pass them on to your kids. Hugely recommended from me and fully deserving of a five star ranking.BFN Greggorio!
This is a wonderful action packed series.. but I don't really know that the numbering of this series is all that important. In the U.K. this was originally published at Waylander II and appears to be a sub-series within the overall Drenai saga.. and that seems to be confusing at times. I really feel boggled at how this actually fits in and that is the main reason for my less than stellar review. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but there are some characters I don't know where they came from... Maybe Waylander? Am I just suffering from literary ADD (and I don't mean Advanced Dungeons and Dragons)? Gemmell writes this stuff like a western novel set in a fantasy setting. If one could exclude the magic -- this almost is a western, with Waylander the tough gunman that nobody can gun down.. There are enough others heroes to make this sort of a Magnificent Seven novel, but switching back and forth between the two groups, although a Tolkeinish device, just proves, at time, a bit distracting. The evil characters all seem a bit melodramatic (meaning over the top at times) without ever feeling all that menacing. Even the two headed monster seems almost easily defeated. It seems that there is always a siege of some sort of abandoned ghost town fortress involved. Is it good reading? Yes.. I enjoyed it... As a stand alone book, I think it is fine. Trying to make sense of how it fits into the overall saga is something I am not likely to do...
What do You think about In The Realm Of The Wolf (1998)?
Waylander has left his life of violence behind - content to live in the mountains with his daughter and mourn his wife. But someone hires assassins to kill him and he is forced to fight back, dragging his daughter into a life he no longer wants. But there is more to the contract then revenge, and the fate of both the Drenai and Nadir nations may rest on the actions of just a handful of people, and on Waylander. As a dark magician is determined to gain the power of the ancients and rob the world of its destiny.I got a bit confused by this, but only as I thought I had been reading the books in order and then realised that this is set before the last two books I had read - duh! Once that had sunk in, it all started making a lot more sense. As with all Gemmel's books, the action is fantastic, fast-paced and addictive, while you can't help but like all the characters, despite their obvious flaws. Another great fantasy read.
—Dark-Draco
The story of Waylander continues. If you enjoyed the first book (as I did) this is also a winner..........Update..........Wow that short review of one of my favorite books was posted just a few weeks after my wife passed. I said very little so let me add a few words.David Gemmell was (and still is) one of my favorite writers. He passed away in 2006.Gemmell's writing might "mostly" come under what I'd call heroic action fantasy. That said many if not (again) most of his work has a dark edge to it. It's fantasy with an edge of real life. Heroes die, the good sometimes fall or are subverted into evil.This is "a" book about Dakeyras, Waylander the Assassin. He is for my money one of the best fantasy characters out there. Dakeyras,became Waylander a man born out of tragedy and then causing tragedies that spread around him like ripples from the proverbial rock thrown into a pond.When we meet him he's tired and simply wishes for the peace he'll never know.I can recommend all the books about Waylander...highly.
—Mike (the Paladin)
Waylander revient, mais attention, cette fois il n'est pas seul, sa fille fait partie du voyage et elle sait se battre. Comme d'habitude pas de temps mort et de l'action pure et dure.Au-dela de ce premier degré, on découvre encore un peu mieux ce héros "gris" dont les principes sont caractéristiques de nombreux personnages positifs de Gemmell quil sont en fait peu recommandables... Tous ont plus ou moins cédé à la tentation de la violence, tous en font un usage plus que discutable, mais tous au final détournent leur penchant violent au profit de leur vision du bien.Un excellent Gemmel qui se lira, au choix, indépendamment du cycle Drenaï pour les novices, ou qui apportera de nombreuses informations sur l'intrigue globale de l'univers Drenaï pour les inconditionnels de Gemmel.
—Alexandre
