The Midnight Falcon (original 1999; edition 2000)

The second book in the Rigante series continues the epic tale of the Keltoi and the coming of the Stone Empire and sparkles like I knew it would. I tried to resist reading this for a while to give other books on my TBR shelf some attention but the spine-tingling end to the previous volume, Sword in the Storm, made it a temptation I could not resist for too long.

I expected this book to pick up where Sword in the Storm left off – those last few pages were packed with foreboding. Surely, I thought, what happened next would be pivotal and consequential enough to fill several volumes of sequels.

But, effortlessly, Gemmell packaged the happenings immediately after Connovar's ascension to King into a haunting backstory, with spirits locked in eternal battle and Connovar having grown to become an embittered, battle-hardened old man. So instead we follow Connovar's bastard son, Bane, a young man born to a family and into a world where he was never going to be accepted and in his own way as complex a character as his father. Bane's journey echoes that of his father as he comes to terms with his place in life, while the armies of Stone once again turn their attentions on the Rigante lands.

I think the next volume will be bubbling to the top of my TBR shelf.

www.gordopolis.com/writing ( )

When I first started reading this novel I was disappointed that it wasn't a direct follow-up to the first book of the series...I was expecting another novel based around Connavar but instead it is about the life of his bastard son Bane. However, once I had gotten over my initial disappointment I was treated to what has become one of my favorite novels of all time. The characterization is wonderful with the hero being all too human and suffering the consequences of his poor actions. The storytelling is paced perfectly and not once did I find myself bored or skipping paragraphs. Loved it. ( )

David Gemmell is back in form in this sequel to a seemingly disjointed "Sword in the Storm". And while it hits on all cylinders, a minor quibble is that the actual structure of the book seems haphazard. Chapter breaks almost seem random, and the breaks within the chapters are sometimes missing when changing character perspectives. This did not affect my rating. ( )

Interesting story about home we can grow up in opposition to our family. Quite liked how far the book spanned and the main character Bane once he had learned a little about life. ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?ID=241 ( )