The Swords of Night and Day

I found this quite enjoyable as I have all of Gemmell's books so far.
Skilnaggon the Damned continues to be an interesting character.
Jianna, not so much.
A mad swordsman as a new character along with a mild-mannered "Beastmaster" were interesting enough.
Some cameos from Druss, but glad he wasn't a main character. They've already done the buddy book with him & Skilnaggon.

In the end, loses a star as it was behind the quality of most of the previous books

After a cheese-fuelled night of bizarre Drenai dreams, Gemmell started to pen the wildest soap opera possible, featuring one of his iconic heroes, Skilgannon. At first the story seems a bit 'out there', however Gemmell's flair and ingenuity create a page-turner with an epic story. All the usual trademarks are present; with emotive scenarios, depth of character, well crafted action sequences, great wordplay and narrative, betrayal, love and death. It's great reading, although pushes the suspension of disbelief a little. Recommended indeed.

The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell is the tenth book in the Drenai Saga, and also the last. For people who have little to no idea who David Gemmell is, you are in for a treat as you embark on this incredible journey through his plethora of novels. The first book in this saga is simply titled Legend. It's a great read and one that starts a grand adventure. If you have not read Waylander and In the Realm of the Wolf by Gemmell you really need to at least read those two before reading this one. It will add much more depth to the main character and the demons he carries with him.

The premise of this novel is the return of long dead heroes to save Drenai one more time from the evil about to encompass it. Fans of Gemmell who have show more read Legend will certainly see the similarity here. Throughout the book, it seems as though Mr. Gemmell attempts to weave a tale of morality, doing the right thing, sticking with friends, and doing things even when they are hard to do. All these themes can be found in previous Drenai books. However, in this book, all those themes seem to be forced and disjointed. The first 400 pages of this 492 page book seem to drag on and on. While all the elements of good Gemmell books are present here, they don't seem to mesh together well. This is the only book in the Drenai saga that I did not enjoy.

A few characters present in other Drenai books appear in this one as well. Skilgannon and Druss in particular. However, the explanation of how those two are present is very far fetched and just seems `wrong' for lack of a better word. Of the main characters there is really very little character development to speak of. It almost felt that Mr. Gemmell tried to get by with what had been told before about them. I felt that the secondary characters were much more interesting than the main characters. Characters such as Stavut, Shakul, Askari, etc. were much more interesting this time around. The dialog, at times, was strained and seemed to make little sense. For some reason, the characters in this novel, just didn't hold the same magic as they did in previous novels.

I tired hard to like this book. I have enjoyed Mr. Gemmell's work the vast majority of the time. However, this book just seemed like a mashed together plot, some old characters, and recycled morals and themes. I felt I had read it all before from Mr. Gemmell and the previous times were simply better. If there was no author's name on the cover of the book I would never have guessed it was written by Mr. Gemmell.

Fans of the Drenai saga should probably read this book, as it is the last in the series. Yet, if you are thinking of getting this book or not getting this book, I would say you may want to look somewhere else. The `good' stuff in this book is severely outweighed by the rest of it. Don't get me wrong, the last 75 pages are pretty good, it just feels like a marathon to get to that point.

While I will certainly recommend the Drenai books to fantasy fans. I can't say I will speak very highly of this particular novel. I am somewhat disappointed that the Drenai saga ended on this note, but with the passing of Mr. Gemmell there most likely won' be any more books. It was a good ride though and one I a happy to have taken. show less

The Swords of Night and Day is just okay. Given the amount of material Gemmell had to work with, this book falls flat but is still somewhat enjoyable. It merely recaps events explained in the previous books, but in a confusing way. Having read and enjoyed Gemmell's books (i.e. Legend, White Wolf, The King Beyond the Gate) I was anxious to delve into another. However, it does not add much to the series.

- The Drenai series spans eleven books, though it really is several mini-series with connections to the same land. In this case, “Swords” is a sequel to "White Wolf" in which Skilganon was introduced. Swords of Night and Day explores the magic/technology of resurrecting him (and other heros and villains). Although the magic/technology show more of resurrection is loosely explored, it is done inconsistently. One moment, these powers are causing everyone to have cancer and become mutated, the next moment the powers are healing people and allowing them to live indefinitely. I am okay with unharnessed powers doing uncontrollable things, but here the powers are told to be controlled… then shown to be uncontrolled for select people.

- Despite their rebirth, the characters and motivations are not developed what so ever. I would have hoped to learn more about Skilganon, Jianna, etc.

- The book has nothing to do with the titular “Swords of Night and Day”, other than the fact that their owner is a key character; nothing about the demons inside the blade, the weapon's history, its creation, etc. are explored. In fact, the book has several cool powerful items re-emerge from ancient history, but then they are not really used. Seriously, the Armor of Bronze marks a guy as a leader, which elevates his power over a regiment of humans, but it really doesn't do much. One may expect that the armor be magically protective, or impart some supernatural strength to those who wear it--not here.

- Many contrived scenes exist that just appear odd. These instances fail to ratchet up the tension and could have been handled much more smoothly and convincingly.
(1) In one case, the hero mysteriously detects “undetectable” wraiths approaching...has 30min or so to prepare for the fight???...decides to leave the group he is supposed to protect so he can fight the wraiths… but he doesn't actually know where the enemy is (even though he could detect them???) so he goes to a random location to get ready (so the weaker folk are now vulnerable)...then the shadow creatures find him... but our invincible hero begins to lose the battle… until his less-capable party finds and rescue him???. Why not have the wraiths just attack the group directly?
(2) In another case, a women Askari learns her village has been destroyed, and her response is to do nothing emotional... but immediately seduce the man who failed to protect it (and the language is lighthearted…the man calling his wolf-like friends silly rascals as they try to watch).
(3) Stavi spends 250pages building a special pack of warrior creatures, helps them join ranks with the human Legion who is afraid of said creatures (they all join a single “pack” and have a mini ceremony), drags his land-lubber pack many miles on barges to do battle because “the creatures want to fight with him”... then when the battle starts, he dismisses them, commanding them to "go hunt and be free" ??? ... so his pack does leave … but guess what? surprise … they come back to fight. show less

The sequel to White Wolf, The Swords of Night and Day provides more of the same. Which is a good thing. Sometimes I need a hearty helping of slaughter.

Not as good as the previous Gemmel books that I have read. Still a nice, easy, somewhat romantic fantasy book to read.