Hawk Quest

This is without doubt a big, glorious, involving book. One you can get totally lost in.

It's a rich, twisting, and thoroughly absorbing tale. One that travels through Spain, France, England, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Finland (I think), what is now Russia and all the way down the rivers and rapids to Constantinople. Whilst the cover says it is a novel of the Norman Conquests, it isn't - as such. I'd say it is fundamentally a journey through the world as known by later period Vikings.

Personally, had I been the author, I'd have argued against (presumably) the Marketing Department's suggestion of putting 'An epic novel of the Norman Conquests' on the front cover. Yes, there are Normans in it - and they are of course bad - and it takes show more place in the period shortly after the conquest of England, but if you're looking for a 'Sworn Sword' or another 'Hereward', you'll be better looking elsewhere. It is at least an epic, that bit's spot on.

It just goes to show how hard it is to pin down what this multi-faceted book actually is. On the face of it, it's a reasonably simple tale. An Arabic leader demands a ransom for a Norman knight he holds. Money, lots of it, or four rare, snow-white hunting hawks. From the title of the book, you can perhaps guess which option they decide upon.

A motley band of adventurers come together through accident and circumstance and proceed try to to carry out the quest of the title and the book is their adventures along the way. Vallon is a Frankish knight on his way back from being held captive by the Moors in Spain, when he runs into Hero, a young Sicilian scholar travelling with his master and teacher. The old Arab is dying, but has the details of the ransom wanted for a captured Norman knight out in the Middle East. The journey goes to England, where they meet up with a wild kind of woodland-dwelling outcast boy, called Wayland. Handily, he is an expert when it comes to handling Hawks. They are effectively chased out of England and travel to Iceland, then Greenland after the Hawks they need. They collect other adventurers on the way and are pursued by all manner of Normans, Icelanders and on the 'return' journey through Norway and Russia, by Vikings and marauding Steppe nomads.

Whilst Vallon is the leader of the group, the most interesting character, perhaps not surprisingly given the author's background, is young Wayland. The author is a falconer and Wayland is the character in the book who hunts, captures and cares for the hawks of the book's title. Passages describing him, and his adventures in the countryside - both fighting, protecting his comrades and capturing the Hawks - are superb. Robert Lyndon really brings the wildlife, forests and countryside of 11th Century Europe vividly to life. You can almost smell it!

There's a little and a lot of everything here (well over 600 pages in the hardback version I have, so lord only knows how many it'll have when it comes out in paperback). But whilst it is a long story, it's one that is constantly moving, action-packed and manages to stay focused the whole way through.

So while it is a quest and it is set in the (in England anyway) Norman period, it isn't a novel of the Norman conquests. Vikings are in it, but it isn't a Viking novel. It's a quest, a long involved one at that, but it isn't 'Lord of the Rings'. Maybe it's just written for the love of it. Yes, that must be it. Stop trying to sort out what it is or isn't, Steve. Stop over analysing and enjoy - is what I told myself about a third of the way in. And enjoy it I did, very much indeed. show less

In Hawk Quest we follow the epic journey of a small and shifting group of questers literally around the ends of the earth: from England to the west coast of Greenland, over the northern cape of Norway and into Russia by way of the White Sea. The year is 1072 AD, the Conqueror’s Normans remain busy subjugating Britain (through the time-honored means of rape, murder, and arson); the Seljuks have routed the Christians at Manzikert (in present-day Turkey); and Vallon, the intrepid leader of a motley, undermanned party, must try to stay one step ahead of the law.

Historian and enthusiastic falconer Robert Lyndon never lets you rest. One death-defying adventure follows hard on the heels of its predecessor. The small group must escape the show more British Isles with the law after them, get out of a feud in Iceland, battle North Atlantic tempests just to return east after capturing birds of prey in Greenland, and race the season’s onslaught in the Arctic Ocean. Then the real fun starts.

Through it all, the narrative energy never flags. Mr. Lyndon manages to fill a book three times the normal length and leave the reader ready for more. Because of its incessant tides of trouble and the party’s sometimes miraculous escapes therefrom, you will keep turning page after thrilling page.

What sold me on this book was the promise that Bernard Cornwell fans will like it. It does remind one of Mr. Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles: it has the same bright verisimilitude; the characters are just as real, and just as highly skilled and heroic.

This is outstanding escapist fare. It will transport you, if I may be allowed to say that about a book portraying an epic journey. And will leave you hoping to see the characters reunited, however improbable its conclusion makes that.

http://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2013/03/hawk-quest-by-robert-lyndon.html show less

Disappointed. When I read all the premise behind this novel I could not wait to get my hands on a copy. I finally tracked down a copy from my local library, and was so excited to see that it was going to be an epic tome.

However, after three renewals I was still stuck no further than 20 pages in - for some reason I just could not take to this book. I plodded along to about just over 100 pages before giving up.

The subject matter, as mentioned above, should have held my interest - an epic adventure featuring the Normans. However, no matter how I persisted, I just could not feel any empathy for the characters nor did I follow enthusiastically their story.

I may perhaps pick this up again in the new year and give it another go.

For about 300 pages -- I can be precise: from chapters 2 to 21 -- I was entranced with this book. With the creative description, with its people and their interaction, and with his sheer adventure-telling ability. Unfortunately it didn't maintain itself for me. The sentences to swoon at became less frequent, as did the laughs, and my love of the group members began to drift. The adventures were still there, certainly. But I wasn't gripping my seat as I had done.

It remained a stand-out book, but my experience is shaped by that elusive magic spell that came and went. Of course it's no mean feat to cast a spell even for a third of a book. The last stretches I felt weak, which makes a review hard to write...

I look forward to his next, where show more he travels even further. show less

This was a fantastic read. Normally, I would not read a book like this, I prefer women's historical fiction, but I really was hooked from the first sentence.
This was a long book at over 600 hundred pages, but the action and plot made the book move along at such an exciting pace. That story takes place in 1072 in England. A knight is being held for ransom. A soldier named Vallon joins forces with a young scholar in training to complete a journey. Along the way, a group joins them to find rare white hawks as ransom for the knight.
What an epic quest of adventure and excitement. Fighting Vikings, risking their lives at every turn in sea voyages, battles to the death. It was heart stopping journey. I hope this author writes more. I didn't show more want this book to end!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley. show less

A great romp through Norman Europe where we follow our heros on a quest to find white hawks in Iceland and deliver them to Turkey to pay a ransom for the release of an English prince. However, the fact that the ransom can be paid in this way is never explained properly and is only seemingly mentioned as an aside when it obvious the family cannot stump up enough cash. Apart from this the novel is exciting and excellently written. Look forward to reading more by this author.

An epic journey starting in France to England and on to Iceland and Greenland then a hard journey across the top of Norway to Russia, Kiev and thence down to the Black Sea and to Anatolia. All in search of the famous white Falcon or gyrfalcon and the transport of 8 of them to the Emir of Anatolia as ransom for a knight.

Well written, filled with believable adventures and hardship as well as an excellent look at falconry as practiced in those times. Moral dilemmas abound. I look forward to the next, entitled "Imperial Fire."