Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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David Gemmell is back with this third volume in his Rigante series. It is now eight hundred years since the events in the last novel and a different world, for where once brave Connovar and Bane vanquished the armies of Stone, his once-proud people now live under the unresisting heel of the Varlish. Forbidden to take part in their conquerors' world, they are despised, and their culture now only exists in tatters, but some brave souls keep the fires burning - the gigantic Jaim Grymauch, for example, who has the strength and valor to take on an army and with a heart the size of the mountains, and his young cousin Kaelin Ring who wants to follow in his uncle's footsteps. But reviving cattle and getting into fistfights in bars isn't what will win the Rigante back their lands and their pride…

Reminiscent (deliberately) of Scottish history during periods when it has been ground under British boots, this is Braveheart (or Sir Walter Scott perhaps) with a bit of fantasy thrown in. As with all Gemmell's work it is a story about people and features a cast of loveable (and hissable) characters that the reader is thoroughly introduced to and comes to truly care about, and this keeps the pages turning even when, in good soap opera tradition, there isn't a lot happening apart from the charactes going about their daily lives. This probably sounds boring, but it isn't, as it makes the whole thing live - the mark of a good novel. As with most of Gemmell's other work, this is a tale of folks with the odds stacked against them who are going to end up pitted against a vast army, a feature that leads to a feeling of sameness for he does love writing about the forlorn hope, the gallant few pitted against the villainous many. But this is the stuff folktales are made from and this is a fine fantasy by any standards.