Ravenheart by David Gemmell

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Eight hundred years have passed since King Connavar of the Rigante and his bastard son, Bane, defeated the invading army of Stone. Now the Rigante have lost the freedom and culture so many gave their lives to preserve. Only one woman remains who follows the ancient ways–the Wyrd of Wishing Tree Wood–and she alone knows the nature of the evil soon to be unleashed. But the Wyrd pins her hope on two men: a giant Rigante fighter, a man haunted by his failure to save his best friend from betrayal; and a youth whose deadly talents will earn him the rancor of the brutal Varlish. One will become the Ravenheart, an outlaw leader whose daring exploits will inspire the Rigante. The other will forge a legend–and light the fires of revolution. . . .


Quotes: "Always listen to fear, Kaelin. Never be ruled by it. Fear is like a cowardly friend. His advice is not always wrong, but given the chance, he will drag you down into the pit he dwells in."~Jaim Grymauch

"If you want to win the girl, you'll have to swallow your pride and say what needs to be said."~ Jaim Grymauch

Why this book you might ask: I've read several of Gemmel's books and I was in the mood for some heroic fantasy.

My Thoughts: I quite enjoyed this book. I didn't read the first two books in this series but this one stood quite nicely on its own. I'll get the others and read them eventually. Right now I'm looking forward to the next one which I assume will be about one of the minor characters in this book.
Even though the title of the book, Ravenheart, would suggest that the book would be all about him it wasn't. It follows several characters as Ravenheart (Kaelin Ring) grows up and comes of age. My favorite character was Jaim Grymauch, a larger than life heroic figure. Ravenheart seemed like a hot headed brat at first and was not, for me, very likable - but he came around. More than most other books the line between good guy and bad guy was fuzzy. The good guys did bad things and some of the bad guys did some good which made for an interesting mix and emotional involvement on my part.
For a fantasy novel there was relatively little fantasy. One character, the Wyrd, used some magic otherwise it was like reading historical fiction. Gunpowder and muskets are used along with cannons. I guess it would be fantasy in that the races of people were imaginary. I stayed up late a couple of nights reading this book. It just kept me turning the pages. I only hope that the next this series will be as good as this one.

Links:
Preview the book here.
David Gemmell at fantasticfiction.

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Del Rey; First Thus edition (February 26, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345432282
ISBN-13: 978-0345432285

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
Typically British Reading Challenge 2010
Monthly Mixer
NaJuReMoNoMo

Mele

Pages in 2010:
This book - 427
Total - 427