The second volume in the epic series "The Chronicles of Hawklan".
The darkness of ancient times is spreading over the land of Fyorlund and tainting even the Great Harmony of Orthlund. The ailing King Rgoric has imprisoned the much-loved and respected Lords Eldric, Arinndier, Darek and Hreldar; he has suspended the ancient ruling council of the Geadrol; he has formed his own High Guard, filling its ranks with violent unruly men; and Mandrocs have been seen even in Orthlund. At the centre of this corruption is the King's advisor, the evil Lord Dan-Tor, who is determined to destroy the peace won by Ethriss and the Guardians eons ago, and surrender the land to his Dark Lord, Sumeral.
The people look to Hawklan to make a stand against Dan-Tor. But is he a healer or a soldier? Deep within himself, Hawklan has felt an ancient power, and when threatened has been seen to fight like a warrior out of legend. Hawklan knows he must confront Dan-Tor before the land falls forever to the encroaching, eternal night...
Roger Taylor was born in Heywood, Lancashire, and now lives in the Wirral. He is a chartered civil and structural engineer, a pistol, rifle and shotgun shooter, instructor/student in aikido, and an enthusiastic and loud but bone-jarringly inaccurate piano player.
He wrote four books between 1983 and 1986 and built up a handsome rejection file before the third was accepted by Headline to become the first two books of the Chronicles of Hawklan.
This book is way better than I thought it could be. Characterisation is not the strongest Roger Taylor's point, however he makes up with plot and a sapient use of worldbuilding. I look forward to reading the next to books.
I've found it interesting and often entertaining at the same time it drags on a bit more than I would like. I realize that you need to get to know all of the characters involved so I am going to continue with the next one in the series and see if it picks up the pace
The story moves forward better and it thankfully feels like a novel instead of a by-the-by tale. But the story and the writing still feels like it leaves something. Overall its okay.
This book was much longer than the first in the series, but not as good unfortunately. The beginning was especially weak, with characters making decisions that made no sense. The head hopping got to be too much as well. At least the ending was stronger, which led to me giving it three stars rather than two and a half.