Hero In The Shadows

Gemmell has always been one of the most assured practitioners in the genre, and the fact that various fellow scribes have been queuing up to trumpet the virtues of this novel is some indication of its power and invention. But this third Waylander book really is something special. Mixed into the brew this time are: an ancient riddle that needs to be solved, a dazzlingly created, complex society and an impossible task for Waylander, the Prince of Assassins: he must kill a man who cannot die. The problem so many writers have with their heroes - a lapse into rudimentary characterisation - is skilfully bypassed here: Gemmell's hero is a fully-rounded creation. What's more, Gemmell doesn't rely on our knowledge of him from previous books - newly minted character traits are bonded onto Waylander's personality in the new book. Where so much of the genre lapses into cliche, all is fresh here: a menacing past is brilliantly created. The sinister city of Kuan Hador, steeped in blood and evil, was defeated by mystic warriors. And in the present, icy mists begin to former around the ruins of the dead city, while terrifying beasts are stalking the hills and forests. Soon, a handful of warriors will be obliged to fight for their very world. The story arc building towards these cataclysmic battles has the skill of a master orchestrator, even though we've been in this territory often enough before. The narrative moves at the usual kinetic pace, and that eternal pitfall of heroic fantasy, cod medievalism, is given the usual Gemmell richness (with none of the club-footed stupidity that bedevils most of the genre). If, at times, Gemmell risks stretching our patience with his over-complex plotting, but this is almost a pre-requisite of the genre, as the basic plots have been mined so often that the vein has pretty well run dry. His strategy always pays off, and we read on, transfixed. (Kirkus UK)