The Swords of Night & Day
By David Gemmell

     Skilgannon is back—and a thousand years after he died! You can’t keep a good man down, even if he was actually famous in his lifetime as being a killer and nicknamed “The Damned.” All the legends show what a hero he was, with a flying horse, a princess for his wife, and fighting dragons. Now his bones have magically been brought back to life by Landis Kan, who works for the evil sorceress known as The Eternal. Druss has been brought back too, only the hulking Harad has no memory of any past exploits, for it is merely his body that has come forth as Druss has passed on to a better place. The pair of them are going to have their work cut out for them to defeat The Eternal, battle strange creatures made from men and animals, and hold onto the Drenai lands.

     There aren’t any surprises inside a David Gemmell novel, but there is plenty of rip-roaring action and a whole lot of fun. Here is another lusty tale of forlorn hopes, evil magic, valiant soldiers and magical creatures with plenty of derring-do, a little tragedy, and its heart in the right place. Gemmell’s novels combine larger-than-life characters the reader cares about with lively adventures, which is what makes them endure when other fantasy novels go out of print. They are even of a manageable size. Gemmell hasn’t written a tubby tome yet and manages to pack it all into under 500 pages. If you want novelty you won’t found any groundbreaking or literary fare in here and yes, this is another story using his favorite formula of doughty heroes pitted against vast hordes. But it somehow doesn’t matter, and if you like real fantasy then dive in and enjoy.