The Swords of Night and Day, by David Gemmell

David Gemmell is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors of fiction. This book, which I picked up at the airport in Trinidad and Tobago, was a book that I simply could not put down. It probably helped that I recalled his name from White Wolf, a novel I had read in August of 2004. In the book, the epic heroes of Skilgannon the Damned and Druss the Legend take shape once again in a land where 'magic' has created joinings - where man and beast become one.

There are hints that this is done through genetic engineering, teasing the attentive and scientifically inclined reader with metaphors for equipment that could be used for such things. Hints of a holocaust that destroyed the wielders of the magic also tease the reader.

Skilgannon the Damned returns from the dead in this book - basically, the same soul in a new body, while Druss comes to visit a clone of himself off and on. Jianna is also in this book, in much the same way - but to tell more would be to give away the plot and the book - but it's not a cheap attempt at a sequel. Instead it is a standalone book, self contained in entirety. Characters unfamiliar to new readers of Gemmell alive magically, and the book becomes impossible to put down as Gemmell dusts off old characters and manages to make them new in their own right within a new setting.

The only complaint I have about this book: It was too short. If you have a day alone where you wish to escape to a world of heroes and magic, I happily prescribe this book. In the same breath, I ask David Gemmell to write faster without losing his craftsmanship.

Also available from Amazon: