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Hawk Quest by Robert Lyndon (view source)
Revision as of 11:16, 3 September 2020
, 11:16, 3 September 2020no edit summary
This is a big book but Robert Lyndon has the talent to sustain the length. In fact the only thing I found unbelievable was that ''Hawk Quest'' is his first novel. This is a man who knows of what he writes. Lyndon has been a falconer since childhood and has an obvious love of nature and history. His research was exhaustive but Lyndon is not the sort of writer to go off on a learned flight of fancy or who brags about what he’s learnt. Each piece of research is intricately woven into the story so that it enriches the fabric rather than boring the reader.
The characters are well drawn and develop credibly as the novel progresses. The assertive leader, Vallon, may be a flawed hero but his past is cleverly revealed at a point at which the reader knows him, colouring the reaction. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s Hero, a Greek unworldly philosopher and medical student, experientially unprepared for the sights he will see or the adventures he’ll encounter. The most interesting character for me, though, was Wayland. Everyone assumes that he is mute because he was raised by wolves. In fact , his past differed from the rumours and he was dumbstruck by something more traumatic.
Lyndon has been compared with Bernard Cornwell and it’s easy to see why. Both are master story tellers storytellers who can interweave history with fiction without detracting from either. This book sweeps from England, to Scandinavia, from Iceland to Turkey encountering vengeful Normans, marauding Vikings, tricksters and a world of superstition, mysticism and brutality. (There are a couple of scenes that the more delicate amongst us may wish to gloss over, but you can see them coming. They’re quite short and so can be skipped without ruining the story.)
The author wrote the novel because he was intrigued by stories of falcons being used as ransom payments. I sincerely hope that he will continue to be intrigued with the world and its history if it guarantees more books like this one.
I would like to thank Sphere for providing thebookbag.co.uk with a review copy of this book. We also have a review of [[Imperial Fire by Robert Lyndon]].
If you liked this, try [[The Tower by Valerio Massimo Manfredi]].