‘Waylander II: In The Realm Of The Wolf’ – David Gemmell (Orbit)

I’ve been struggling to settle on a book to read recently (I can see the pile of books that only lasted a few pages…) and then I realised that the answer had been on the bookshelf the whole time… I thoroughly enjoyed my re-read of ‘Waylander’, back in October, and the next two books were right there waiting to be picked up so… I’ve spent the last few days getting reacquainted with Waylander and what happened next for him and his newly found family. And you know what…? I read the book the whole way through, again, and it was glorious.

High in the wooded mountains of Skeln, the woodsman, Dakeyras, and his daughter Miriel, live a life of solitude. Unbeknown to them, a group of bloodthirsty warriors stalk the mountains. Men who have never known defeat, to whom revenge and torture are meat and drink. For ten thousand in gold they are eager to kill the woodsman.

Battle-hardened warriors all, they have no fear of this task - but they should have. For Miriel is a woman of fire and iron, skilled with bow and blade and taught her skills by one of the deadliest killers of all time...

Her father, Dakeyras, better known as Waylander the Slayer.

Once your main character has sunk to the bottom and then pulled himself back up again, where do you go with him next? With Waylander in particular, what else does he have to prove? Well, to begin with, Gemmell has Waylander wrestle with more tragedy and the feeling that with his past, he doesn’t deserve to live quietly and happily. I’d disagree but that would make for a sequel that was over far too quickly so I’m happy to cede to Gemmell on this one ;o)

Waylander is a father now and that is not only what helps him deal with his grief but also what drives him to keep moving forward when assassins come to the mountains to start looking for him and Miriel. There’s a definite mystery to be solved here and it is worked through in typical Gemmell fashion, spectacular confrontations (seriously, this stuff should be on the big screen, probably with an older Clint Eastwood as Waylander) but also with Waylander constantly questioning himself about whether he can, or even should, be the man he once was, even if it will help him achieve the revenge that he needs. And that’s the biggest question of all, one that grows as familiar faces return and questions are answered. I loved watching Waylander wrestle with this one, can you really do good if it involves being the man that you once were? You know how it’s going to go but the thought that he puts into it really makes you feel for him. Waylander may be a lot of things but he’s owning every single one of them because he knows what might happen if he doesn’t. I’ve read ‘Waylander II’ a few times now but even now, I can’t help but take that journey with him and that is the mark of some masterful writing and characterisation.

And then if that wasn’t enough for you, Gemmell takes what initially feels like an intense but still very small scale mystery and suddenly ramps it up into a full on continent wide affair that will literally send echoes through history, and it all fits together perfectly. There aren’t many books, these days, that will have me taking a longer lunch break (especially when my boss is in) but there was so much going on in ‘Waylander II’ that I just had to and I suspect that next time I read it, I’ll do exactly the same thing ;o)

I’m going to post this and then I’m going straight to my shelves to get started on ‘Hero in the Shadows’, that should tell you all you need to know about how I found ‘Waylander II’. If you need a little more though… It’s another superb read by David Gemmell and if you haven’t read it, you really should.