RAVENHEART : A Novel of the Rigante (original 2001; édition 2002)

Substance: Eight hundred years after Connavar and Bane, the Rigante are subject to the brutal and bigoted Varlish conquerors. With Jaim Grymarch as an unlikely hero, and young Kaelin Ring, son of his murdered friend Lanovar, as the rallying point, the Rigante rise against their local ruler the Moidart. Full og good and evil men on both sides, and some that are both, this is a story of the elemental struggle for freedom.
Style: A medieval-fantasy with better-than-usual story-telling chops. ( )

This might be my favorite of the Rigante novels. This is a typical Gemmel novel of politics and action. The characters are good and tragic, and the action is enjoyable and realistic. Maybe more than some of his other novels, the Rigante novels are about the characters, and a little bit less focused on the plot. Very good. ( )

‘Ravenheart’ is the third book in the Rigante series although each book can be read as a standalone novel and doesn’t have to be read in conjunction with the others. Although no official date is given as the setting for the novel it is widely accepted that the peoples at the beginning of the Rigante series are written to reflect the Roman and Celtic cultures and then progress from thereon in through time. This third novel, ‘Ravenheart’, is set 800 years after the original Roman/Celtic battles of the first novel and finds the once proud Rigante people suppressed by the Varlish race. It’s a time when muskets are a new form of weaponry and cannons have just come into use as weapons on the battlefield. In itself this makes ‘Ravenheart’ different from any other Gemmell novel I have read as he usually focuses on time periods that involve nothing beyond horseback riding and melee weapons.
Many of Gemmell’s novels have a set hero and a structure that follows that one person throughout the story. ‘Ravenheart’ is a tad more multifaceted in that respect as there are several main characters whose lives intercede with each other and play major roles in the heroic, yet tragic, story that make up this beautifully written novel. Jaim Grymauch is a well respected Rigante rogue who has a big heart (not in the medical definition of the term although we don’t get his full medical history so who really knows?!?) and is akin to a house trained bear with wild instincts and undertones. Okay, I’m just using the bear analogy as an educated guess as I’ve never really owned a bear although some of my past girlfriends have been way too bear like in stature, temper and hair growth so I feel I know what I’m on about as nowadays I gain far more pleasure from a bare behind than a bear behind but anyways…
So, yeah, Jaim is one of the main characters and it is he who opens and closes the story. In fact, it’s almost fair to say that this novel is a bunch of intertwined stories that all cross paths and around halfway through I found myself wondering where on earth the novel was taking me. At that time in the story the main character was Kaelin Ring a teen on the verge of manhood who, although polite and educated, has a strong temper that gets him into trouble. This temper is a problem as the woman who he falls in love with, Chara (whom I assume is the full lipped beauty on the front cover of the book…the guy is most definitely Jaim as he only has one eye), just happens to be the sister of the man he is to duel to the death with. Ah, the course of true love never does run smooth! There’s more romance in this book than in the other novels I have read by David Gemmell and during the middle part I felt it was dragging the story down a bit. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy reading romance, because I do, but in the context of this particular story I would have preferred less of it. In fact, I even had another problem with this novel. I know! Two problems in one Gemmell novel…this is very unusual for me. The character of the Moidart, the Varlish noble ruler who hates the Rigante and controls most of the area in which the story takes place, starts out very evil but for no apparent reason he seems far more pleasant towards the end and it just seemed like a very strange transformation. In the overall context of the story though these “problems” made very little difference to my enjoyment of the novel and I really enjoyed it and will be seeking out the fourth, and I do believe the final, book in this series which is titled ‘Stormrider’.
‘Stormrider’ is the soul name of a character we are introduced to in this novel. All four books in this series are titled after the soul names of major characters with ‘Ravenheart’ being the soul name of Kaelin Ring and I’m now thinking of picking out a soul name for myself. ‘Bookmarc Blogpants’ just doesn’t sound mystical enough and the best I can come up with is ‘Throbbingsword Bookreader ‘ so perhaps I should just pass on the soul name after all. Also a recurrence in the series are the seers. As with all seers in what seems like all novels, regardless of the author, they seem to answer questions with questions and I wish I could meet a seer one day just so I could slap him/her one and scream, “just give me a straight answer dammit!” right in their face! As it is Gemmell’s seers give advice to select members of the Rigante but never tell them what they should do and also answer questions with questions and speak in riddles. Oddly, and perhaps this is no coincidence, that fully describes the customer service I’ve experienced at my local Sears store. Who would have thought seers and Sears were so intimately related?!?
If you enjoy historical fiction with heroism, tragedy, romance and characters that will find a place in your heart then you’re probably already a Gemmell fan but if he has somehow passed you by then I would fully recommend the books I’ve read so far in the Rigante series; ‘Sword in the Storm’, ‘Midnight Falcon’ and of course ‘Ravenheart’. ( )

The character of Jaim Grymauch might at first seem familiar to a fan of David Gemmell's previous works, but there is a subtlety to his characterization, he is truly alive. This is true for many of the characters found within, Gemmell has made his cast real in this Rigante book. ( )

Ravenheart is ostensibly the third book of the Rigante saga (The Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon, Ravenheart, Stormrider), although given the way the history is woven throughout the books, Ravenheart could easily be read on its own merits.

As someone who is a craven fan of David Gemmell in all his humours, I cannot explain the glorious thrill of reading a book where he gets every aspect right – the pace, the detail, the characters, every thread of plot – and still takes every opportunity to have large men with swords batter the hell out of each other. That this doesn’t get old is testament to sheer force of storytelling.

The Rigante tribe are reduced to small townships and ‘Black Rigante’ rebels under oppressive Varlish law and rule… banned from carrying swords, muskets, owning businesses or horses more than fifteen hands high, they are the despised underclass and it is this thread that gives the book its richness, its adversaries and injustices to be fought, and its moments of triumph and sadness.

The character of Ravenheart is held apart from young warriors in other Gemmell tales by the expertly drawn journey of character and spirit… with room to play, Gemmell’s characters take on more depth and become more than mighty sword-wielding heroes (although much fun is to be had with those, too). The same goes for other principle characters in this book; they are all alive within their own stories, and engaged in one another’s.

I have yet to read the concluding book in the Rigante saga, but Ravenheart raised the bar, and I will now be holding it to high standards. ( )