The Fall of Fyorlund

Chronicles of Hawklan #2

by Roger Taylor

The second volume in the epic series "The Chronicles of Hawklan".

The darkness of ancient times is spreading over the land of Fyorlund and tainting even the Great Harmony of Orthlund. The ailing King Rgoric has imprisoned the much-loved and respected Lords Eldric, Arinndier, Darek and Hreldar; he has suspended the ancient ruling council of the Geadrol; he has formed his own High Guard, filling its ranks with violent unruly men; and Mandrocs have been seen even in Orthlund. At the centre of this corruption is the King's advisor, the evil Lord Dan-Tor, who is determined to destroy the peace won by Ethriss and the Guardians eons ago, and surrender the land to his Dark Lord, Sumeral.

The people look to Hawklan to make a stand against Dan-Tor. But is he a healer or a soldier? Deep within himself, Hawklan has felt an ancient power, and when threatened has been seen to fight like a warrior out of legend. Hawklan knows he must confront Dan-Tor before the land falls forever to the encroaching, eternal night...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy

472 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Roger Taylor was born in Heywood, Lancashire, and now lives in the Wirral. He is a chartered civil and structural engineer, a pistol, rifle and shotgun shooter, instructor/student in aikido, and an enthusiastic and loud but bone-jarringly inaccurate piano player.

He wrote four books between 1983 and 1986 and built up a handsome rejection file before the third was accepted by Headline to become the first two books of the Chronicles of Hawklan.

Reviews

[River · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow I've stumbled upon what could be my go-to high fantasy series. It resonates with me in a way that others like LotR or WoT have not. The author does a great job at pacing; we meet characters and visit places (with not the easiest of names) at a slow enough pace to both follow along and not get too bogged down in a lot of nothing.

There are a lot of perspectives, and many of them cross over one another (which is something I enjoy as a reader; when characters meet but don't know each other until much later - like two ships passing in the night).

There's a lot going on that's not immediately delved into, leaving us as the reader hoping that the "Chekhov's gun" is explained at some point later.

Hawklan was interesting and fun to follow as before, and I still really enjoy Gavor, though his time in the spotlight seems slightly less in this book. The Queen's pov was riveting and kept me on the edge of my seat for much of the time. I hoped that what she was doing would pay off and though it wasn't what I thought would happen or could happen, it was still a good development -wink.

Here is the only little bit of spoiler I'll finish with.
I'm actually quite glad that Dan-Tor wasn't just insta-killed by Hawklan. The man just waltzed into town hoping he'd figure out what everything was without any plan. It could have worked in a lesser writers hands; Hawklan could easily become a deus ex machina. He didn't, and now we get to keep watching Dan-Tor deal with his growing instability, an unhealing wound while also ruling.

10/10 read, am already onto the next volume! Sis I blame you for inadvertently introducing me to this author

[Massimiliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is way better than I thought it could be. Characterisation is not the strongest Roger Taylor's point, however he makes up with plot and a sapient use of worldbuilding. I look forward to reading the next to books.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

I've found it interesting and often entertaining at the same time it drags on a bit more than I would like. I realize that you need to get to know all of the characters involved so I am going to continue with the next one in the series and see if it picks up the pace

[Hrishabh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story moves forward better and it thankfully feels like a novel instead of a by-the-by tale. But the story and the writing still feels like it leaves something. Overall its okay.

[Ted Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was much longer than the first in the series, but not as good unfortunately. The beginning was especially weak, with characters making decisions that made no sense. The head hopping got to be too much as well. At least the ending was stronger, which led to me giving it three stars rather than two and a half.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading this, I enjoyed it though nostalgia definitely was a factor. The characterisation is somewhat weak.