White Wolf has been a year in the waiting. Many fans really would like more than one book a year but would White Wolf live up to the expectations? With speculation being rife about what the book would contain many discussed the possible merits and different plot lines that could occur with such a book.

Many immediately suspected that White Wolf would be the tales of the General Banouin from Winter Warriors who had also been known as the White Wolf but alas it wasn't. Then speculation arose about the Witch Queen could she be Culains love finally arriving in the world of the Drenai yet again wrong thinking, then it was finally announced that Druss would feature alongside Skilgannon. Finally speculation began about how Druss would appear and when it would be set.

Here though other problems presented themselves, if Druss was there then he couldn't die as he dies at Dros Delnoch in Legend, and since we had had already Three tales centreing around Druss was this in certain ways Gemmell cashing in on his creations earlier successess, time would tell.

The tale opens with us being introduced to the world with some of the history that many fans of gemmell are familiar with telling us about Skeln and informs us of the chaos that befell the world with the death of Gorben, then we meet Skilgannon for the first time and like Waylander in earlier novels, he quickly gets into some action and displays his martial prowess.

It was here to me that I felt that this initial battle didn't seem to be written with the same level of the quality that Gemmell is famed for. I felt it was over too quickly and wasn't described with his usual detail. However I wasn't going to let this ruin the whole book for me although it did niggle me a little making me think that perhaps the prologue was written in a hurry as an afterthought, leaving me a little apprehensive as to how the rest of the tale would be woven and wondering if the tale would be disjointed.

As usual when considering Gemmells work readers always refer back to his earlier novels that they enjoyed and wonder how they link together in addition to how it would stand against thier favourite tale. Here I was comparing it to the earlier tales of the Drenai wondering if much of the worlds history would be brought to the forefront and embelished upon explaining some of the gaps that the reader has. Yet again Gemmell's work carrys the pace and allows the reader to become immerced within the tale.

I shouldnt have really woried about how it would develop and quickly became engrossed into the world with the reader having the opportunity to not only explore the lands of the east but also the opportunity to learn some of the countries history and characters of its past.

The tales developement, from the begining of the first chapter has the reader taken on a rollercoaster of magic, intrigue, politics and the strategy of war. We also throughout the novel have additional information involving other novels that many thought were individual titles such as the reference to Nuada Silverhand the man who brought the tree to life in Knights of Dark Renown.

Later in the novel Druss arrives and gives the reader another character with whom to associate and also wonder how he would develop from his previous three excursions. Druss as usual is indomitable and although aging still a warrior without peer, his black and white view of the world handing the reader something that we all warm to. Although a simplistic view of the world many people agree with his philosophy (although if it had been possible for you to tell Druss this he probably would look confused or laughed and talked about Sieben) this offered a great counter argument against Skilgannons and Diagoras' views of the worlds many shades of grey.

The characters we meet throughout the tale are wonderfully detailed and offer the reader a fuller view of the peoples populating Gemmells worlds and also give the reader something that is sadly lacking in many novels. In some we meet the people of one culture with everyone else considered to be evil here we meet a group made up of many cultures and see how they intermingle, Drusses ability to make friends through his simplistic views of whats wrong give the reader the chance to see each culture with new eyes. Here not only is Drusses quest aided by many different nations (a Naashan General, a Drenai Soldier and a Nadir Tribal Leader) but they all interact with a familiarity of accomplishing thier own goals through teamwork. As usual his epilogue leaves the reader with a whole new chain of thoughts about how following novels will continue to develop and colour the world.

However the only other thing that niggled me about the novel was the way in which Cadis was developed and used. For me he wasn't really essential to the novel and I personally thought that he was a waste of space even the manner in which he was dealt with didn't really make any sense. For me why take the time to introduce someone and say at the end of thier brief appearance"......There would be no children to tell. Four months later Cadris Patralis would die fighting, back to back with Shialis, against the Witch Queen." Although other characters have been used as a plot device in a similar way in previous tales, from this characters appearance I couldnt develop any sympathys for him and just felt that it seemed an after thought and a way to neatly dispose of him without adding anything to the tale.

On the whole, aside from my minor gripes about the prologue and also how one character seems to have been introduced and neatly gotten rid of (which I personally would have found a way to add into the epilogue,) I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and especially loved the way in which certain historical facts from other tales had been interwoven and added more colour to the world as a whole as well as the fact that it didn't feel added for its own sake. It blended seamlessly and left the book in my opinnion a far richer tale for the inclussion of it. White Wolf will become a book that many will love and perhaps set a new level in the worlds creation adding by far a new element to Gemmells creation. Recent releases also show how his style has changed with more description of the battle, a more rounded description of the surroundings and perhaps more importantly a more complete character showing them "wart and all." proving that they aren't just one thing or another but a complex blend of good and evil depending on thier life experiences, something that we can all identify with. Roll on White Wolf 2 : The Swords of Night and Day.

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