La gesta del halcón
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About this ebook
1072, en una Inglaterra devastada tras las guerras y rebeliones a raíz de la invasión normanda, un misterioso mercenario francés llamado Vallon acepta una misión peligrosa. Debe de viajar por Europa en busca de cuatro preciados halcones blancos para canjearlos por la vida de un caballero inglés que se haya cautivo en Constantinopla.
Acompañado por un halconero inglés mudo, un soldado alemán en busca de fortuna, un estudiante de medicina siciliano y el hermanastro del cautivo, Vallon parte en busca de los exóticos pájaros. La odisea les llevará desde Groenlandia a Rusia, cruzando el Mar Negro hasta llegar a Bizancio. Durante la misma, Vallon y sus hombres tendrán que navegar en mares embravecidos, participar en enconadas batallas y adentrarse en castillos y fortalezas impenetrables.
Robert Lyndon
Robert Lyndon es historiador y vive en Dorset, Inglaterra. Sus estudios de Historia le llevaron a leer numerosos relatos medievales en los que los halcones aparecían como moneda de cambio para pago de rescates. La gesta del halcón es el fruto de ese interés unido a su cualidad de gran viajero y buen conocedor de tierras remotas. Algunas de las escenas del libro están inspiradas en experiencias propias del autor. Lyndon es autor de varios libros y artículos de Historia y viajes.
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Reviews for La gesta del halcón
40 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a fantastic read. Normally, I would not read a book like this, I prefer women's historical fiction, but I really was hooked from the first sentence.This was a long book at over 600 hundred pages, but the action and plot made the book move along at such an exciting pace. That story takes place in 1072 in England. A knight is being held for ransom. A soldier named Vallon joins forces with a young scholar in training to complete a journey. Along the way, a group joins them to find rare white hawks as ransom for the knight.What an epic quest of adventure and excitement. Fighting Vikings, risking their lives at every turn in sea voyages, battles to the death. It was heart stopping journey. I hope this author writes more. I didn't want this book to end!I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is without doubt a big, glorious, involving book. One you can get totally lost in.
It's a rich, twisting, and thoroughly absorbing tale. One that travels through Spain, France, England, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Finland (I think), what is now Russia and all the way down the rivers and rapids to Constantinople. Whilst the cover says it is a novel of the Norman Conquests, it isn't - as such. I'd say it is fundamentally a journey through the world as known by later period Vikings.
Personally, had I been the author, I'd have argued against (presumably) the Marketing Department's suggestion of putting 'An epic novel of the Norman Conquests' on the front cover. Yes, there are Normans in it - and they are of course bad - and it takes place in the period shortly after the conquest of England, but if you're looking for a 'Sworn Sword' or another 'Hereward', you'll be better looking elsewhere. It is at least an epic, that bit's spot on.
It just goes to show how hard it is to pin down what this multi-faceted book actually is. On the face of it, it's a reasonably simple tale. An Arabic leader demands a ransom for a Norman knight he holds. Money, lots of it, or four rare, snow-white hunting hawks. From the title of the book, you can perhaps guess which option they decide upon.
A motley band of adventurers come together through accident and circumstance and proceed try to to carry out the quest of the title and the book is their adventures along the way. Vallon is a Frankish knight on his way back from being held captive by the Moors in Spain, when he runs into Hero, a young Sicilian scholar travelling with his master and teacher. The old Arab is dying, but has the details of the ransom wanted for a captured Norman knight out in the Middle East. The journey goes to England, where they meet up with a wild kind of woodland-dwelling outcast boy, called Wayland. Handily, he is an expert when it comes to handling Hawks. They are effectively chased out of England and travel to Iceland, then Greenland after the Hawks they need. They collect other adventurers on the way and are pursued by all manner of Normans, Icelanders and on the 'return' journey through Norway and Russia, by Vikings and marauding Steppe nomads.
Whilst Vallon is the leader of the group, the most interesting character, perhaps not surprisingly given the author's background, is young Wayland. The author is a falconer and Wayland is the character in the book who hunts, captures and cares for the hawks of the book's title. Passages describing him, and his adventures in the countryside - both fighting, protecting his comrades and capturing the Hawks - are superb. Robert Lyndon really brings the wildlife, forests and countryside of 11th Century Europe vividly to life. You can almost smell it!
There's a little and a lot of everything here (well over 600 pages in the hardback version I have, so lord only knows how many it'll have when it comes out in paperback). But whilst it is a long story, it's one that is constantly moving, action-packed and manages to stay focused the whole way through.
So while it is a quest and it is set in the (in England anyway) Norman period, it isn't a novel of the Norman conquests. Vikings are in it, but it isn't a Viking novel. It's a quest, a long involved one at that, but it isn't 'Lord of the Rings'. Maybe it's just written for the love of it. Yes, that must be it. Stop trying to sort out what it is or isn't, Steve. Stop over analysing and enjoy - is what I told myself about a third of the way in. And enjoy it I did, very much indeed. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An epic journey starting in France to England and on to Iceland and Greenland then a hard journey across the top of Norway to Russia, Kiev and thence down to the Black Sea and to Anatolia. All in search of the famous white Falcon or gyrfalcon and the transport of 8 of them to the Emir of Anatolia as ransom for a knight. Well written, filled with believable adventures and hardship as well as an excellent look at falconry as practiced in those times. Moral dilemmas abound. I look forward to the next, entitled "Imperial Fire."
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5HAWK QUEST by Robert Lyndon is an interesting Medieval Historical Fiction(British) in 1072 England. A tale of the Norman conquests with the Anglo Saxons. Filled with Knights,Normans,the quest of knowledge,searching for the Thomas text in the Bible,Falconers,and Hawks. An epic tale and one I would recommend to readers of historical,Norman history, Anglo Saxon history,and the quest for knowledge with a bit of romance and lots of drama. An interesting story from start to finish. Received for an honest review from the author.RATING: 4HEAT RATING: MILDREVIEWED BY: AprilR, Review courtesy of My Book Addiction and More