In the Eye of Heaven (Tales of Durand, #1)

From a strong new voice in epic fantasy comes the tale of Durand, a good squire trying to become a good knight in a harsh and unforgiving world. Set to inherit the lordship of a small village in his father's duchy because the knight of that village has been bereaved of his own son, Durand must leave when the son unexpectedly turns up alive. First he falls in with a band of knights working for a vicious son of a duke and ends up participating in the murder of the duke's adulterous wife. Fleeing, he comes into the service of a disgraced second son of a duke, Lamoric, who is executing a long subterfuge to try to restore his honor in the eyes of his father, family, and king. By entering tournaments anonymously as "The Red Knight," Durand will demonstrate his heroism and prowess and be drafted into the honors of the king. But conspiracies are afoot--dark plots that could break the oaths which bind the kingdom and the duchies together and keep the banished monsters at bay. It may fall to Durand to save the world of Man Authentic and spellbinding, In the Eye of Heaven weaves together the gritty authenticity of a Glen Cook with the high-medieval flair epitomized by Gene Wolfe's The Knight , to begin an epic multi-volume tale that will take the fantasy world by storm.

a Fiercely Original Epic Fantasy Debut

publishers Weekly

at The Start Of Keck's Winning Debut, A Gritty Medieval Fantasy Full Of Enchantment, Young Squire Durand Is On His Way Home To Ask His Father For The Wherewithal To Purchase The Fine Linen He Needs For His Knighting Ceremony. Durand Has Prospects In The Form Of A Small Holding Or Fiefdom Of His Own, Gravenholm. But In A Flash His Luck Changes. Durand Loses Gravenholm And Becomes A Landless Shield-bearer Whose Only Option Is To Become A Knight-errant-in Effect A Mercenary Who Owes Allegiance To Anyone Who Chooses To Pay His Wages. Desperate For Food And Troubled By Strange Magical Omens, He Accepts A Position That Proves Disastrous. Durand Is A Convincingly Human Character Who Isn't Preternaturally Skilled Or Supersmart Like So Many Fantasy Heroes, Yet He Manages To Rise To The Various Challenges He Faces. Though This Deftly Told Tale Isn't Billed As The First Of A Series, One Hopes There'll Be Further Adventures Of The Memorable Durand. (apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Durand, a young squire set to be knighted and assume the lordship of a small village in his father's barony, is forced to look for other options when an heir believed to be dead shows up alive and well, and falls in with the dregs of medieval society when he takes up work as a knight errant--a mercenary for hire