Eyes of a Hawk

Sean Crowe throws down a literary gauntlet, challenging the reader to work through the complex premise of a translation of an epic poem by an ancient history society...trying times produce trying texts... It quickly moves into the hero Hawk's recollections of previous adventures the night before a decisive battle. Each chapter follows a distinctive format, painting extraordinary civilisations with troubles for Hawk to resolve one way or another. Hawk's character appeals through his humour and indifference to his strength and employment. His ironic social and environmental commentary has many modern parallels. I loved the references to the data gathered by the archaeologists and historians working on the translation including the review mid point through the book. It's a multi layered book and hopefully one of the many characters encountered will be explored in future. A dictionary of all the people and places would be brilliant, perhaps the Yeli Archaeological Society have already prepared one.

Eyes of a Hawk tells the mythical history of Hawk, the legendary hero. Not the whole story, obviously, just some of the best bits as he travels the world being righteous and kicking backside. There's deep lore, dragons, curses, a plague (not a commentary on Covid, if you read it as that, its on you), a witch, more alliteration than you're used to, and a hot warrior chief. If you like beautifully written high fantasy with world building stretching back before time had any meaning, then this is probably for you. There's also a few sneaky references, probably more than I understood, but I caught at least two hitchhiker refs!