Sword in the Storm' is described as the `Book one in the Rigante series' - how many times have we heard that? Oh, no not another trilogy (however we do not yet known how many books will appear in this sequence yet). Gemmell normally avoids this, most of this books are `stand alone' or sequels to earlier works. The exception to this is `Ironhand's Daughter', which was marketed in the UK as the `1st Book of the Hawk Queen' though only one other volume has appeared (The Hawk Eternal'). Actually it's rather good, well up to Gemmell's best. In terms of his other works, better than `Waylander II: in the Realm of the Wolf' and `Echoes of the Great Song' and on a par with the excellent `Dark Moon' and `Winter Warriors'.