Legend - David Gemmell

My good friend and fellow-writer Gildor_Inglorion knows a thing or two about books – and more specifically, about the fantasy genre from which seemingly no major work has escaped him. A little while ago, he gave me a copy of 'Legend' to borrow. Before I had the chance to read it though, it emerged that author David Gemmell had died. His death was a brief topic of conversation for us as I had heard little of the man, but the surprising media coverage surrounding the death of the 57 year-old fantasy author reminded me that I should get around to reading the novel that began his successful but sadly all-too-short career. Legend was first published in 1984, and ...

I've never been much of a fan of Fantasy fiction. I've tried to get into it a few times but with the exception of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, it's just never seemed like my kind of read. That was until recently while browsing my local bookshop I decided to pick a book at random by an author I'd never read before. So without any knowledge for his reputation or other work I picked up this, the first book by David Gemmell. The book itself proclaimed him as the best writer of fantasy fiction and this made me think perhaps I'd made the right choice. The book is the first in his Drenai series and takes us to the mountain fort of Dros Delnoch where an attack ...

This is the first book written by David Gemmell, the first Drenai novel, and also the first of his books I’ve read. I can’t, therefore, compare this to his other work as yet. However, it also means I’m not going to be overwhelmed with his popularity and reputation as “the finest living writer of heroic fantasy” (as the front cover proclaims), so fans – don’t get annoyed if I’m not all gushy and hailing this as the best book ever, okay?! Thanks. That said, this IS a good story, and an impressive debut from a man who has gone on to fame and fortune. I would say this book is almost basic – by that I mean ...