I Need A Hero (Quest for lost Heroes - David Gemmell)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Quest for lost Heroes - David Gemmell
Date:	18/12/05 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Another adtictive story in Gemmell's Drenai series

Disadvantages: The book could have been split in two

When the attacking Nadir force take the Drenai fortress of Dros Deneloch the rest of the land becomes easy pickings for them. On one attack some raiders grab a girl from a small Gothir village and a young local by the name of Kiall sets off on a quest to rescue her. Along the early legs of his journey he picks up a few men to aid him on his quest. These few are heroes from the past, the only men to thwart Tenaka Khan and stop his Nadir army from taking the fort of Bel-Azar.

Together with Kiall the four heroes of the past head off deep into Nadir lands on the trail of the raiders and to free the girl Kiall loves. The legends of the past, Chareos the blademaster, Beltzer the Axeman and the bowmen Finn and Maggrig, have a reputation that precedes them and scares just about everyone that crosses their path. But can they find the girl in the vast Nadir lands or is this just a case of chasing shadows?

Having taken a gamble on Gemmell a few months ago this was the fourth of his books I've read since then. Before discovering his work as a random pick in my local bookstore I'd never really considered myself to be a fan of the Fantasy Genre. This seemed to spark my interest as Gemmell's books seemed to make the genre more accessible. I've got quite hooked on his work and am trying to read as many as possible in the near future.

By the fourth in the series I was expecting to have started to lose interest long before now but I seem to be getting more into the series. Although this is possibly the weakest of the four books I've read it still makes for a decent story. I felt that the tail of Bel-Azar would have made a better story on its own rather than brief mentions throughout the book. The type of tale it appears to be through the mentions in this book lead me to believe it would have made an interesting stand alone story.

I always find that Gemmell's characterisation is spot on. He regularly brings in an entirely new set of characters from one story to the other and rarely disappoints. He gives enough information about each character and their relationships with each other to help us as the reader to create a much more detailed mental image of the story. I did feel there were a few weak characters within the story but that was more down to their actions rather than the build up the character received.

For instance I found Finn to be a very odd character who seemed to take a bit of a backseat throughout his parts of the story. Only when his companion Maggrig got into any sort of trouble did he show any real emotion and that meant he faded into the background. On the other hand I felt that Kiall started as a very meek character but as the story progressed and he discovered more about himself and what he could do he became a much stronger character because of it.

The back story could have been developed a lot more but I thought the real star of the book was Chareos the Blademaster, He had a real presence and expectation around him that seemed to mean that something was about to happen. He was clearly the thinker of the group and lead by example. Each and every character played their part in making this a very addictive plot and a compelling story. There was a bit of room to expand on it a little and perhaps make a better overall book or to split it and make two.

I did feel that this was the weaker of the four books I've read so far. That's not to say that it is a poor book, far from it but there seems to be too much story squashed into this one book. Again Gemmell has created a good core of characters that really help to make the story so engrossing. His books are still as addictive after the fourth as they were when I started to read them. I do feel he is the ideal author to test the water with if you aren't a fan of the fantasy genre and although this probably isn't the best one to start with each of his books stand nicely alone as well as part of a series.

Amazon: £5.59
Amazon Marketplace: £2.35

Summary: Another decent adition to the Drenai series