ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.It's been six years since the legendary Knights of the Gabala rode through a gate to hell in order to fight the evil that threatened the realm. They haven't been heard from since. But they are desperately needed now because the King, once a noble man, has begun rounding up the nomad population in Holocaust style. People who oppose his actions are named traitors and the King's new henchmen are very strong and very .... undead. The king's new policies have alienated a lot of people — mostly peasants. Can they band together and defeat this evil? Are there men and women who will rise up and lead this motley group? Knights of Dark Renown is a deep and engaging multi-layered heroic fantasy. Not one of those that's got a cover sporting a big muscle-man with a sword in one hand and a buxom bikini-clad babe in the other. Gemmell's characters are not stereotyped heroes and villains; They're complex and three-dimensional. Some of his heroes — both men and women — are so flawed that they don't see themselves as noble at all (and even the reader isn't sure that they really are). In David Gemmell's world, all men (and women) have the potential to be both heroes and villains — even at the same moment in time.Gemmell covers a lot of psychological ground in Knights of Dark Renown. There are themes of love and betrayal, guilt and forgiveness, consequences of behavior, atonement and redemption, courage and cowardice. I was listening on audiobook and found myself often having to pause the recording so I could think for a while.This book is dark and many of the so-called heroes end up dead. But even through all of the darkness, pain, and death, there are many uplifting “heroic” moments, such as when the coward does a courageous deed (and, as Gemmell said in an interview, only a coward can truly be courageous), or when the man who had done wrong all his life decides to end well.I heard Gemmell speak of a fan who told him of a heroic deed he had done after reading one of Gemmell's books, and I believe it. Though Gemmell shows us that good people can do evil things, he give us hope by showing us that we are capable also of great deeds — even if we've never done one before. It's this sort of inspiration that separates David Gemmell's fantasy from that of some of the writers in this genre who, striving to be different, give us darkness and leave us there. There's plenty of darkness in David Gemmell's work but, thankfully, he doesn't leave us wallowing in it.Read more David Gemmell book reviews at Fantasy Literature .
" شیطان به ندرت با بوق و آتیش توی یک سرزمین رفت و امد میکنه . اگه این کار رو میکرد ، همه مردم ازش رو میگردوندن "+ از اون دست کتاب هاست که پر از شخصیت های مختلف و زیاد و روایت های موازی بیشتر هست . من به شخصه از این سبک خوشم نمیاد ؛ نمیتونم شخصیت ها رو همزمان توی ذهنم حلاجی کنم وقاطی میکنم . ولی این کتاب فرق داشت . با وجود تعداد شخصیت های اصلی زیادش به هیچ وجه خسته کننده نبود . به نظر م چون روی شخصیت هر کاراکتر به اندازه کافی ، نه بیشتر و نه کمتر ، مانور داده بود . ویژگی های افراد توی ذهنم ته نشین شده بود به طوری که وقفه سه هفته ای بین مطالعه این کتاب اصلا اذیتم نکرد + بعد از شش کتاب که از گمل خوندم باید بگم عناصری که گمل توی داستان هاش به کار میبره یکسانه . همیشه یک فرد عادی هست که در طول زمان به مدارج عالی میرسه . همیشه جادوی داستان مبهم و تقریبا بی قید و شرطه ( طوری که حتی توی این داستان لامف هادا نمیدونست چه کاری از دستش بر میاد ) . علاقه زیادی به کار کردن با دروازه ها ( حالا بین زمان ها یا بین دنیاهای مختلف )داره . توی این داستان همه این ها بود ولی خب به جرئت میگم متفاوت تر بود . + یک بخش از لذتی که از مطالعه داستان بردم به علت ترجمه خوبش بود و اون هم ناشی از این بود که صحنه های عضق ورزی داستان کمتر بود و در نتیجه ممیزی کمتری به ترجمه خورده بود و داستان زخم و زیلی نشده بود . + گمل تو این داستان از قربانی کردن قهرمان ها ابایی نداشت و خوب این موضوع رو پسندیدم :) شخصی نوشت : بیشتر از 80 درصد کتاب در اتوبوس های بین خانه و دانشگاه خوانده شد و اینگونه با پرت شدن وقت مبارزه شد :)
Ce fut une lecture agréable et en toute simplicité, un bon moment de détente, comme on peut regarder un film pour se détendre sans se prendre la tête.Dans cette histoire, pas de héros, ni de quête mais des hommes simples confrontés à la dictature de la force brute et qui décident de s'en libérer. Pas d'actions héroïques mais des gestes de bravoure et de respect qui transcendent la personnes dans ce qu'elle a de meilleur. Sur ce plan, cette vue simple et positive de l'héroïsme, le livre est une réussite. Par contre, je regrette un peu cette même simplicité appliquée aux "méchants" de l'histoire. Il me manque un peu de profondeur dans ces personnages dévolus à leur égo et leur soif d'immortalité. Et dans toute cette simplicité, je trouve finalement l'histoire un peu cousue de fil blanc. En résumé, ce qui fait une force du livre, en fait aussi sa faiblesse mais je recommande malgré tout car le tout est d'une fraîcheur agréable et offre un moment de détente appréciable.
—Patrice Leonard
c1998: FWFTB: knights, peasants, forest, champion, slave. The thoughts and wisdoms that are scattered throughout this book makes me actually wish that the author had set up a religion such as some other spec-fic authors did. This is a high fantasy tale of derring-do that has some wonderful characters and plot points. I would caution any future readers not to get too fond of some of the major players in the story as once again Mr Gemmell does not hesitate to put in a bit of blood and gore and tears into his story. I didn't get a sense of too much humour but there are some lighter points to the tale. The edition that I read had a much better cover with a rather menacing but slightly abstract depiction of one of the Red Knights. Highly recommended. "At first there was no movement, but then the golden head jerked, the plate rings grinding together. Slowly the wings spread and the hawk rose from the bench, soaring through the open window in search of the sky.”
—Ruth
Piacevolissimo fantasy “corale” perché anche se da come inizia sembra che debba essere Manannan, il “Cavaliere Codardo” al centro del romanzo, in realtà ben presto compaiono altri personaggi che diventano a tutti gli effetti dei protagonisti senza che nessuno di loro prevalga veramente... questo da un lato rende il libro leggermente più difficile perché bisogna tenere a mente molti più nomi e vicende personali, ma d'altra parte è una prospettiva insolita e gradevole, specialmente in un romanzo fantasy relativamente breve ed auto conclusivo.Altro caratteristica importante, e positiva, di questo libro, è come Gemmell tratteggi i vari personaggi, l'evoluzione del loro carattere e come arrivano a diventare vuoi degli “eroi”, vuoi dei “malvagi” (e parecchi possono essere inseriti in entrambe le categorie), così come la gestione della magia, spesso un punto debole in molti romanzi fantasy, ma che qui è “spiegata” bene e si integra perfettamente con la trama.Più una caratteristica che un difetto è il fatto che i nomi dei personaggi provengono dalla mitologia celtica ma... o hanno solo un vago collegamento o non corrispondono affatto ai loro personaggi “originali”, sono solo dei nomi messi lì perché fanno... “fantasy”, e questo potrebbe disturbare qualche purista.Insomma: un libro che forse non è un capolavoro, ma ci arriva molto vicino.
—Finrod
