I have read a lot of fantasy books through the years. Recently, it seems the trend is toward endless series, each volume of which is the size of War and Peace. Refreshingly, Gemmell tells his stories in much fewer pages, and his stories end up being some of the most well-written in modern fantasy literature.One thing I love about Gemmell is how his stories are all self-contained. They have definite endings and you can finish one, knowing you won't have a cliffhanger forcing you to rush out and buy the next volume immediately. As to the story length, I once heard someone ask "How long should a novel be?" and the answer was "long enough to tell the story". Gemmell follows this advice, making his books long enough to tell their story, and not padding it with needless scenes just to beef up the book's size.Gemmell is also a master of atmosphere. He is excellent at depicting ancient fortresses, dank caverns, primeval forests, and also the pitched intensity of battle. He makes believable characters that don't fit exactly into the stereotypes we've come to expect from Tolkien. Instead, his characters are flawed, though interesting and ultimately redeemable.Gemmell writes his books in multi-volume series, but the different volumes in a series may take place dozens or even hundreds of years apart in time (the Bloodstone series even starts in ancient England for two books and then shifts to post-apocalyptic America for the rest of the stories). This allows Gemmell to explore the passage of time, as well as the rise and fall of empires as his stories unfold. There are books which carry his characters over from previous stories (John Shannow is an epic character, as is Druss the Legend). But no matter whether the same characters appear from one story to another, you will still find each book to be self-contained, completely readable, and a huge amount of fun.Pick up the first volume of any of Gemmell's series (start with Legend, the beginning of his Drenai saga) and see if you don't agree.
Yet another awesome book from David Gemmell! This one isn't his best work, but it will do well enough.This story fits in the time-line as a post-King Beyond the Gate time where Tenaka Khan actually succeeds in overthrowing the Drenai. It tells of a journey into Nadir territory, nominally to rescue a peasant girl, but it ends up being so much more.There is an odd making of bed fellows where the peasant boy leading the quest for his kid-love manages to recruit a team of battle hardened warriors. The author never explains the warriors' reasons for joining the quest, but additionally makes not hints, so as a result the reader is simply asked to suspend disbelief: not something so easily done.Notably absent: The Thirty.In this book, you get greater evidence for your Nadir = Huns (as in Attila the) parallel that originally started by mentioning them to be nomadic people of the steppes with slanted eyes. You get to meet their KungFu wielding Chinese counterparts who are previously unreferenced. Also, you get to meet South American great empire counterparts (as in Aztecs) who magic over to hang out in East Asia ... er ... the Nadir Steppes. Let's face it, in Waylander, we already met an African analogue. All that remains yet to be revealed in terms of epic empires is a Viking analogue and perhaps that shall come in future books. (I am assuming that the Drenai or the other empires surrounding it neatly cover "Western" culture such as European and Arabic societies.)
What do You think about Quest For Lost Heroes (1995)?
For some reason, Quest for Lost Heroes was a little slow going for me.It could be because I haven't really been following the Drenai Saga (I'm a bit spotty in my reading of Gemmell as he's not really that common, or maybe I haven't really noticed him that much).The one thing that stood out for me, as it has in all the Gemmell books I've read so far, is his concepts of nobility, love and sacrifice, that goes counter culture to the civilisation around, and yet is not in the least preachy. It just feels like something beautiful that we should strive for in the midst of a messy world.
—Anna Tan
Talk about jumping into the middle of a series.. Okay, apparently, I read the first two books of this series a long time ago. However, I was able to jump into this one and not feel like I was missing anything. Really-- this was was almost a stand alone story.I remember meeting the big axe wielding hero from the earlier books... so I was not completely lost. The big battle that made the guys our heroes was covered in those, but not reading them probably would not affect the reader too terribly.One of the things I liked about this book was that the author used little tricks to "condense" the book from normal fantasy novels. For example, his actions sequences are quick and decisive. He uses a "Spirit Path" and a "Magic Gateway" to move his characters quickly from one territory to another-- thus condensing the normal journey and many campfire conversations--- At times, this was a little bit annoying.. at others-- well-- it was a relief-- If this was written by George R.R. Martin it would have been written into a seven volume series-- with each book well over 600 pages... Also, Gemmell doesn't shy away from subjects like rape or sex-- but he also doesn't make them the centerpiece of his works... Also, Martin is not afraid to kill off characters. Discovering that this is # 4 of a series (and I do think I read the first 2, possibly the third) causes me to look forward to the next in the series. It also made me decide to try to fill in the gaps of my Rigante collection so that I can get to that. A really decent fantasy that primarily focuses on the action-- but the magic becomes sort of a Deus Ex Machina to move the story along and for me that made it better than average.
—David
Kiall aime Ravenna. Mais elle l'a rejeté, le trouvant par trop rêveur. Mais un jour elle est enlevé par des bandits et Kiall se lance à ses trousses. Il n'a rien d'héroique chez lui mais il se dit guidé par l'amour. S'entourant des héros qui ont résisté au siège de Bel-Azar, il va donc partir accomplir son destin. C'est une histoire dure, où les héros sont dépeint de manière moins noble. Ils sont plus cyniques, vulgaires et crasseux que d'autres. Mais ils ont néanmoins eux-aussi quelque chose à dooner au lecteur.
—Wolfdan
