Book Review: Legend
Book: Legend
Author: David Gemmell
Pages: 345
Hard Core Scale: 3/4
Normal Scale: 8.5/10
Publish Date: 1984
About: The Nadir nation descends upon the
kingdom of Drenai, a country weak after too long prolonged peace and petty politics.
A single fortress, Delnoch, is all that stands between them. A group of warrior
priests and a princess both traveling to its walls hoping to turn the tide. A
young wandering swordsman wanting to avoid death at all costs keeps finding
himself closer to its walls the more he tries to escape. Last but not least the
old and weary warrior Druss, a legendary hero of battles past, comes out of retirement
seeking an honorable death. One thing is certain; all defenders at the Fortress
Delnoch will die.
Review: David Gemmell is one of my favorite writers. I never got around to reading the first book he had written the Drenai saga in order. Definitely an author who improved over his craft fast. He always was one of the finest writers of characters and great flowing dialogue. A master of that thick description. The world at this point is far less realized and has less identity and it is interesting to see how that grows over the series. Writing very strong, but less strong than everything to follow. There is some fast transition issues, unless that was a publisher cut sections. The end has a three part Deus Ex Conga line in concern of transition and needed curbed abit. One of which to give that “extra happy ending.” There are some specialized “magical” special character aspects tied to one of them too which is unneeded. It comes out of left field and does not apply anything to the work. The beginning is rough with the jitters. It could have been shaped up a bit because it is far less strong than the rest of the book and a bit concerning in concern of agency. The character Cassea’s traits are pretty extreme and odd and hard to feel sorry when her story is revealed. All these things hurt the work. At the same time, Gemmell is mighty fine at what he does. A master writer of character, making them very real. Even, his female characters are strong in character depth. One can argue about the depth of basing cultures off real ones as stereotypes, but it is the mold we have and only adds to the fantastic sense. He understands character as person in their world and time. He understands folklore curvature in real time, past time, and its roll into the future. One of the best aspects of his writing is you can pick up every book of his and read them independently. A fine story, whose plot movements reach every mark. Most reviews of his work will be like this. Not his best, but for a first book, a strong beginning.
Odd they put Rek on the cover instead of Druss.
