Customer Reviews

The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend (Drenai Tales, Book 6)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Legend, David Gemmell's first Drenai book, he talked of the aging Druss. In The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, the readers finally get to live the stories that gave Druss the nickname Legend. From chapter to chapter, Gemmell's crisp writing keeps the reader's eyes glued to the pages and never wanting to put the book down.

Druss, a simple peasant and logger, is an outcast and loner in his town. He and his father have lived in many different places since Druss' birth, always being by chased their past. His wife, Rowena, is the only person who can see past the rough exterior and notice Druss' soft heart. That love propels Druss to complete some unimaginable feats to rescue her after she has been taken during a slave raid. He follows her across many continents, helping win wars and battles along the way, thus becoming the Legend.

The First Chronicles tell of Druss's beginning with the demon-blade Snaga and his exploits at Skeln Pass against the Gothir. Gemmell writes of the trials and tribulations that Druss experiences with an unequaled style. The magic might be subtle in David Gemmell's books, but he includes just enough sorcery to quench the reader's thirst for a complete fantasy book. I have eaten up his books so far and will continue to do so in the future. Enjoy this book!

Although this book was published later in Gemmell's Drenai series, it is more or less a direct prequel to Legend. This book tells the story of how Druss became the legendary figure that we see defending the walls of Dros Delnoch in Legend. This book is a good place to jump into the Drenai series as it stands pretty well on its own. This has all of the action-packed fight scenes that you expect from David Gemmell, as well as characters that you really care about.

The plot of this book is divided into two parts. The first being Druss's quest to regain his young bride, Rowena. In this part of the book Druss is very young and not yet the legend we know. The second part takes place shortly before the events in Legend, Druss is an aging warrior, but still the mighty figure known throughout the land. The first part of the book is the bulk of the story, how Druss became the Legend. The second part serves as a bridge to Gemmell's other works.

One thing to keep in mind is that Druss is an unstoppable, indestructable force (would he be the legend if he wasn't?). At times in this book Druss charges into situations with impossible odds stacked against him and emerges victorious. If anyone is turned off by this superman-syndrome, you may want to give this one a pass.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of David Gemmell, or who loves fast-paced plot-driven fantasy! Gemmell is one of the greats!

Druss the Legend was a great read from start to finish. Anyone who is a fan of the first book in the series, Legend, should check this book out. Learn how Druss became such an awesome warrior and the secrets behind the dark weapon Snaga. Grab a goblet of Ventran Red, a block of cheese, put the wife and kids to bed and set sail on a fantastic adventure with Druss the Legend.

This book was the first of Gemmels novels I came across, and I have read most of them since. Gemmel's storylines are very standard as far as fantasy is concerned, yet he writes with a certain flair which makes his books extremely enjoyable nonetheless. I loved this book from the start and I would highly recommend this book as an entry into Gemmel's Drenai world.

Pretty solid work. I'm not as impressed this time because it's the second `Drenai Tale' I've read - but that being said, I'm not disappointed. The action and mood are as enjoyable as ever, as are the surprisingly frequent almost self-referential asides discussing, "Just what is a hero? Just what makes Druss able to do what he does?" Gemmell likes to have the supporting characters kick this one around. Of course part of it is just the given - he's basically unkillable: you can drop him in the thick of any battle and he'll cut a swathe through whatever factor he's outnumbered by. But there's also the confidence, and the integrity. Druss has his code - basically a knightly `protect the weak' sort of a thing (although he hates riding horses - he's a brawler with an axe who likes a good street fight - not a debonair ponce with a rapier) - and in this book of beginnings we meet his mentor and find out some family history.

The book is celebrating a genre - it doesn't hope to `escape' its confines - which is a strength and weakness. There's no great comedy, or really sharp dialogue, or penetrating social commentary. The characters are deliberately larger than life: this is heroic fantasy, pure and simple, and Gemmell has the sense not to try to add some other possible dimensions outside his scope. But the book integrates everything within its own world strongly, even in most cases the magic. This is often a let down for fantasy writers: in wanting to give their wizards amazing powers it often becomes absurd to think that anything can actually threaten them. And that's what I like about Gemmell - without necessarily soaring, he doesn't generally get anything wrong. So the magical characters generally have limited ability, and the occasional sojourn Druss has into the netherworld don't contradict the rest of the suspense.

However here he makes an unusually ugly clanger, casually granting his Source (was that `the Force', no, sorry, `the Source') priest the power to astrally travel anywhere on the globe - and then remotely, for example, cure the microscopic cancer cells he can examine in anyone while outside his body. Uh, OK, that's nice ... but then we're supposed to swallow that this same priest needs Druss to go and kill the guy driven mad by the demon he's encountered by taking possession of Druss' old axe. Even if the reader grants Gemmell the benefit of the doubt, perhaps reasoning for him that the priest couldn't metaphysically get past the demon, it makes no sense that this same priest left his emissary starved and languishing in a dungeon. Moreover he's supposed to be pretty compassionate, yet we get no suggestion that he methodically (even passionately) uses his godlike powers to aid the poor and suffering and overcome evil. And it's not that he's taken a vow of non-violence: he has no qualms about commissioning - even forcing - an assassination, and is chastised by his Abbott for not keeping up his sword skills. For such a character who hates the work of murderers, pirates, rapists and the like it's absurd that he then stands by and seems to do nothing in the world to defeat perpetrators he could enfeeble or kill with ease.

Still he's a relatively minor character (and flaw) in an otherwise satisfying collection of four episodes in Druss' heroic life.

I am always glad to find a new David Gemmell book on the shelves of the local retailer. Precious few modern writers concentrate their efforts on pure, escapist fantasy so often mercilessly derided by oh-so-intellectual book reviewers. Happily, if you want to let the inner munchkin out (the one who cheers as the hero scythes through legions of opponents), then David Gemmell's books are a fine place to start - where the warriors are always heroic (despite whatever other character flaws they may have), magic is powerful, and epic battles scar the landscape.

This book is a prequel to "Legend" (another favourite Gemmell book) and delves into the making of the hero featured in the author's earlier book, Druss the Legend. Beginning at Druss childhood, the book traces the early life of the Drenai hero who has death brought to him when raiders attack his village, carrying off his bride. Druss, the man who was not brave enough to be a farmer, takes his grandfather's infamous axe Snaga and set out to get her back, and in the process became a legend in his own time. All the good stuff is here: an unyielding hero, honor, courage, huge battle scenes, fearsome opponents, dark magic, and a wicked witch all described in Gemmell's crisp prose. Robert E. Howard - the creator of Conan - would have approved.

Daivd Gemmell has done what so very few authors can do. He has created a character, Druss, who is so much more than any man can be and is precisely what every man wants to be. It is very easy to read and the story pulls you into the world he has ceated and you feel as if you are there, along with Druss, creating his legends. Your imagination explodes with vivid scenes as Gemmell describes so simply, yet in just enough detail, that your imagination paints the most wonderful world and characters. The reason that I particularily like this book is for the simple little pieces of wisdom that Gemmell includes and I will leave you with one..."Foolish regret weighs more than iron. Every man makes mistakes; thats how he learns. Only the weakling talks of life's unfairness, or claims he is jinxed by bad luck. The strong man shrugs his shoulders and walks on." Great book, Great read, highly recommended.

There is only one complaint that i have after reading this book. After reading Legend, and several of Gemmell's other books that hyped up Druss's heroic stand at Skeln Pass, it was kind of an anti-climax to have the tale reduced to being tagged on to the ending of his tale to save Rowena. Even without this ending this book would have been an epic, and the story of Skeln Pass could have made another, but by putting them together Gemmell is making less of the whole than he could make with the component bits. I would have liked to read a more in depth tale about Skeln Pass. However, these complaints are only after all the hype in the other books, and as a book on its own it is still fantastic, and i hope to read many more to come.

The early life and making of Druss is a must read for anyone that has read Legend. However, it is not in the same class as Legend. It does though provide more spectacular action and is gripping from the first page to the last.

Definitely worth reading and if you're a Gemmell fan you'll love it, but he has written better.

Wonderful reading!!!!
Just don't use Amazon shipping....just buy the book from the local bookseller for the same price and begin reading immediately instead of 2 weeks later!