Am I Missing Something?

[jkinnear]

I heard what a terrific author Gemmell was, so I thought I would pick up Legend to see what the fuss was all about.

I found the book to be awful. There was no character development what so ever. I had no inclination that Rek and Virae were falling in love until Gemmell told us that they already had. Too often I had no idea why a character did something as there appeared to be no motivation built up to the point that the action took place.

It seems to be a real shame, as there appears to be an excellent story in those pages, one that was good enough for me to continue to the end, despite what I found to be poor writting. To me, the book reads like it was written in point form, and drew zero emotion out of me.

So did I miss something? Does his writting improve in his later books, or do the people who like Gemmell like him for his clipped writting style?

 

[biodroid]

Well, considering it is his first book he wrote. I thought it was OK too, not the greatest as some make it out to be, but the rest of his books are great! Its a very interesting world he setup in the Drenai series. Keep reading him you will not be dissapointed, especially with the Rigante series. Try Winter Warriors and the Troy trilogy some very good stories, lots of action and good character development.

One thing you must understand is Gemmell doesn't like to write fluffy beat around the bush stories where the prose is more poetic and personal and it takes 5 pages to describe the swords glint in the sunlight, he likes to get the story idea down then and there (basically tells you like it is). I stand corrected but that's the way I see it.

Don't be put off he is very good at what he does, give him a few more tries before you decide (try the Jerusalem Man series)

 

[Connavar]

One thing you must understand is Gemmell doesn't like to write fluffy beat around the bush stories where the prose is more poetic and personal and it takes 5 pages to describe the swords glint in the sunlight, he likes to get the story idea down then and there (basically tells you like it is). I stand corrected but that's the way I see it.

Don't be put off he is very good at what he does, give him a few more tries before you decide (try the Jerusalem Man series)

Thats why 99% of people who diss DG totaly that i have seen from amazon and other reviews are people that expect him to political,overly complex epic fantasy.

If you want Hardcore,great Heroic Fantasy with less black and white characters then DG is for you. If you are epic fantasy fan only and expect to see slow,1000 pages long epic story about an orphan and his road to become a shining hero that will save the universe then DG is not for you....

 

[nj1]

Legend was the first fantansy bok i ever read and it got me hooked on the genre, You cant beat DG for heroic fantasy, so, there's no real court intrige and no world shattering magic to end a war, but theres plenty of great fight scenes, be it one on one or full on war.
I like the fact that not all the heroes are good guys (or girls), and that heroes can die the same as any one else and a hero doesn't have to be some high born noble but just a common person who decides to make a stand because its the right thing to do.
I always thought that Legend evoked plenty of emotion, be it from Druss, Rek, Orin, Hogun etc, but I guess its not to everyones taste.

As Biodriod says, try some more, Legend was his first, but theres plenty of great books of his to try before deciding if he's for you or not but I can honestly say that I've never been dissapointed with any of his works.

 

[biodroid]

I agree nj1, his characters are flawed and sometimes even anti-heroes, I can connect with the characters better because he makes them feel real, they have a history. And man can he write a fight scene! I have been brought to tears in some of his books because (this is not commonplace in most fantasy) the hero actually does die in some cases but not for dramatic effect (well maybe in one or 2 cases). His heroes can die because they are not perfect or immortal noblemen and they make mistakes leading to their death, Gemmell is more focussed on the "human" side of characters and portrays it well even if they are very violent. And no matter what happens there is always a resolution to the story. Read the Rigante series I think the first book is "Sword in the Storm" it includes a lot of what i just mentioned and is very well written.

 

[Connavar]

I love heroic fantasy and fantasy adventure of that kind cause of DG books.


But the reason i fell for Gemmell's fantasy is that i was so awed by his many interesting characters. All his characters from heroes to villains,supporting cast feel like real people of that would be like in a world like that. They arent faking beeing gray characters like those you see in less good works of fantasy.


Yeah Biodroid he can right fight scene better than anyone i have read.


I aslo think the thread maker would like Rigante next cause its the most epic of his works and still has all his strenghts. If you dont like it you will never like anything written by him.

 

[jkinnear]

I love heroic fantasy and fantasy adventure of that kind cause of DG books.


But the reason i fell for Gemmell's fantasy is that i was so awed by his many interesting characters. All his characters from heroes to villains,supporting cast feel like real people of that would be like in a world like that. They arent faking beeing gray characters like those you see in less good works of fantasy.


Yeah Biodroid he can right fight scene better than anyone i have read.


I aslo think the thread maker would like Rigante next cause its the most epic of his works and still has all his strenghts. If you dont like it you will never like anything written by him.

Well, perhaps I will give him another try, although it wont be anytime soon as I have a list of books to read before I would consider another of his.

I will grant you that he can write a good fight scene. The scene where an injured Druss throws the enemy's giant warrior over the wall was the highlight of the book for me. I cant remember the other characters name off the top of my head, but he was the one that used the poisoned sword.

It just made difficult reading for me do to what I found to be next to no character development, not to mention the major plot points that seem to spring up and then disappear just as quickly. I like to understand what is going on in a characters head when they make a major decision, and I didn't feel that was the case with Legend.

Perhaps I will try the Rigante book you suggest if I ever get back to Gemmell. I do prefer more of an epic story, so that may be more to my tastes.

 

[Connavar]

Legend has less character development than other Gemmell books. Maybe cause its a stand alone and not a series like most of his other famous books who are usually 3-4 books series. Also there wasnt much time for character development cause of the huge cast. Cause of the siage and the many characters.

He did that part better with his later books.

 

[Necklan]

i would recommend white wolf if you want character dev, Skilgannon has to be one of the greatest characters ever in my opinion.
Legend is a good read, but it makes it that much better when you read the other ones, you get a feel for the characters more.

i finaly think ive found the reason for the character of druss' supposed lack of a third dimension. its because he DOESNT have a third dimension, thats HIS character. He, as diagoras says, see everything in black and white, there are no shades of grey, so why would druss himself have shades of grey? he doesnt, and THATS what makes his character great. he sees the world in black and white while everyone else sees shades of grey.

 

[Shacklock]

Hmh, Legend, might want to read it again actually, it's been years. Personally I cant say theres ever been a Gemmel book I dident like, although I never finished that Sword in the Stone series, as I remember it just wasent quite as enthralling as the Dreni/Rigante Series.

 

[ladyflorange]

I aslo think the thread maker would like Rigante next cause its the most epic of his works and still has all his strenghts. If you dont like it you will never like anything written by him.

I totally agree. I discovered Gemmell by accident and the first book I read of his was Ravenheart, and although it's the third of the Rigante series, i was totally blown away, and it's still my favourite of his

 

[the_faery_queen]

i love legend. it's my fav out of everything he wrote. so what if there was no sign of rek and whatherface falluing in love, that wasn't really the centre of the book. the war, teh characters, how they fought, how they died, that was the point. it makes me cry every time when seribtor dies. it's heroic fantasy, not romance. and his clipped style, that's also what makes it. i find the books very masculine, they're very war based, very short, sharp, manly. character development tends to be a female thing (not that male writers don't develop characters of course) but it's secondardy to the plot really. and even without developing teh characters, you still feel for them, still relate to them

i just love legend. king beyond the gate was my second fav. actually, as it goes, i tend to like them in the order that he wrote them. i dislike his more recent books far more than his older ones. perhaps because he did loose that rough, hard manly edge that i had liked. *shrug*

 

[Shacklock]

If you want something with complex character development maybe try George R.R. Martins a Song of Ice and Fire series, definetly my favourite author along with Gemmel.

 

[Zakalwe]

Try Lion of Macedon if you want something with more character development and depth. It's still nowhere near as weighty as some other fantasy stuff, but it's more developed than Legend.

Gemmell was the first fantasy author I started reading, so he has a special place in my heart, but I did enjoy his stuff more when I was 15 than I do now.

 

[The Damned]

David Gemmell wrote Legend in 3 weeks when he was in hospital being treated for cancer. The Nadir (the point of least hope) are the cancer cells invading his body (Dros Delnoch) and druss is his immune system.
So under the circumstances I think it's a pretty good book.

 

[The Damned]

I totally agree. I discovered Gemmell by accident and the first book I read of his was Ravenheart, and although it's the third of the Rigante series, i was totally blown away, and it's still my favourite of his

Jaim Grymauchs death in Ravenheart...The best scene in any DG book??
I think so.

 

[thepaladin]

I never found a problem with the characters in Legend and I believe part of that is that they are (or are based on ) "Arch Types". Legend is a story that should echo in most (at least western) societies. It harkens back to Marathon, Thermopylae, Rorke's Drift, Blood River, the Alamo and all the places where brave souls stood to the death between the overwhelming enemy and something or someone they loved.

It needs to be read in that vein.

There is a story I love Gemmell himself told. He got a letter from a reader who expressed bewilderment as to why, once the defenders knew they were out numbered so much and that to stay was absolutly to die, they didn't simply abandon the fort. After considering the question, Gemmell wrote him back and simply advised that the person not read any more of Gemmell's books as he wouldn't understand them.

Not saying that of you, only that the book is written from a different angle than some other fantasy books. Gemmell's characters are always flawed, but usually repentant. Look at Waylander, terribly damaged by pain and then by his own actions, but in the end, heroicly standing for a way of life he believes himself incapeable of partaking in.

I love Gemmell's work, and grieved much with his passing.

 

[Brian G Turner]

The thing about David Gemmell is that he is a master at saying a great deal in just a few words. Many times I've read a sentence he's written, and realised that many other writers would have dedicated a few paragraphs, even pages, to say the same thing.

 

[anno]

Well,I've tried and tried,last year tackling his Troy sequence,I still think he is a poor writer.
Legend was my first - a bit too Conan Lite for me...

 

[Narkalui]

I honestly have to say that you are wrong anno.