Legend
by David Gemmell
fantasy, action
first (or last!) of the Druss / Drenai saga
copyright 1986
read in December 2012
rated 8 /10: really quite good
Started off just a bit clichéd... until I realised that Gemmell may have begun this particular boy-meets-girl, fight-side-by-side, fight-each-other, fall-in-love cliche...
Then there's the cold-looks, scares-baddie, sword-wielding-inspires-heroism-and-loyalty super-hero... Gemmell may have invented this one, too. He has certainly taken the cliches and run with them!
Anyway...
This is a rip-roaring yarn of sword and sorcery. A steady build-up of action. Heroic deeds against insuperable odds. With gentlemanly violence on either side.
You can almost imagine Bertie Wooster telling Jeeves to lay out the best silver: Tonight we dine with the enemy, tomorrow we slaughter them. Pip, pip, old chap!
It's a war of brutality, violence and Queensberry Rules. Fight for life and freedom, give no quarter, respect the enemy. And allow some time for true love to bloom.
Right from the start there is an expectation that the good guys are on a hiding to nothing. There is no way that they can win. Very little chance that they can even survive. And by the end -- nearly everyone is, indeed, dead.
Despite this, the book is positive.
The fighters know why they fight. The dead, gave their lives for a cause in which they believed. The survivors know that they did not fight in vain.
Apparently Lord of the Rings was an inspiration. LotR is an epic battle of good versus evil. Legend is also an epic battle... of good versus good-from-another-perspective. Interesting...
Legend is the tale of a single battle. Made epic by the scale, the people and the overall understanding of what makes a great story.
Legendary.
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