About book The First Chronicles Of Druss The Legend (1999)
How far would you go for love? Would you travel across distant lands? Would you destroy all barriers in your way? Or would you just believe that there's more fish in the sea and start over?'The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend' is a prequel to the novel 'Legend' - the first book in the Drenai series - even though it's book number six in the Drenai series. It's the story of Druss who fails to stop the love of his life being kidnapped by slavers and thus starts his journey of heroism with his only goal being to rescue his wife Rowena. The journey itself crosses many lands and years and the story was no doubt written that way in order to show that no amount of time or distance will stop Druss from rescuing the woman he loves.From the brief synopsis you would be forgiven for thinking that this is a straight forward, heroic, love story but it's a tad more complicated than that. You see Rowena is sold to Michanek...a man she ends up falling in love with. Now before you yell for the wench to be stoned to death for such heinosity I should inform you that she loses her memory and so has no recollection of Druss. As such Druss is fighting his way through lands and wars to rescue a woman who no longer knows who he is. It's all a tad bit sad really. In fact, in many ways this is a rather sad story on many levels. Druss, a noble and heroic figure, becomes consumed by Snaga, his war axe, which happens to be possessed by a blood lusting demon and so as well as fighting the bad guys he's always fighting the beast within and trying not to let evil consume him. Another major character in the story goes from hero to maniacal villain and thus from friend to foe in relation to Druss. Unfortunately, Druss doesn't care as he is consumed by the desire to find Rowena and will kill anyone in his way including his old friends. And that sets the tone of the book as there are no definitive roles for the characters with the majority of them being good or evil depending on loyalties and circumstance.You would never know from the cover of the book that this is the sixth installment of a series. The reason for that is because this novel can easily be read as a stand alone novel and no knowledge of the previous books is required. As it's also a prequel to the first book in the series, this in essence, makes it the first book in the series even though it's officially the sixth which is somewhat confusing but not really confusing at all!The author of the book, David Gemmell, doesn't always work to a set formula regarding the conclusion of his novels. Some end on a high note while others can be melancholy and that kind of reflects the characters he writes as he often makes them very human in their ways and likely to change from happy to sad, from villain to hero, just as we change ourselves in every day life. As such, if you are reading a Gemmell novel for the first time, don't always expect a happy ending...which, ironically, is what the woman at the massage parlor told me the other day!The novel is separated into four parts each of which deal with a different period in the journey of Druss in rescuing Rowena. It works well apart from the fourth and final part where the first page delivers the reader a synopsis of what has happened between the third and fourth part. The first three parts flow on from one another with no explanation needed but the synopsis on the first page of the fourth made me feel a little cheated. It was as if there were parts of the story that Gemmell never had time to write and so it was all summarized in one easy page. That aside I had no other issues with this novel and is, once again, another fine novel from one of the greatest historical fantasy writers of all time.
An awesome story that was extremely well written... What made it 'awesome'? Well; You create an outcast youth, outcast because of a butchering grandfather who killed without mercy and with a deadly axe named Snaga. And outcast because of his size and strength, where many viewed him as a bone-breaking thug, though Druss was never mean spirited, or a thug. He was quite introverted and prefered his own company to that of others who always saw just a thug. Then, he met Rowena, who saw the gentleness and good in him, and with her his anger faded. Druss was in love, and loved by Rowena, and they married, and both were happy... But, when he was out felling trees, his living, his village was attacked by an army of raiding slavers. Rowena was taken, his father killed along with many other dead. Druss, then took up Snaga, the blades of no return, and along with a hunter, set out to rescue his wife and kill those responsible... Druss has an aura, a strength that he radiates, a power, and it doesn't all come from the demon possessed axe he wields... Where others fear to tread, Druss does not think twice about saving innocents, no matter how many stand against him. He makes friends, but more than that, he is admired. Druss makes the impossible possible, and why? Because he wills it so. His journey brings him a few fellow comrades, but Druss is alone when he is captured and incarcerated in a small stone dungeon, after saving the lives of an old man and a young girl. Druss is brought to his lowest ever, and he's close to giving up all hope, but he is Druss. I really can't spoil the story for you... But, Druss is a great character, well thought out and expertly detailed. There is so much to this story... It probably deserves '5 stars'... But, I'm such a hard-ass LMAO... To read it, is to enjoy it!
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I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would-- while it's true that the title character here and many of the supporting cast are so badass they are kind of ridiculous, the narrator doesn't let them off the hook. For Druss, especially, this being so badass has its drawbacks, most of which are well-developed.Other high points included the interesting and simmering political situation-- it feels like it's patterned on some real historical moment, it's so developed, but what do I know. There are a variety of interesting settings and challenges the characters encounter, and these mini-adventures rarely turn out the way you'd guess. Finally, I suspect there's actual theme here: Gemmel's fantasy kingdom seems to have as its central location (Drennan) a place with an oddly Paul-ian libertarian state. I might not agree with this, but it's certainly interesting.I'd read more from Gemmell.
—Matt
This book is one of my all-time favorites, all the more so because it was actually so gripping I read it from start to finish in one day. And I am talking about a busy workday here. Started reading during my lunch and once I came home until I put it down at 4 in the morning.I love Druss, his uncompromising world view and his adventures. There is a lot of blood and gore, but most memorable were the hardship he and his friends endured over the years. There are few books that satisfy my hunger for action and combat while still being able to connect on a deeper emotional base. This is one of them.
—Marco Baier
Mouais…Je suis partie dans la lecture de ce livre vraiment pleine d’entrain. Espérant moults péripéries échevelées, personnages fouillés, et intrigue palpitante. Finalement, ça ne sort pas du shéma de base : un héros part à la recherche de sa bien-aimée, enlevée et vendue comme esclave. Comble du cliché, le fameux héros est une brute épaisse, un sanguin qu’il ne fait pas bon titiller, rendue tout de même presque sympathique par son amour inconditionnel pour sa femme. Sympathique ou pathétique, j’hésite, car son amour sans faille frise la fixation. Autre cliché, la hâche ensorcelée. Pas mal ça aussi, dommage que ça ne soit pas plus approfondi, mieux traité, ça aurait pu être intéressant. L’histoire est définitivement basique, sans mystère, sans rebondissement ni surprise. Certains personnages viennent de nulle part, interviennent comme un deus ex machina et on ne les revoit plus. Les péripéties se succèdent de manière quasi-automatique. Grosses ficelles et stéréotypes à ne plus savoir où les mettre. Le Druss, légende de son état, ne brille pas par sa finesse, sa phrase préférée : “Dans tes rêves !” revient souvent, et frise le gag récurrent. Pas beaucoup d’épaisseur le héros. J’ai eu une impression de survol, des personnages, de l’histoire, des événements…C’est mou et triste. S’agissant du premier livre de Gemmel, je ne peux qu’espérer mieux de ses romans suivants, tel que Waylander, que j’ai dans ma PAL, que j’espère un peu plus profond et captivant.
—My Inner Shelf
