Apatt's Reviews > Legend

“ ‘Druss the Legend. Mightiest man of his era. A killing machine, a warrior. And why? Because I never had the courage to be a farmer’, Druss told himself.

‘When I die’, he thought, ‘everyone will mourn for Druss the Legend.
But who will mourn for me?’ ”

Now compare the above quotes with this famous line from the movie Notting Hill:

“The fame thing isn’t really real, you know. I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

Two very different kinds of story somehow conveying a similar idea. One of the central themes of Legend is “the legend vs the man”, the difference between how people perceive you on the basis of your reputation and the actual you.

The central plotline of Legend concerns the invasion of The Drenai Empire by a powerful tribal nation called Nadir. In order to take over the empire, the Nadir need to break through the fortress of Dros Delnoch. The earl who runs the fortress summonses 60-year-old Druss (with his swollen knees and an arthritic back) from retirement to aid in the fortress town’s defence and to help train the military to fight against the overwhelming odds of the enormous and unstoppable Nadir force. Meanwhile, several heroic Drenai characters are also heading toward the fortress to lend their aid, all of them are aware of the impossibility of winning the war.


Druss is the most vivid and larger than life character in a book full of vivid and vibrant characters. There is so much energy in his characterization that he practically leaps off the pages. He reminds me of Cohen the Barbarian from the Discworld book The Color of Magic. An elderly but still deadly killing machine who is very lonely and sad underneath it all.

Druss the Legend by LawtonLonsdale

In highlighting Druss I am merely scratching the surface of a very lively cast of characters, including the reluctant new earl who views himself as cowardly but automatically becomes a “berserker” when the fighting starts, a Robin Hood-like archer, a female assassin with a dark secret etc. Even the main antagonist Ulric, the Nadir’s great war leader is a complex and honorable man. The narrative is told from both sides of the war, while we are clearly meant to be invested in the Drenai people who are under attack, the rationale of Ulric who wants to annex other nations to his own, for the sake of long-term peace and prosperity, is understandable. Gemmell was the master of plotting, pacing and —most of all—characterization. His world building is not as complex or detailed as today’s leading purveyors of epic fantasy like Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss, the upside is that Gemmell’s books are generally much shorter. The magic side of the story is sparingly used, similar to what you would expect in an Arthurian fantasy. Gemmell was much more concerned with exploring the themes of chivalry, honor, redemption, and particularly the deeper meaning of heroism.

I feel like there is Gemmell renaissance going on just in my head. He was my single favorite fantasy author during the 80s, I don't know whether that is still the case today, or even who holds the mantle now; there are just too many great fantasy authors still working and they are quite diverse in style; it is not really worth ranking them. Sadly, David Gemmell passed away in 2006, though he left behind a considerable legacy of very well written fantasy books. The first time I read Legend was more than twenty years ago, I have forgotten most of the details so this is almost like a first read for me, though there are one or two highly remarkable scenes which I have never forgotten (only the context of how they come about). If you enjoy fantasy in a medieval setting but have not read any Gemmell yet you have a lot to look forward to.


Notes:
• I distinctly remember reading these Drenai books in random order during the 80s, this was before the advent of e-books, and it was hard to find all the titles in bookstores to read sequentially; so I read whatever I could find. Each novel is self-contained so there is no cliff hanger to worry about.

• That said, with e-books available now I look forward to reading them all in order. Though I would like to read his Troy series which I never read before.

• Gemmell is something of a writer’s writer where the epic fantasy genre is concerned, there is even a David Gemmell Award named after him (comparable to the Arthur C. Clarke or the Philip K. Dick awards). Patrick Rothfuss is a proud recipient of this award, as he mentioned in his own review of this very book.

Quotes:
“What does the philosopher say of cowards and heroes?”
“The prophet says, ‘By nature of definition only the coward is capable of the highest heroism.’ ”

“And what is a man? He is someone who rises when life has knocked him down. He is someone who raises his fist to heaven when a storm has ruined his crop—and then plants again. And again. A man remains unbroken by the savage twists of fate.”

“That our defense will fail is no reason to avoid the battle. For it is the motive that is pure, not the outcome.”

“Yes. He is a strange one. A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination, and now a hero by necessity.”

“Beyond the legendary armor and the eyes of icy fire, he was just another old man. Tough and strong as a bull, maybe, but old. Worn out by time, the enemy that never tired. ”