Flood, Alison (15 April 2009). "Fierce battle for Legend fantasy award narrows to field of five". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 June 2009. From it's strong points comes it's weak one. Since It's inspired by legends and myths dialogues are also in that vein which makes them odd by today's standards, there is great insta-love and characters that don't even try to be realistic or plausible. There are many things like that that can be viewed as bug or feature depending on your inclinations. I should note that, although I had entirely forgotten his existence, Rek has several top level similarities to my own Jalan Kendeth, being a skilled swordsman but rather cowardly, a "ladies' man", and of dubious morals. The big similarity is that when pushed to extremes he berserks. Jalan was very definitely inspired by Flashman from the book of the same name (1969), but certainly has overlap with Rek. Either that was wholly subconscious, or both characters owe a debt to Harry Flashman and as such share considerable genetic material.

Legend, published in 1984, is the first and most famous novel of British fantasy writer David Gemmell. It established him as a major fantasy novelist and created the character of Druss, who would appear in several subsequent books. It was also the first novel in The Drenai saga. In 1984, Century Communications produced Legend, a video game for the ZX Spectrum based on the novel. The David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy were awarded from 2009 to 2018, with a stated goal to "restore fantasy to its proper place in the literary pantheon". A steering group of 18 authors was chaired by writer Stan Nicholls and the award was decided by a public vote.If the mother knows with certainty that jumping to take the bullet will still not save the child from death, yet does it anyway, is it still heroic, or foolish? If nobody is to witness that mother's sacrifice, should it affect her decision to commit it? If nobody pulls the man's life-support plug for him, but in a rare act of clarity he manages to pull it himself while he is alone in his hospital room, does it detract from the glory or worthiness of his death? If the foxhole of soldiers becomes surrounded by an insurmountable enemy, and if the soldier knows without a doubt that diving upon the grenade will not save his friends from the battle. Should he do it anyway? No one will know he did such a thing. Only things are not going great in the fortress. There are six walls and a town to defend, while the force is less than a third of the full complement, and the discipline is rotten because morale is low and fear is rife. The defenders need a miracle or the Dross will fall. And Dross Delnoch needs heroes. Badly. Gemmell was expelled from school at the age of 16, for organizing a gambling syndicate, and as a youth was arrested several times. He claimed that one psychologist's report at the time labelled him a psychopath. [4] I shall die soon ... Here at this Dros. And what will I have achieved in my life? I have no sons nor daughters. No living kin... Few friends. They will say, 'Here lies Druss. He killed many and birthed none'." Get rid of your doubts. Yesterday is dead. Past mistakes are like smoke in the breeze. What counts is tomorrow and every tomorrow...

Legend is the hope, survival, courage, and the will to never give up against overwhelming odds. It is also the story redemption for Druss who will not go gently into that good night. He became a Legend on the battle field wielding his mighty axe and he would rather live once more on the battlefield than die an old and weak man in his cabin on the mountain. At its heart Legend is an adventure story about remembering our heroes and the passing of the torch to the next generation. They don’t always come from the most likely places, but no matter twist and turns come they will always surprise you! A friend here on GR asked me about short opinion of this book and if I can write something. So Agos, I hope you find this at least bit helpful. I'm both worried and amused by the idea that I might suddenly be labled "woke". And yes, I understand that fantasy has traditionally borrowed from and echoed the history that gave us swords and spears and shields and castle seiges. So many of us borrowed the man-centric view too for our (certainly in the 80s) man-centric world.So, returning to Legend I read it very swiftly (for me) taking only 3 days compared to my normal month+ per book. Gemmell's writing is very easy to read (and that's a considerable skill - a bad writer is hard to read). He doesn't push the prose envelope, just gets the job done. I noticed a doctor sweeping away "the debris of pain" as a rare flourish.

Much of the tale of Legend seems to revolve around dying well. There are a lot of deaths and the ones that occur in battle are honored above all others. Since the story revolves around outnumbered protagonists taking part in a siege it makes sense. With that being said the story is quite bittersweet with a mostly realistic view of the depravity and destruction of war. The bitter sweet of dying in the defence (bitter because of the dying, sweet because of the friendships forged, depths revealed etc) are highlighted in Druss with this being the end of a long, legendary life, and we get to see the legend and the man, both butting up against each other, both overlapping, both seen through his own eyes and of those around him. After quite an entertaining and dangerous journey Reg, Virae and The Thirty will arrive at Dros Delnoch, just when the ultimate battle for survival is about to start, with Druss as their legendary leader in their midst, giving them all his determined leadership, inspiration and courage.I had been warned though, about the dialogue issues and the women issues. But I was assured that Gemmell was the master of Sword and Sorcery type fantasy, and that his battles more than made up for it. So I waited.. Battle time came.. It was fine I guess, but nothing spectacular. I guess maybe when it's written beside that horrible dialogue, you're just glad they're done talking, so it becomes better in comparison? I don't know. I honestly don't. For me, just fine wasn't nearly enough to make up for all of the crap. Yes, that's great. I'm all for not doing these things. But it's a code for men. A code that treats women as a separate thing, putting them next to children. Druss is called upon to inspire the soldiers and fight another last impossible to win battle, charged with holding the Dros Delnoch pass, until the Nadir Horde are repelled or every last soldier is dead. Our reluctant hero takes on the task, seeking a date with his own Death. We also have the funny, charming and very cowardly Rek, who would love to spend his life far away from any military conflict, eating drinking and keeping female company. He has a staggering fear of combat and sees this as his biggest failure. However, circumstances and a woman, contrive to take him to the middle of the biggest battle of recent times, and he has to make some hard choices. a b c d e f "David Gemmell Obituary". The Times. London. 1 August 2006 . Retrieved 24 November 2007. 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.”

All things that live must die,' said Vintar. 'Man alone, it seems, lives all his life in the knowledge of death. And yet there is more to life than merely waiting for death. For life to have meaning, there must be a purpose. A man must pass something on -otherwise he is useless.You are standing at a frozen moment in history. The world will be changed when this battle is over- either the Drenai will rise again, or a new empire will dawn.” Legend, David Gemmel's debut novel, was published in 1984. My copy is from 1987, so it's actually 36 years since I first and last read it. I went on to read a whole bunch of his books and hugely enjoyed them. I count several of them among my best reading experiences. Druss is every man who has refused to quit; to surrender when life offered no hope; to stand aside when the alternative was to die. He is a man who has shown other men there is no such thing as guaranteed defeat. He lifts the spirit merely by being Druss, and being seen to be Druss.