Legend by David Gemmell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't believe I've spent THIS much of my life not reading David Gemmell.

Or perhaps, I can, since I didn't start reading epic fantasy until WoT and even then didn't really get into any OTHER practitioners of this dirty arcane art until a decade later, and by then, Gemmell's work was already two decades old.

So why is this particular work important?

Because it reads just like ALL the modern epic fantasy titles that rely on low or no magic to propel their tales. Okay. Let's reverse that line and make it proper: Gemmell is the father of all our insanely popular epic fantasies. :)


But for me, coming from the other side of this equation, his original work is *not* as brilliant as a number of other works I've already read because THEY already stood on the shoulders of a giant.

Blood, guts, action. The father of grimdark needs to have all the proper props. It's still a great in-your-face adventure and holds up because it IS the standard.

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