Monday, May 24, 2004
Waylander - David Gemmell
I have been meaning to read one of David Gemmell's books for quite some time. (Although I do have a suspicion that I may have actually read one at some stage.) There are two reasons for my interest. 1 - He is acclaimed as the king of heroic fantasy, and heroic fantasy is my staple mind candy; the book equivalent of an action flick. 2 - Most of his books are stand-alones. In a genre dominated by trilogies, I think his ability to finish a novel in one book is admirable. Many fantasy stories are stretched into trilogies to please publishers and editors when they really only needed one book to tell the story, or at most two. Why are series always trilogies? If the number of books written was solely dependent upon the story then shouldn't we see more duologies (duets? What do you call a series of two books? A trilogy in two parts - Douglas Adams style?) or even quadrologies.
The title character is an assassin who left the army after his wife and children were murdered. Embittered by this he turns his back on the world, yadda, yadda, yadda. While retrieving his stolen horse from a small band of thieves he reluctantly saves a tortured, pacifist priest.
They in turn manage to save a young woman and some children in her care.
It was more character driven than what I was looking for, and I think that forces the plot to be a little slower than it should have been.
Good book, but nothing out of the ordinary.
[Note] - I actually managed to let this review sit in draft form for more than a month. Too much time has passed since I read it for me to properly fix up the review, so you'll have to put up with the clumsiness. On a personal note the last two weeks have been insane, and there doesn't seem to be much chance of free time this weekend. But I will get back here when I can, and when I find enough time to actually read - lunch hours and a chapter before I collapse at night is not really enough of a fix, but what can you do?
The title character is an assassin who left the army after his wife and children were murdered. Embittered by this he turns his back on the world, yadda, yadda, yadda. While retrieving his stolen horse from a small band of thieves he reluctantly saves a tortured, pacifist priest.
They in turn manage to save a young woman and some children in her care.
It was more character driven than what I was looking for, and I think that forces the plot to be a little slower than it should have been.
Good book, but nothing out of the ordinary.
[Note] - I actually managed to let this review sit in draft form for more than a month. Too much time has passed since I read it for me to properly fix up the review, so you'll have to put up with the clumsiness. On a personal note the last two weeks have been insane, and there doesn't seem to be much chance of free time this weekend. But I will get back here when I can, and when I find enough time to actually read - lunch hours and a chapter before I collapse at night is not really enough of a fix, but what can you do?
