White Wolf (The Damned)
A Novel of Druss the Legend
By David Gemmell 

     I think that all David Gemmell fans have a special affection for his most famous character – and certainly the one that made him famous: Druss, the Legend. He is back with a vengeance in this new novel, which is also the first part of a trilogy featuring Skilgannon, the Damned, who also has all the hallmarks of a typical Gemmell hero. He was once a legendary general and the Witch Queen’s lover, but now he lives a very different life as a monk in charge of the monastery library. All that is about to change and events will send him on a quest to a mysterious temple that is reputed to raise the dead. With him travels Druss and a group of assorted adventurers, each with their own agenda.

     David Gemmell continues to deliver the goods and writes traditional fantasy that Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard would have enjoyed. I particularly like the way in which none of his books have the Tolkein-esque length and appearance of a doorstop and are nicely crammed with incidents instead of waffle. In short, here is another tale of thrilling quests, assassins, nomad tribes, forlorn hopes, valiant soldiers and plenty of action, a little tragedy and buckets of humanity. It is this last factor that truly is the mortar in Gemmell’s wall of published novels; they are people-driven in a genre that is largely only plot-driven, but with a big plot that many fantasy novels twice their size just don’t have. To its detriment, I guess you could describe this novel as “more of the same” but there is just enough in it that is different. Great storyteller style. When is the next book coming out?