David Gemmell (1948–2006)
Författare till Legender från Drenai 1 Belägringen
Om författaren
Särskiljningsinformation:
(ger) Pseudonym: Ross Harding
Foto taget av: from Lifeinlegacy.com
Serier
Verk av David Gemmell
Drenai Tales, Vol 3: The Legend of Deathwalker / Winter Warriors / Hero in the Shadows (2002) 25 exemplar
Drenai Tales, Vol 2: Quest for Lost Heroes / Waylander II - In the Realm of the Wolf / The First Chronicles of Druss… (2002) 24 exemplar
Legend aka Against the Horde; Waylander; Hero in the Shadows; Winter Warriors; The Legend of Deathwalker; Chronicles of… (1995) 9 exemplar
Le Lion de Macédoine, tomes 1 à 4 : L'Enfant maudit - La Mort des nations - Le Prince noir - L'Esprit du chaos… (2003) 8 exemplar
Le Lion de Macédoine - L'Intégrale 2 exemplar
The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend[1ST CHRON OF DRUSS THE LEGEND][Mass Market Paperback] 1 exemplar
Hajnalcsillag 1 exemplar
Kétes hírű lovagok 1 exemplar
Király a kaun túlról 1 exemplar
Az örökkévaló Sólyom 1 exemplar
Ironhangs daughter 1 exemplar
Gemmell, complete works 1 exemplar
Guerrieri d'inverno (Fanucci Narrativa) 1 exemplar
Drenai 6 Book Set: Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Quest for Lost Heroes, In the Realm of the Wolf, The Legend of… (2013) 1 exemplar
The Lost Crown 1 exemplar
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Namn enligt folkbokföringen
- Gemmell, David Andrew
- Andra namn
- Harding, Ross
- Födelsedag
- 1948-08-01
- Avled
- 2006-07-28
- Begravningsplats
- Udimore, East Sussex, England
- Kön
- male
- Nationalitet
- UK
- Födelseort
- London, England, UK
- Dödsort
- Udimore, East Sussex, England, UK
- Dödsorsak
- Coronary artery disease
- Bostadsorter
- Hastings, Sussex, England, UK
- Yrken
- journalist
- Relationer
- Gemmell, Stella (wife)
- Organisationer
- Hastings Writers' Group
Medlemmar
Recensioner
Listor
Priser
Du skulle kanske också gilla
Associerade författare
Statistik
- Verk
- 90
- Medlemmar
- 27,224
- Popularitet
- #757
- Betyg
- 4.0
- Recensioner
- 294
- ISBN
- 706
- Språk
- 15
- Favoritmärkt
- 108
The character I liked best was Odysseus who is interestingly portrayed as a larger than life raconteur - the various iconic stories of the Odyssey are tall tales he invented - although with a lethal edge underneath the bonhomie. I also liked Andromache, who is a crack shot with the more powerful Phyrgian bow, having spent a few years as a priestess of Thera before her sister died, and who is sent to Troy to marry Hektor in her place. She is the only one with the guts to stand up to Priam. But both characters play a relatively minor part.
The story veers around a lot, taking up some characters which the reader might be justified in thinking would be a main part of the story and then dropping them. For example, it starts with Gershom, shipwrecked at sea, but although his real identity is later revealed, he remains a bit part in the story so it's an odd choice to spend so much time in his viewpoint early on. Another character is deftly sketched but is soon horribly killed off, and it seems was only there to act as a catalyst for Helikaon, the main male character, to go off the rails and commit an atrocity to avenge him. Similarly, a bedfellow of Helikaon (for some reason the alternative name for Aeneas) appears early on in the book but is then dropped because she lives in Kypros which is not the setting for the rest of the novel.
The author developed the Mediterranean culture quite well, though with the focus always on the warlike aspects. I wasn't convinced by the side references to Ancient Egypt though: if the version of Troy is the one that fell in 1300 BC (I consulted the Wikipedia article after finishing the novel), since the later ones showed gradual decline and no indication of a prestigious ruling class etc, the Prince Rameses mentioned must be Rameses II otherwise known as Rameses the Great. Despite the references to killing slaves to bury them with Egyptian Kings, that practice had ceased centuries before, and the workmen who built the royal tombs were respected craftspeople who had their own village which has been excavated. Similarly, Ancient Egypt granted more legal and social freedoms to women than most other Middle Eastern countries of the period so I found the references in Gershom's backstory to be anachronistic.
The title is a bit odd: I think it stems from a child mistaking Helikaon for Apollo early on. At some point, he is called that but I can't remember if he ever fires a bow and the title almost fits Andromache, who does something heroic using her bow, much better.
For me this was a slow read: I would read a chapter then set it aside to read something else. It took me a lot longer to get through than any other book during the period and left me with no desire to read the rest of the trilogy. So for all these reasons, for me this was only an OK 2 stars.… (mer)