The Nadir army heads for Dros Delnoch, a keep guarding a mountain pass. Druss the Legend comes out of retirement for one last battle. But even with Rek the baresark and the earl of Delnoch's daughter help Druss and eleven thousand men stand up against an advancing army many times their size? David Gemmell was born in 1948 in west London. Raised alone by his mother until the age of 6, he experienced a harsh upbringing in a tough urban area, suffering bullying and taunts from his peers, partly due to the absence of his father, [1] and often sustained serious injuries through fighting. Preferring reading books to fighting, he was compelled to take up boxing by his stepfather, who insisted he learn how to stand up for himself without "hiding behind walls or running away"; this philosophy informed much of Gemmell's later writing. [2] As a child, he said he "would have given anything" to stand beside King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. As a teenager, he wanted to stand with Marshal Will Kane in the film High Noon. [3] Originally intending to be a historical novelist, Gemmell was intrigued by events which ended badly for the protagonists. Citing the Battle of the Alamo and the grisly fate of William Wallace as influences, he said that had he written about the 13th century Scottish revolutionary, he would have found a way in which Wallace was ultimately victorious despite the odds, then eventually realised this kind of storytelling would be more palatable in a fantasy setting. [2]

Damn, I get teary just typing all that. Honestly, I do. No matter his limitation as a writer (because I know some readers find his writing simplistic in many ways), Gemmell uses his stereotypical cast of characters to maximum effect, their words and deeds inspirational, moving, and sorrowful. Vile people finding redemption. Cowards exhibiting courage. Lawless individuals displaying extreme honor. Each heroic death cutting like a stab wound to the heart. The final stand of Druss as emotional charged and awe inspiring as any in literature. Hastings Writers' Group". nawg.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2006 . Retrieved 27 November 2007. And yes, anyone could write a book with such a character. We have an incel sub-culture at the moment that seems to view women as alien and forbidding too. So the character is not unrealistic [I AM NOT SAYING DRUSS IS AN INCEL]. But it does seem that this attitude pervades the men in the book. Apart from the earl's wife the only other women I can recall who gets any 'screen time' is a staggeringly beautiful young lady who seduces then murders men, gets Druss naked for a regular massage, and has very pronounced daddy issues about him. Lovely words, and no one can deny their truth, but how many of us actually follow them? How many of us wallow in self pity regretting the past and forgetting how to live? The bottom line here though is I STILL ENJOYED READING THIS BOOK and that GEMMELL IS AN EXCELLENT AUTHOR.Also very important characters are Reg(nak) and his wife, Virae, the Gan of Dros Delnoch, Orrin, Hugon, Leader of the Legion, and The Thirty, with the likes of Serbitar, Vintar, Menahem, Arbedark and Antaheim as their main representation, while also Gilad and Bregan will make a formidable pair in the defence of the fortress. who marches to the great fortress to defend his people one last time. He is the heart and soul of this story.

David Gemmell Chronology". David Gemmell Legend Awards. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013 . Retrieved 15 November 2014. 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'." In the Iliad, Achilles was given a choice by the gods: To live a short, glorious, heroic life that will end violently but be remembered, or to live a long, healthy life and eventually suffer the fading effect of time upon his name. We all know what choice Achilles made, and Achilles is remembered as one of the greatest heroes ever to come from the ranks of humanity.That our defense will fail is no reason to avoid the battle. For it is the motive that is pure, not the outcome.” It's not surprising then that when someone doesn't like the books we love, there is a tendency in many to close ranks, to insult, even to seek revenge. Not surprising, but in no way good. But what is the purpose is to die by merely prolonging the inevitable? What if you know you cannot hold? Will you still fight on? The Nadir horde of Ulric the Uniter has conquered several northern nations and prepares for an invasion southward into Drenai territory with an army of 500,000 warriors. The fate of the Drenai empire hinges on the defence of Dros Delnoch, a fortress guarding a mountain pass into Drenai lands. If the fortress can hold for three months, the Drenai may be able to muster a force capable of repelling the Nadir invasion. But the Drenai army has dwindled during the reign of Lord Abalayn, and the Delnoch garrison has been reduced to less than ten thousand men, under the leadership of Abalayn's incompetent nephew Orrin.

The book is mainly set in and around the fortress of Dros Delnoch, with the main protagonist, Druss the Legend, functioning as the spearhead of an army of resistance of 10.000 men, against the overwhelming hordes of Ulric and his native tribes.Yes. He is a strange one. A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination, and now a hero by necessity.” Reluctantly Druss agrees to come down from his mountaintop to lead this last, hopeless fight. Lost causes mean nothing to him—he has fought in such battles a thousand times in a thousand lands. And he is a hero to inspire a new generation of warriors. He is Druss the Legend. One change wrought by 36 years and changing times plus changes in what many of us expect from fantasy writing, was that I now see the book as all rather one-note. The message is of manly men standing up for what's right, even when 'right' is more about obstinacy/honour. The very small number of women are not well written and have fairly minor roles. The new earl's wife does fight (rarely despite being really good at it) and is mainly there to spur change and manliness in her husband. I did not have problems with the pacing and finished the book in 2 days! I just was a bit not happy with the finale because it was very rushed and many things felt underwhelming just because we are told them instead of being showed them. I would have gone for 4 stars but the ending kind of irked me so I think 3.5 stars will do for now! The story can work as a standalone but it is part of a series and I am not sure if I will be continuing it yet!