White Wolf: A Novel of Druss the Legend: 1 (Drenai Saga: The Damned) - Softcover

Gemmell, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 034545832X ISBN 13: 9780345458322

Publisher: Del Rey Books, 2004

Synopsis

"For anyone who appreciates superior heroic fantasy, David Gemmell's offerings are mandatory."--Time Out London

The blood-drenched lands of the Drenai are protected by a man who has been hated and feared as much as he has been loved: the living legend known as Druss, Captain of the Ax. But this is also the land of Skilgannon, a man who is armed with the mythic Swords of Night and Day, and perhaps Druss's equal on the field of battle. Brought together by a brutal attack, the two lone warriors form an unlikely alliance. But as Druss and Skilgannon face the supernatural threat of the Joinings--monstrous werebeasts with unholy strength and more than animal savagery--respect and trust will grow. Their alliance will become a friendship destined to change both men--and the lands of the Drenai--forever.

"[Gemmell's] fiction has always carried the genuine flair ofthe classic sword and sorcery pieces of the 1930s and '40s. This installment is no exception."--Starlog

"A multitude of good battle scenes! . . . Readers will be carried along by the nonstop action and heroic characters."--Booklist

About this title

Review:

David Gemmell is Britain's most popular writer of hard-edged heroic fantasy. White Wolf opens a new subseries, "The Damned", set in the world of his Drenai saga and featuring the invincible axeman Druss the Legend--now well into middle age. But the central character is Skilgannon the Damned, deadly wielder of a very special pair of swords and a former general whose nickname comes from a war atrocity that he does not deny. His attempt to make a new life as a monk ends abruptly when civil unrest threatens the monastery and Skilgannon's old fighting skills come into play with appalling effectiveness. In flashbacks to decades earlier, a young Skilgannon painfully and plausibly learns the warrior's art, until his boyhood finishes in a blaze of horror. He finds true love, but his lady is also in love with power and gives the orders for a city-wide bloodbath that makes him forever The Damned. Now known as the Witch-Queen, she won't forgive him for leaving her...

Other stories intertwine with Skilgannon's. There's a young lad who wants to be a swordsman; a fey girl haunted by voices; twin brother fighters, one with a personality ravaged by brain cancer; and Druss the Legend, still indomitable but beginning to worry about his heart. Their paths entwine in a land full of disorder, hostile troops, desperate refugees, and escaped arena beasts (sorcerous hybrids of man and animal). Gemmell excels at combat scenes, with a pace, timing and gripping conviction rare in the genre. He makes it clear, with grim compassion, that opponents aren't just straw men to be knocked over. Skilgannon is forced to kill people he admires, or who admire him; even legitimate self-defence turns sour when we hear the version told by the dead man's fiancée. At the climax, Skilgannon, Druss and their surviving companions stage an audacious assault on a particularly obnoxious villain's well-defended fortress. Much bloodshed follows, with satisfactory settlement of many debts and a final gleam of hope for the future. More tales of Skilgannon will surely follow. --David Langford

Review:

"For anyone who appreciates superior heroic fantasy, David Gemmell's offerings are mandatory."--Time Out London

"[Gemmell's] fiction has always carried the genuine flair ofthe classic sword and sorcery pieces of the 1930s and '40s. This installment is no exception."--Starlog

"A multitude of good battle scenes! . . . Readers will be carried along by the nonstop action and heroic characters."--Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 034545832X
• ISBN 13: 9780345458322
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 480