Book Review: Legend, by David Gemmell

David Gemmell's Legend (1984) is pretty much a perfect example of what I love in high fantasy novels.  High Fantasy, being stories told in a fantasy world populated by characters, events and plot best described as epic (think Lord of the Rings), is a sub-genre of Fantasy, and both Conan the Barbarian and Bilbo Baggins can fit in it with ease.

I've actually read a number of David Gemmell novels before, even ones set in the his Drenai Saga, but as I read those in Junior High and High School, I had never done the research to see if the books I was reading were part of a larger whole.

Legend is largely a novel about a siege.  In many ways it echoes the American story of the Alamo and Gemmell did cite western author Louis L'Amour as an influence.  The story involves thieves, farmers, warriors, townsfolk and an old warrior known simply as Druss the Legend, and follows these people as they defend a castle against an overwhelming force.

The story moves along at a great pace and puts a lot of value into all of it's characters, from the top down, drawing the reader into the story of this last great defence of a dying empire.

If you've never read fantasy novels before, I can't think of a better place to start.  This book reminded me of everything I fell in love with the genre as a young man and although Gemmell passed away in 2006, he left over twenty novels that I guarantee I'll be checking out myself very soon.

Genre Character of the Week: Willow Ufgood

 So back in 1988 I was twelve-years-old and my mother took my three sisters and me down to Edmonton’s historic Princess Theatre (pictured left) to see the new movie, Willow. The four of us stood in a pretty long lineup for about half an hour waiting to buy our tickets, and then the manager comes out and starts counting people in the line.

The show was almost sold out and we were either going to just make the cut or have to come back and see the movie another day. Luckily for us, we made it, although we ended up sitting scattered throughout the two floors of the theatre, and I ended up in the very front row, head craned back and nervous about the group of older girls I had to sit beside to see the film.

The next two hours of my life then proceeded to fly by, as I saw my first really great live-action fantasy film. Now I know, Star Wars and E.T. can both be fit clearly into the fantasy genre, depending on your point of view, and the early 80’s had a lot of great Fantasy classics like Ladyhawke, Time Bandits, Conan the Barbarian, Legend, and Excalibur, not to mention one of my favourite films period, The Princess Bride. But the thing is, I saw all of those on home video, rather than in an actual movie theatre – so for me Willow rightly takes its place as my first Fantasy film experience in a movie theatre.

For those of you who don’t know, the film follows this little guy, Willow Ufgood, a member of a race of little people called Nelwins, as he becomes the protector of a baby, and ends up having to save the world. For many people the movie is a sort of forgettable, pre-Lord of the Rings fantasy film also filmed in New Zealand and that’s about it.

For me, however, the story of this young husband and father going on a grand adventure and learning to trust in himself and his abilities totally resonated with me.

I’ll be quite honest here, I’m a pretty huge fan of the film – I read the novelization by Wayland Drew and played both the NES game and the Arcade version when I could. Although not a fan of the sequel series of novels, I think I may be one of the bigger fans of this film in my hometown, or at least in my neighborhood.

The film has recently been released on Blu-Ray, and if you haven’t check it out yet, it is definitely worth a look.

Top five albums I listen to while reading

A while back I wrote a post talking about setting up for a good reading session, and I mentioned the idea of having a theme song to read to - this got a lot of responses from friends and readers who asked me what kind of CDs I listen to while reading, so to satisfy your curiosity, here you go:

Bookmonkey's top five current albums to listen to while reading

5. Ride the Lightning - Metallica

Or specifically the instrumental tune "Call of Ktulu," which I can listen to exactly 5 times in a row on repeat while I'm walking home (yes, I do read while walking - something that has lead to uncomfortable contact with lamp posts, other people and once an uncomfortably personal contact with a fire hydrant). Usually I keep the song specifically for horror reads.

4. Away We Go: Original Motion PIcture Soundtrack by Alexi Murdoch

This one is really new for me, I've only been listening to it for a few weeks, but I really love all the songs and even though they have lyrics, I don't find that they get in the way of my reading at all - they just comfortably groove with whatever is going on in my book - currently my favourite tune is All My Days.

3. The Neverending Story: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Klaus Doldinger

This soundtrack is really fun, doesn't fill my head with lyrics (which can be distracting while reading), and most importantly reminds me of a story about a kid reading a story, so if I'm listening to it while I'm reading I'm getting all Meta. Favourite track - Swamps of Sadness.

2. Legend: Original Motion picture Soundtrack by Tangerine Dream

I'm actually a pretty big fan of Tangerine Dream, a lot of the music is instrumental, and while I worked at a video store in the late '90s I watched a videocassette of theirs that showed images from the Grand Canyon over and over again because I liked the tunes. My favourite song on the Legend soundtrack is called Cottage - it works very well for reading high fantasy stories.

1. Virtually anything by James Horner

Over the years I've probably purchased at least a dozen James Horner (pictured left) Soundtracks, from Star Trek III, to Legends of the Fall, Aliens and Titanic, I've just really loved what this guy can do with music - here's a quck taste of one of my favourites, the One Last Wish theme from Casper.