'The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend' – David Gemmell (Orbit)

In what seems to be becoming a pattern, this week has been one of those weeks, I've got a horrible feeling that next week is going to be one of those weeks as well but I'm prepared to give next week a chance and see what happens. Fingers crossed...

Whenever it's one of those weeks, it automatically becomes the worst time to be doing a book review blog as you're either stuck with no time to read or you can't get into any of the books on the TBR pile. My way round this (and it works most of the time) is to immediately shift down a couple of gears and bring out the comfort reads. You know the ones, those old favourites that you almost know off by heart and can get lost in for a few hours. Or until your bored kids stop bothering you and decide to amuse themselves for a change (whichever comes first).

Which kind of brings me on to David Gemmell and the 'Druss' books, comfort reading favourites for a long old time now. I need some comfort reading and it's nice to focus on some older reads every now and again so here we are at the beginning of Druss' life. Let's live it with him...

Druss. The Legend. Saviour of Skeln Pass. Protector of Dros Delnoch. The most famous - and dreaded - of Drenai's heroes.

But before all men knew Druss he was a young husband, hewing tress instead of men - most of the time - and held in check by his beloved wife, Rowena. When she is stolen by slavers Druss becomes a killing machine intent on only one thing: Rowena's return.

So, what do you do when you've written a surprise best seller in which you've killed off the main character, only to find out that readers want more of him? Well, if you're David Gemmell you take things right back to the start and tell the story of Druss as a young man and how he became the Legend. And Druss does, he really does. 'The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend' is epic in scope with journeys across two (?) continents punctuated by conflict ranging from one on one combat to all out war with a cast of, erm... lots. It's brilliant with Gemmell balancing the heroic with the horror of war.

It also has the only main character who could possibly pull it off. The whole point of the book is to tell the tale that sets Druss up for the rest of a very eventful life; Druss may verge on becoming a cartoonish parody at times (as a result) but on the whole, Gemmell succeeds in his aims for Druss.

We know what's coming and we now know why Druss is eminently capable of handling whatever life throws at him. It's because life always throws something at Druss and he has a natural gift for punching these things really hard.

What's really interesting about this book, for me, is how Gemmell deals with the problem of Druss. Because Druss is a problem, make no mistake about it. The guy is single minded in his quest (although you can't blame him for that) and he's just too good at what he does, namely killing (or just punching really hard) whatever is in his way. What do you do with a problem like that if you want to tell a story that is more than stuff getting punched? Gemmell's main approach is to almost make Druss a supporting character in his own story. We know that Druss will win through but we don't know what this means for people like Rowena and Sieben, what will happen to them? By putting some of that focus on them, Gemmell gives the story a hook that will catch any reader. Gemmell has always written characters that you want to spend time with and 'The First Chronicles' is no different, especially when people are in danger.

There's also a side plot about Druss fighting an inner demon (quite literally actually) that wants him to continue the evil work that his grandfather began. Again, we know how this will all eventually work out so a lot of the tension is lost. It is interesting though to have little moments in the book where we can see how Druss might have turned out if things had been a little different.

The bottom line is that what could have been a fairly predictable journey has a little more mystery to it than you would think and that, of course, is a good thing.

I've never met a David Gemmell book that has revolutionized fantasy and 'The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend' isn't going to change anything on that score; it doesn't do anything particularly new and you know where the story is ultimately going to end up.

What it is though, is evidence that Gemmell really knew how to tell an exciting story. You may know what is coming but I defy you not to enjoy the journey there. Gemmell not only knew how to snare the reader but also how to keep them reading until the end of the book. Just the comfort read this reader needed then. 'The Legend of Deathwalker' is next up.