'Last Sword of Power' – David Gemmell (Legend)

It's just occurred to me that while I've had a few copies of this book over the years (and read it more than a few times...); I've never had, read or even seen a copy of the book that comes before it, 'Ghost King'. Finding a copy isn't strictly necessary, for reasons I'll go into shortly, but I rather think I'll have to now. Wait until I get paid (in about a week and a half...)

You know what it's like, you have a couple of books on the go but you're not feeling it and want to go back to something a little more familiar and comfortable. I had a funny feeling that this month might be like that so I put 'Lost Sword of Power' in the 'June TBR Pile', just on the off chance. My suspicions were correct and the last couple of days were spent reading 'Last Sword of Power'. Lets take a look at it, shall we?

The soul of Uther Pendragon is chained in hell. The sword of power is lost in swirling chaos. The realm is under threat from barbarian hordes - led by an Undead god from the vaults of pre-history. And a new Dark Age is dawning over Roman Britain.

Then comes a man called Revelation, seeking a child born of a demon . . . Seeking the legendary Lord of the Lance . . . Seeking the sword to save the realm.

If you're like me and haven't read 'Ghost King', don't worry about it ;o) 'Last Sword of Power' gets you up to speed very quickly by referring back to the events of the previous book. And then referring to them again and, just in case you forgot anything from the last page, referring to them at least one more time. I don't know about you but this constant looking back only works up to a point for me. I mean, it's helpful and all but there comes a time where you're all caught up and you just want to get on with the story at hand. That time came roughly about halfway through the book and for the rest of it, I was rolling my eyes a little when we got another reminder.

Because this is the thing. I love Gemmell's books but the paths that he treads are so well trodden that we don't need to keep being reminded, we know it already. Not only could I take a decent stab at telling you what happened in 'Ghost King', I could also tell you that the 'Rigante' books (well, the first two) do it a lot better. Again, don't get me wrong here; 'Last Sword of Power' is very good at what it does (and I'll talk more about that in a second), I just think the 'Rigante' books do the whole 'King needing to rediscover what made him great while his son struggles through life alone' thing better. Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd read 'Ghost King', we'll see. The fact that 'Last Sword' spins its own take on the Arthurian myth can also work against it. It's done well but ultimately, you know what's coming.

All of the above does make it sound like 'Last Sword of Power' wasn't a particularly good read... Although it was a source of minor irritation, I had a lot more fun reading the book than perhaps I'm letting on. The bottom line is that it's full of the stuff that makes Gemmell's books ones that I will return to over and over again. You will probably spot the character due for a redemption arc a mile off but Gemmell was so good at portraying flawed humanity trying to do the right thing that I can't help but go along for the ride and see it play out. The villain is monstrous, the heroes have their own journeys to make before they can face him and so on. What saves it from becoming overfamiliar is the depth of humanity that Gemmell gives his characters and it really makes them stand out on the page. You've met countless rogues in books but you've never met Ursus, same deal with exiled Princes and Cormac.

It also helps (me, anyway) that Gemmell is as good as ever at the big set piece battles that will determine the fate of Britain. Honestly, you can pretty much feel the blades fall and you can't help but admire how Gemmell captures the chaos, in mighty armies meeting, but plots his way through it all so deftly. It makes for gripping reading even when the ending isn't in doubt.

I still think that as far as heroic fantasy goes, you can't do too much better than David Gemmell; I'm just not sure that this is his best book to start on. 'Last Sword of Power' does its job well but spends too much time telling us what has already happened when it could be devoting more of that energy to what is going to happen. But at the same time, heroes being heroic and mighty battles! Don't complain too much then, I guess, but the first two 'Rigante' books do the same thing a lot better.