Legend by David Gemmell

I did read Legend by David Gemmell some years ago. I hardly remembered it, what I did remember that I wasn't particularly impressed. I can't have read it properly, because this time I came away very impressed and having some understanding of why David Gemmell is regarded so highly in the field.

Legend isn't anything especially new, in fact it's a very well used trope in adventure fiction, war fiction and fantasy. The legendary old warrior comes out of retirement one last time to fight a final battle to the death.

The Drenai kingdom is under threat from the all conquering Nadir tribe under their feared leader Ulric. The Drenai plan to make their final defence at Dros Delnoch, a fortress city that has never fallen. This time it may be different. Ulric has a huge army that has never lost. Dros Delnoch is undermanned and poorly led. It's time for Druss the Legend to come out of retirement and defend his people once more, inspire them with his very presence.

Although Druss is the Legend of the title, the book is not just about him or even the defence of the Drenai. It's about all the people connected with it. The handsome carefree Rek, who becomes a baresark fighter when his blood is up. Virae, the feisty warrior woman who falls in love with Rek. Gan Orrin, the formerly unfit commander of Dros Delnoch. There are even little vignettes like that of Carin the miller, who lost his life defending his home and believed in Druss, not knowing that his wife had left in fear of her life with their infant son.

It's so well written and characterised that it is hard to believe Legend was in fact David Gemmell's first novel. Admittedly he had been working as a journalist for many years and worked a lot on the work that became Legend before it was published in 1984, but it is handled so very well.

Throughout most of the book I had the nagging thought that the Nadir were based on Genghis Khan's Mongols. The clinching proof for me was the mention of a character called Tsubodai, one of Ulric's better regarded men. Conn Iggulden's historical fiction series Conqueror, about the rise of Genghis Khan and his sons and grandsons, also featured a Tsubodai, he was one of Genghis' most successful and better known generals.

The closest historical analogue I can find to the seemingly doomed defence of Dros Delnoch is the Alamo legend of the American West, which was something that interested Gemmell, although the author himself likened it to a personal situation at the time when he began work on it. He had been diagnosed with cancer, and while Druss was determined that the Nadir wouldn't defeat him, David Gemmell was equally determined to battle the disease to his very last breath. Fortunately the diagnosis was later proven to be incorrect.

One criticism I do have of Legend is that it maybe went 2 or 3 chapters longer than it really needed to. Personally I would have liked it to end with the death of Druss, but it went on a little longer to tell readers what happened to Rek, Virae, Bowman and the Drenai and Nadir empires following this historic battle.

David Gemmell continued on in the epic tradition of writers like Robert E. Howard and was a contemporary of Glen Cook, who wrote similar fantasy work of a military bent with his Black Company series. In recent times Joe Abercrombie has written in this vein, his 2011 work; Heroes, in particular recalls Legend and I can imagine Abercrombie's berserker hero Logen The Bloody Nine Ninefingers enjoying Druss' company, in fact most of Joe Abercrombie's Northmen would fit in very well with Druss and wouldn't have been out of place in the defence of Dros Delnoch.

Flashman at the Charge - Chapter 1

The first chapter of Flashman at the Charge informs readers where and when in the old soldier's career this particular packet is and how he came to be sent to the Crimea in the first place. Flashman is thinking back on the conflict and blames Lew Nolan for drawing him into the celebrated Charge of the Light Brigade.

It is 1854 and while the battle over in the disputed territory between Turkey and Russia is brewing Flashman wants no part of it and goes about getting himself a job that will keep him at home, but at the same time preserve his reputation. This dismays Elspeth a little as she liked his old Cherrypicker uniform. There is some mention of their son; Havvy, here. The rather cute nickname is because his full name is Harry Albert Victor and he had trouble correctly pronouncing his name of Harry. Readers are also told that Morrison purchased a minor baronetcy before he popped his clogs and that Elspeth actually has a valid title to her name now. Something she, being a social climber and dreadful snob, really likes.

At a loose end Harry is looking for some devilry in a billiard hall and lights on a green young man from the continent who is touring England and has managed to slip his chaperone. Harry uses the boy to take a petty revenge on a friend by using a shaved billiard ball, gets the boy drunk and along with Speedicut leaves him for the bobbies to find.

George MacDonald Fraser did a great job in this early chapter of setting the scene with the looming war and talking about London at the time. There was actually movement of young men, who liked to wear all sorts of outlandish clothes and facial hair known as the 'moustache movement', they are likened in appearance at least to the 'hippies' of the 60's. It's not mentioned as to whether they had the same sort of social conscience or not.

Harry has an encounter with Elspeth while she's out riding in the company of Lord Cardigan. Cardigan's speech impediment (in his appearance in Flashman he spoke like Elmer Fudd on a bad day) is worse than ever, and it's galling to Harry that the old roue takes such an interest in his wife. The woman he once drummed Flashman out of his regiment for marrying! The episode ends in the bedroom with the implication that Elspeth likes a bit of role play. God! I love Elspeth Flashman! Flashman actually blames Cardigan for his experiences in Afghanistan, reasoning that if he hadn't been thrown out of the Hussars he never would have gone there, but he also never would have won the honours and reputation that he still enjoys. He neglects to consider that last.

Not long after this Flashman is summoned by one of the Crimean War's other key figures in Lord Raglan (interesting the impact that conflict had on fashion, it gave the world the cardigan, raglan sleeves and the balaclava), and told that he is wanted at court to look after Prince Albert's nephew Prince William of Celle.

Harry thinks he's landed on his feet, but may also be called to accompany the inconvenient relative over to the Crimea after all the trouble he's gone to so he could stay out of it. Albert doesn't think that the rank of captain is sufficient for the officer who chaperones his nephew, so Harry is immediately brevetted to colonel, not something he's averse to. What happens after is a shock, William of Celle is the young man he and Speedicut tried to lead astray not so long ago! Harry you really know how to pick them.

Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole

I was only dimly aware of what looks like being one of 2012's 'buzz' debuts; Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole until I saw a review by Jim Hines on his Livejournal. I had seen the cover various places, but it looked rather like some sort of military SF tie-in book, and that didn't really interest me. That's not a knock on tie-in fiction, it just isn't my thing. I know having said that, somewhere along the line I'll develop an interest in a tie-in fiction concept and make a liar out of myself.

Jim Hines' review made it sound like something I may enjoy and I started seeing a number of other positive reviews. It's a very strong debut. Control Point, the first of what looks like being the Shadow Ops series, is an interesting blend of military SF and urban fantasy.

The book is set in a near future earth where people have started to manifest magical talents. It's generally referred to as 'becoming latent'. Waking up with the ability to manipulate fire, magically heal people with a touch or open gates into other realities can be a rather disconcerting thing to happen, as a result a great many of these newly latent people panic and run. Once they run they're known as 'selfers' and are hunted down. The only other option is to turn yourself in and be trained in the use of your powers, more than likely for some military purpose. Of course that's if you are lucky. You could be really unlucky and get a 'prohibited' power, these people are referred as 'probes', and are regarded as almost too dangerous to be allowed to live.

Oscar Britton is a US army officer attached to the Supernatural Operations Corp (SOC) and sees firsthand how selfers are treated. When he himself manifests as a probe he understandably takes flight, and is pursued by the organisation he had hoped to give his life to.

The real story starts after Britton is taken into custody, forced to use his power of 'gating' for the military and taken to a base established in the 'Source', an magical world that magically talented humans are trying to take over. There are some parallels made here between the US military's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan made here. Myke Cole himself has done 3 tours of Iraq.

A lot of the book is taken up with Oscar's training, examining his thoughts about his situation and the moral battle he has about what he's been made to do. Readers also get introduced to the heroes and villains of the piece. I'd be willing to bet that more than a few of these peripheral characters will become regulars in the series as it unfolds.

Control Point is fast paced, although some of the training that Britton undergoes becomes a little repetitive, especially his regular beat downs at the hands of his sadistic warrant officer Fitzy. There are plenty of bangs and crashes, it's rather like a big budget, effects driven action movie in book form. It's a hard book not to like, it's just so much fun and even though characters like the love interest Therese and the bad guy of Fitzy are fairly two dimensional you can't help but be sucked in and love one, while hating the other and desperately hoping that if he isn't outright killed he does at least get his backside royally kicked.

Characterisation and dialogue are probably two areas that Cole needs to work on. Some of the characterisation is excellent, especially Oscar Britton, although he does have a tendency to become a bit whiny, and the book was wrapped up a little too quickly, with too much happening and some of Britton's actions in that section were curiously at odds with his behaviour throughout most of Control Point. Other characters weren't quite so lucky, and I've already mentioned Therese and Fitzy, as a result of this some of the dialogue doesn't quite flow the way it should.

There's been a lot of thought and research go into Control Point and Cole has obviously drawn heavily on his military background to provide the setting and the jargon for the book. Something that is particularly effective, and shows the care Myke Cole has taken into making his setting as believable as possible, are the quotes at the start of each chapter, which purport to come from newscasts, books or interviews from people on the ground in this brave new magical world.

Myke Cole seems to be a bit of a comic book fan if his comment in his acknowledgement about author Peter V. Brett being his Professor X are anything to go by. There's a rather comic book feel about the whole set up in Control Point, the magical manifestation recalls the discovery of the genetic X or mutant factor in Marvel's X-Men comic series, and the call signs that some of the magical soldiers are given are very super heroesque. Britton is Keystone, there's an aeromancer known as Swift and an aquamancer who goes by the name of Wavesign. It actually makes a lot of sense that people with abilities like this would end up being used by the military and it makes me wonder why I never thought of this when I used to read comics like the X-Men.

Control Point is a very encouraging debut and I look forward to seeing Myke Cole produce more Shadow Ops books in the near future.

Flashman at the Charge - an introduction

Time for the read of Flashman at the Charge to start, so some of my thoughts about the book before reading. Admittedly it’s a rather unwieldy title, but it’s far better than the attempt to make the book sound amusing as they did with Flash for Freedom. The ‘Charge’ that the title refers to is the celebrated Charge of the Light Brigade immortalised by then Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his epic poem. A great many can quote one of the poem’s best known lines: ‘Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred’, but I’m not so certain that they could tell you what the poem was about or what war it refers to. It was a celebrated and ultimately futile charge during the equally futile Crimean War.

For the 4th book in a row George MacDonald Fraser links a significant piece of literature to his venal anti-hero. In Flashman it was Tom Brown’s Schooldays, in Royal Flash, Prisoner of Zenda got the Flashman treatment, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin has a reference in Flash for Freedom and in Flashman at the Charge it is The Charge of the Light Brigade.

To date the Crimean War is probably the best known conflict that Flashy has been involved in, but Flashman at the Charge isn’t just about that. Harry gets himself in out of trouble in beds from London to Central Asia and gets caught up in, not only Britain’s struggle against Russia in the Crimea, but also foils a Russian plan to take over Central Asia, and thus put pressure on Britain’s ‘jewel in the crown’ of India.

There was talk in 2007 that Celtic Films were going to produce a number of the books as TV projects. Picture Palace said that they were going to do Flashman at the Charge, and there was even talk that James Purefoy would be cast as Harry (shame it never came off, because that is almost perfect casting for the lead role). It looked as if they were going to be done along the same lines as Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series, which both companies had also been involved in. There was a reason they chose Flashman at the Charge; it is an absolute cracker of a novel. Harry is in his 30’s, so not as hard to cast as when he was younger, and it’s about a conflict which is even now still relatively well known. There’s been recent news that Michael Fassbender has been cast as Harry in a 2013 project, but no word about which of the books is being adapted. I’ve heard similar rumours in the past and they generally don’t come to much. If this one is true I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the plan is to do Flashman at the Charge, Fassbender is the right age for it.

This is where you have a significant difference between chronological order and publication order. When readers last saw Harry he had just negotiated with John Charity Spring to take him from New Orleans back home to England. That was in 1849, possibly early spring. Flashman at the Charge picks up in London in 1854, roughly 4 - 5 years have passed since the end of Flash for Freedom and knowing Harry he couldn’t possibly have stayed out of trouble for that long, so readers knew there were more adventures in between Flash for Freedom and Flashman at the Charge, but just when George MacDonald Fraser would get around to writing them was anyone’s guess.

The cover for the edition I’m using, is as customary, has Flashman in the foreground, with a battle scene, most likely the Crimea, in the background. Flashy has his magnificent cavalry whiskers, or ‘tart catchers’ as he amusingly referred to them in Flash for Freedom, on prominent display, he’s wearing that self satisfied smile of his and he’s figged out in full dress military gear, complete with a ridiculous looking helmet and a flag. This one is gonna be fun.

Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings

I must have read Castle of Wizardry at some point, in fact I must have read it more than once, because I know I’ve read the entire Belgariad at least twice. Somehow in these readings I somehow managed to miss the books failings, and they are many. The nicest thing I can say about is that it is unnecessary.

I’m not sure when this started, but it seems to coincide with the advent of big, sprawling multi book series; The Belgariad at 5 volumes is one of the first of these, writers began to write what readers now seem to call ‘filler’ books. They contain roughly the same number of pages as the rest of the book in the series, but virtually none of the plot or character development. Castle of Wizardry is one such book. There are maybe 50 pages of relevant material that actually moves the plot and story forward, yet the book is 370+ pages in length. I don’t see any reason that the pertinent information couldn’t have been added to the end of the Magician’s Gambit and the start of Enchanter’s End Game, thus entirely negating the need for the wandering mess that is Castle of Wizardry.

Garion and the gang escape Murgoland, they lob up on the Rivan Isles, Garion gets proclaimed as Rivan King, much to Ce’Nedra’s distress because she now has to marry Garion and accept that she actually is in love with him. Garion, Belgarath and Silk go on a road trip for no other reason than the authors seemed to think it was a good idea at the time (the real reason is to confront Torak, but it results in some of that pointless wandering about the countryside that readers love so much) and Ce’Nedra does a tour gathering support for her soon to be husband’s cause. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell and it took David and wife Leigh Eddings over 300 pages to do this.

I’d long been aware that they tended to gloss over important social issues for the sake of a joke, but I didn’t remember them making light of Hettar the Horselord’s homicidal tendencies where Grolims are concerned, but they do. Hettar admits that most of his waking thoughts concern killing Grolims when asked by two of the other alpha males in Barak and Mandorallen. Barak does seem a little concerned, but there’s really an air of it being laughed off as ‘Oh that Hettar! What a card he is! Here, behead another Grolim old chap, that should cheer you up.’

There was also the rather bizarre relationship between the religious zealot Relg and the sheltered cave woman Taiba. It’s seriously dysfunctional and couldn’t be enjoyed by either, but it is encouraged by characters like Polgara.

So much of this seemed to be ideas that probably should have been edited out, but were left in to make up the page count. The boy detective thing that Lelldorin and Garion went on to find out who was behind the attempts on Garion’s life was one such example. Not only was it entirely ridiculous and unbelievable, it was totally out of place. That sort of thing should be left to the Hardy Boys and The Three Detectives. No, I take that back not one of the books in those series contained such badly written, amateurish attempts at investigating.

Characters were made to act entirely out of character for no real reason. Polgara’s tantrum is one such example. When finding out her father, Garion and Silk have skipped out, she flies into a terrible rage and throws a tantrum that any 3 year old would have been proud of. Of course being possessed of almost godlike power an enraged Polgara could level the city if she were allowed to keep it going. Who calmed her down? Ce’Nedra. Ce’Nedra! The queen of the tantrum herself. So we have the infuriatingly calm and self possessed Polgara, who generally sips tea serenely and offers practical advice to rulers of nations throwing a tantrum because her father, surrogate nephew and an associate have managed to escape the island and put one over her, being calmed down and settled by a fairly scattered 16 year old half dryad who is notable for throwing things and holding her breath when her every whim is not catered to? It was almost as if the Eddings’ decided to write a chapter or two of the book in Bizarroland. Truly odd. When they first came up with the idea it may have actually sounded pretty funny, unfortunately in practice it’s stupid.

In this one not even the hallmark of the books in the snappy dialogue can save them. This is mainly because there isn’t any. There’s dialogue, but none of it is particularly amusing or well written. Stilted, clunky and boring are the three words that immediately spring to mind. Honestly if you haven’t read The Belgariad and you do want to, you could skip Castle of Wizardry and not have missed anything. You may actually improve your reading experience by doing so.

The Serpent by Jane Gaskell

The Serpent by Jane Gaskell is a challenge novel, it's the 4th of the G's. It is the first novel of the author's five volume Atlan Saga.

As a novelist Jane Gaskell had a relatively low profile career. She released her first novel Strange Evil at the age of 16 (it was written when she was 14), it was one of 8 standalone novels and along withe 5 books in the Atlan Saga comprises the sum total of her output. Her last book Sun Bubble came out in 1990. Both China Mieville and John Clute have been very complimentary about Strange Evil. A Sweet, Sweet Summer was awarded the Somerset Maugham award in 1970.

The Serpent came out in 1963. It is the story of Cija (pronounced Key-a), a young woman raised in seclusion to believe that she is a goddess and that men are myths. When her home city (no country, aside from Atlan believed to be the legendary city of Atlantis, is ever named. People either come from the south or the north of the prehistoric South American continent on which the book is set), is conquered by forces loyal to the half lizard commander Zerd, Cija is taken, along with others, as a hostage to ensure her mother; the Dictatresses, good behaviour. The book is written in first person and is Cija's journal as she travels across the continent, mostly with Zerd's army, but at times on her own.

It's an interesting story and written in a quite unusual manner for the time. It's rather hard to really pin down what sort of society and world it's set in. They're not technologically advanced, but they're further along than stone age, they seem to be rather medieval in terms of development, yet Cija's writing seems to suggest a sheltered 19th century European gentlewoman. At times you could be reading the journal of a well bred young woman taken hostage by an tribe of native Americans, or an English gentlewoman captured by a less civilised army somewhere on the frontier.

The main theme of it, for the time it was published, is different. It explores Cija's awakening sexuality and her dealings with various men she encounters. From the savage and powerful Zerd, to the ambitious officer from her own homeland Smahil and the local governor who enslaves and rapes her. She later uses her savage war bird; Ums, to kill the man. Gender confusion is also explored as a theme. In a remote village Cija meets a boy of her own age by the name of Nels, who confesses that he has always felt he should have been born a woman, she later encounters him masquerading as a woman with a powerful man in Zerd's bureaucratic machine. Cija herself pretends to be a boy and has doubts about her own sexuality, occasionally referring to herself in the masculine in her journal.

Despite enjoying The Serpent, and it making me think, I'm not really inclined to continue with the Atlan Saga, I can kind of see where it's going. Cija, having gone from pampered seclusion as a 'goddess' and then having to survive as a hostage, camp follower, slave and fugitive, will eventually rise to supreme power as an empress of sorts. I believe the final book in the series; Some Summer Lands (published in 1977) is from the point of view of Cija's daughter. I presume she is also Smahil's daughter, as The Serpent concludes with Cija and Smahil making love. The other reason I wouldn't continue with the series is that I don't feel Cija is a powerful enough character or narrator to really carry more than one book successfully.

Jane Gaskell did create an interesting prehistoric world, with the giant birds and the civilisation itself. There is even a foreword which talks about the translation of the journal and attempts to provide pseudo scientific explanations for the giant birds and the lizard people, etc...

If anyone did want to read on there are 3 or 4 more (depending on which edition of The Serpent you get) books in the Atlan Saga. I found N.K Jemisin's much discussed and highly regarded Hundred Thousand Kingdoms to be a little similar in theme. The heroine (Yeine) there leaves a sheltered life to become the ruler of her world. Dave Duncan's portal fantasy trilogy; The Great Game, also featured a primitive army that fought on the backs of large ostrich like war birds, he may have been inspired to some extent by the Atlan Saga.

Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire

WOW! Capital W capital O capital W exclamation point. That’s my immediate reaction after reading Discount Armageddon. If I wanted to do a lazy review I’d tell you that this is a totally awesome book and you should run out and buy it right now, but that however wouldn’t be telling you why.

Discount Armageddon is the first book of Seanan McGuire's (October Daye series) new InCryptid urban fantasy series.

Most of us have heard about cryptids, they’re creatures who might exist or are rumoured to, but no genuine proof has actually been discovered. Two of the most famous examples are the Himalayan Yeti and Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster. Discount Armageddon works on the premise that cryptids are real, they’ve always been real, many of them co exist alongside the rest of the population, others walk amongst us without anyone being aware of it.

Verity Price comes from a long line of cyrptozoologists, who have worked for generations to find, study and protect the cryptids. If many of the cryptids are actually monsters, or as the back cover blurb puts it ‘Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties’ why do they need protecting and what from? That would be the Price families sworn enemy; the Covenant of St George, this centuries old, quasi military organisation exists to exterminate cryptids…ALL cryptids. Some of them are harmless and others are actually beneficial to human society. Verity’s ambition is to be a professional dancer, and she’s moved to New York to pursue that dream, but the only way her family would let her go was if she also promised to look after the family business on the East Coast.

On the way home from her job as a cocktail waitress at a cryptid owned and staffed strip club (Dave’s Fish and Strips) one night Verity runs into her exact opposite, a naïve, but cute Covenant operative by the name of Dominic De Luca. Once she gets out of his trap and gives him a right royal telling off, Verity and Dominic soon work out that while they’re coming at it from different angles they essentially have the same goal, and that’s to find and neutralize the sleeping dragon under Manhattan before it causes major damage to the human and cryptid population of the city.

Discount Armageddon is urban fantasy in its purest form. Although the October Daye series has been highly successful for Seanan McGuire, and both she and her growing army of fans are fond of the changeling detective and the cast of that series, the InCryptid series is the one Seanan has always wanted to write and in fact I believe she was born to do this one. At times it was like she had a direct line to my brain, I often found myself reading and thinking ‘I’ve always wondered how that would work if someone wanted to write about it.’

Verity has a strong voice, she’s a knowledgeable and easy to relate to narrator, she may be a bit too idealistic for her own good, and she is fiercely independent and protective of those close to her. Verity and Dominic make an excellent opposites attract couple, and they’re both very likeable. There’s also a great supporting cast, from Verity’s family; her cranky, studious, gun loving brother and her frankly dangerous younger sister; Antimony, to her telepathic adopted cousin Sarah Zellaby and Verity’s workmates; the gorgon Carol, with the dangerous, venomous hair, the waheela Istas, who seems to have a penchant for wearing her enemy’s bodily organs as hats and the dragon princess Candy, who doesn’t have much in the way of offensive capabilities aside from asbestos skin. I haven’t even mentioned the Aeslin mice, yet and no review of Discount Armageddon would be complete without some mention of the community of intensely religious talking rodents, who amongst other things, are addicted to cheese and cake.

It is early days, but Discount Armageddon is one of the most amusing urban fantasies I’ve ever read, packed with fresh ideas and plenty of scope to expand. Hopefully sales will be strong and we readers will get to see a lot more of Verity, the Price family and the cryptids. Cheese! And Cake!