David Gemmell

I don´t have to say that David Gemmell is the best fantasy author ever. The two books handle about Alexander the Great and his father, but "fantasized".
Maybe someone likes to discuss about that two books? Or start another one with Drenai-Saga

Lion of Macedon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books

The Dark Prince:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books

Amazing amazing author.

I liked the drenai saga when I readed it back then but he's main problem is that every book of him is the same:

grumpy/tired old veteran makes a heroic last stand and saves civilisatioin.

not that that's a bad thing in a book but if you do it in every book you write it becomes a bit boring

Originally Posted by Rhaegar1

I liked the drenai saga when I readed it back then but he's main problem is that every book of him is the same:

grumpy/tired old veteran makes a heroic last stand and saves civilisatioin.

not that that's a bad thing in a book but if you do it in every book you write it becomes a bit boring

Bane, StromRider, Raven heart the Rigante in general, the Troy Trilogy, the Jursalem man trilogy. None of these had 'grumpy old men' as the main hero. All are briliant

Rigante.

Hurray for Irish authors getting out of Ireland. I didn't know he was popular outside. Parmenion was my fave, super awesome but ridiculous.

Gemmell's work certainly does follow a pretty strict formula which he hit on very early and decided to stick with, and though as justicar5 points out not all the heroes follow that one archetype there are only a couple of other archetypes he used - "amoral rogue", "violent, arrogant youth" and "emotionally scarred wanderer". He was a pretty prolific author, though his actual skill in writing wasn't too great.

I loved his books when I was a teenager, but when I returned to it in my mid-20s I found it pretty clumsy and unsatisfying. That said, my father loves Gemmell's books and he's in his late 50s.

I think my favourite is probably the Jerusalem Man trilogy, simply because it's so hallucinatory and insane. It's like something written on every different kind of drug known to man, taken one after the other. Bat crazy.

Though Lion of Macedon was okay too. It had a lot "fan-service" in - i.e. gratuitous sex. I think Gemmell was going through a phase where he'd just discovered cunnilingus at that point, because he takes every opportunity he can to describe oral-sex acts performed on women, and he wanted to share his "discovery" with the world.

Originally Posted by Cluny the Scourge

Gemmell's work certainly does follow a pretty strict formula which he hit on very early and decided to stick with, and though as justicar5 points out not all the heroes follow that one archetype there are only a couple of other archetypes he used - "amoral rogue", "violent, arrogant youth" and "emotionally scarred wanderer". He was a pretty prolific author, though his actual skill in writing wasn't too great.

I loved his books when I was a teenager, but when I returned to it in my mid-20s I found it pretty clumsy and unsatisfying. That said, my father loves Gemmell's books and he's in his late 50s.

I think my favourite is probably the Jerusalem Man trilogy, simply because it's so hallucinatory and insane. It's like something written on every different kind of drug known to man, taken one after the other. Bat crazy.

Though Lion of Macedon was okay too. It had a lot "fan-service" in - i.e. gratuitous sex. I think Gemmell was going through a phase where he'd just discovered cunnilingus at that point, because he takes every opportunity he can to describe oral-sex acts performed on women, and he wanted to share his "discovery" with the world.

how many Archetypes did Tolkien use? Arthur C. Clarke? Jack Higgins? All great authors but predictable characters usually.

Could I get an explanation of this bit?

more importantly, intervenes in a ceremony meant to secure the siring of a child whose birth might signal the ultimate triumph of evil. Parmenion's final--and most meaningful--battle takes place not in this world but in Hades, where the forces of evil are held at bay long enough to deny the Dark God dominion over the newly born soul of Alexander the Great. Particularly enchanting in Gemmell's ( Legend ) ambitious book is the appearance of Aristotle as a wizard and guide through the underworld, a Greek combination of Arthur's Merlin and Dante's Virgil.

Anyone else think this sounds a bit corny? Aristotle as a wizard?

Think it would be worth the read just for the sheer laughter.

The books depict Aristotle as one of a secret elite of ancient men and women who have used the power of a magic stone, "Sipstrassi", to make themselves immortal since before the dawn of recorded history, changing their names from generation to generation since the times of Atlantis. In the era of Phillip and the post-Peloponnesian War, Aristotle has taken that particular name, made a reputation as a student of the arts of the Persian magi, and become involved in a crazily convoluted power struggle between the forces of good and evil with the soul of the eventual war-bringer Alexander as the stakes.

And yes, it is pretty nutty stuff. And it goes on and on in ever more complex wrangles and befuddlements. Dimension-travel and time-travel are involved.

Originally Posted by Cluny the Scourge

The books depict Aristotle as one of a secret elite of ancient men and women who have used the power of a magic stone, "Sipstrassi", to make themselves immortal since before the dawn of recorded history, changing their names from generation to generation since the times of Atlantis. In the era of Phillip and the post-Peloponnesian War, Aristotle has taken that particular name, made a reputation as a student of the arts of the Persian magi, and become involved in a crazily convoluted power struggle between the forces of good and evil with the soul of the eventual war-bringer Alexander as the stakes.

And yes, it is pretty nutty stuff. And it goes on and on in ever more complex wrangles and befuddlements. Dimension-travel and time-travel are involved.

Ah cheers that makes partially more sense. Amazon’s reviews didn't give me too much to go with.

I read the Troy series, they were great

Originally Posted by Sharpe

I read the Troy series, they were great

One of his best series'. rigante is my favourite.