My review of "Legend"

Legend by David Gemmell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had not heard of this book until a few weeks ago, and saw it recommended as a series in the vein of Dark Company, Game of Thrones, and First Law... which is a good enough recommendation for me. Sure enough, the series has a dark foreboding quality to it of a coming clash which is unwinnable.

What I liked about it are its visceral quality to both the battles and in its regional geopolitics. Most of the characters motivations also didn't seem forced, the love story...short as it was, didn't seem as 2 dimensional as a story from the early 80s could have. Lastly, its use of magic was also very thin and focused, like many of the books I had mentioned.

My only critique are that despite its nihilistic look at war, it seemed to simultaneously glorify in war/violence as something that makes people feel alive and brings out qualities in them. I am deeply uncomfortable with how this gets done in fantasy and its even weirder in situations where there is not a good/evil binary.

Still, I cant wait to read the next book in the series!

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The Light of All That Falls Review

The Light of All That Falls by James Islington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This series is what you get when you take a less developed wheel of time, with slightly less binary in terms of evil (the elder powerful enemies believe they are doing things for the right reasons and not just for power). Add some time dilation, and then a handy dose of CS Lewis's religiosity. While I liked some of the plot and the timelines, I found myself cringing hard at seemingly Christian themes throughout the whole book. the name "EL", the god vs satan binary, the importance of believing in an afterlife, always telling the truth, does having a god prevent the characters from having free will, and lastly why doesn't "EL" intervene on behalf of the people when there is evil in the world. It was a bit too much, but if you have finished WOT and a few other stories and want something in a similar vein... try this out.

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The Shadow of What Was Lost Review

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This obvious Wheel of Time influenced starts in the aftermath of a war of control between magic (called essence) users and those without the ability and a mystery to find out what is going on behind the scenes. It took a bit to get into as it felt like a much less developed and more 2 dimensional WOT without all of the good world building, politics, and culture, and history.

Its not a fantastic book, but it definitely gives you a little bit of an homage to Eye of the World in a different kind of way if thats what you are looking for.

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