Morningstar

My 4th book by Gemmell. I was first introduced to him by way of the Shannow trilogy. I loved these so thought I would try a stand alone novel so see if his other works were as good.

Morningstar is a bit of a strange one for me, and you do not have to look far to see where it's influences lie. It is almost as if he ripped out a few dozen pages from Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Dracula & Robin Hood, put them in a bag, shook them up and made a new story out of the jumble. The book is written in the first person (I have been told that this is the only time Gemmell has used this) seen through the eyes of Owen Odell who is a sort of an apprentice Merlin type character. Through circumstance Odell is paired up with Jarek Mace and the show more adventures start.

Mace is not the typical hero of a novel that you would expect to encounter. He is a thief and thinks only of himself. However when he describes himself in a battle as the 'Morningstar' a legendary figure from history, both his life and Odell's start to take on a more serious note. Can the one time brigand become a hero and lead his people? Or will his selfish ways make sure that he saves his own neck first?

A really clever novel that has numerous twists and turns. Ok, so a lot of the plot may be 'borrowed' from other writers creations, but as the saying goes 'Imitation is the greatest form of flattery', and Gemmell has so skilfully created the world in which his characters live that the reader is soon absorbed into the storyline and eager to see what happens next. I won't go into the storyline as many other reviewers have already gone into this in some detail (some too much and really given away the ending). Expect some gore from the battle scenes, some wit form the conversation and above all be prepared for an introduction to a number of extremely well rounded characters.

A really enjoyable read that only makes me want to read more by the author. Before discovering Gemmell the only other author of fantasy that I had read was really Tolkien, after reading the Shannow novels my entire perception of the genre has changed. show less

I read this book as a one off years ago when I first became interested in David Gemmell as an author, basically I wanted to get my hands on anything he had ever written. I remember I pretty much read this offering in a single sitting I was that drawn in by it. I simply could not put the thing down. It is a fast paced, adventure laden novel full of brilliant description and detail. I loved it.

his books tend to be pretty much the same story with different settings&character names like B.Jacques, bloody and idealist where the heroes are extremely noble and the villains are extremely evil--black&white with barely any of the gray of reality

Best way to end the series holy guacamole