Mark Smith > Recent Status Updates

It's been roughly a year since I last read some Gemmell, and boy have I missed this. This is a fantastic book, and it's making me want to revisit Legend soon. I love Gemmell's prose and storytelling. It's simple, yet bold, and powerful. It's impossible to read and not feel something. Absolutely wonderful.

I'm fairly sure that this is my 4th readthrough, but I've made the mistake of removing it from my Goodreads in order to have it properly display the edition I'm reading (which I've now totally given up on), which means that any evidence of that is now gone forever, unfortunately. But this one of those books that just gets better with each subsequent pass. One of absolute best.

This book has sat on my shelf for a while, and I've wanted to read it for so long. I would have already, but I always felt like I needed to get round to finishing the Silmarillion first, since it seemed like there were a lot of references to that book I wouldn't understand unless I had. But I figured it's about time I read this, and I can probably try and piece together the stuff I don't get.

This has to be one of the densest books in fantasy I've read. It takes a LONG time for the story to get going. I'm fine with that, but it can create a steep challenge. Thankfully, in the case of this book, it's balanced with ample reward. Also, probably some of my favourite prose, like, ever. Tad Williams is a gem.