They came from the north, and the city fell. It is a time for warriors, a time for heroes. Kell's axe howls out for blood. The land of Falanor has been invaded by an albino army, the Army of Iron. A small group set off to warn the king: Kell, a magnificent and brutal hero; his granddaughter, Nienna and her friend, Katrina; and Saark, the ex-Sword Champion of King Leanoric, disgraced after his affair with the Queen.Fighting their way south, betrayal follows battle, battle follows deviation, and they are attacked from all quarters by deadly warriors, monstrous harvesters who drain blood from their victims to feed their masters. As Falanor comes under heavy attack and invasion, only then does Nienna begin to learn the truth about grandfather Kell -- that he is anything but a hero.
Ferocious fantasy from a real-life hardman come to claim the post-Gemmell world. FILE UNDER: Fantasy [A City Besieged / A Dangerous Hero / Bloodsucking Hordes / Epic Battles]
Now, this is something that is unashamedly genre - and it's maybe for that reason that it appeals to me. The cover is very reminiscent of Games Workshop's earlier Black Library Warhammer novels, which isn't surprising that, from what I understand, the artist used to do some work for them. Sophisticated it ain't, but it certainly gets the job done in informing the potential reader that this is a bold, in-your-face fantasy.
The Gemmell reference is presumably tongue-in-cheek (filling the void left by Gemmell is an almost impossible task), but from reading the synopsis the story does sound Gemmell-esque, which is certainly no bad thing.
In all, sounds like quite a lot of fun. As far as I'm aware, Kell's Legend marks author Andy Remic's first foray into fantasy, having written a number of military SF novels for Orbit and Solaris, so I'm interested to see what he can bring to the table.
Kell's Legend will be published in the UK by Angry Robot (the new HarperCollins imprint) on 3 September 2009.
6 comments:
I think this book will tap into the fourteen year old in us all. The front cover is the type of drawing that I (very, very, badly) tried to do in my teens. That alone is enough for me:)!
The blurb isn't half bad either.
That's it exactly - I was looking at the cover and thinking "I really shouldn't like this...but I do." It's almost like it struck a chord with the fourteen year-old inside me, as this is the sort of thing I lapped up back in those halcyon days...
And it does sound like a lot of fun.
Oh, and yeah - I tried to draw numerous pictures like that during my younger years. Note the inclusion of the word 'tried.' ;-)
I think Kell wears a sophisticated outfit. I wear something like that to the pub every Saturday night :-)
Actually, I meant to say there's nothing tongue in cheek about Gemmell; he inspired me to write fantasy right from the very beginning, and I was honoured to get drunk with him and listen to his advice about the publishing industry. He is very sorely missed :-( And yes, I am a big Gemmell fan; fave books are Lion of Macedon, closely followed by Legend.
He's certainly an intimidating man, is Kell. For example, he appears to be wearing a grizzly bear around his shoulders. Not the sort of chap you'd want to meet in a dark alley. Or in a quiet country lane in the middle of the day.
Man, what I would give to have got drunk with David Gemmell :)
And Lion of Macedon again coming highly recommended! That one has seriously jumped up my list of still-to-read Gemmell novels, which sadly is growing smaller and smaller.
Looks interesting :)
I just wanted to say... The book in which you wrote a review some months ago, "World War Z", is going to be published in portuguese! :D
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