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mirelurkthing 's review for:
Waylander
by David Gemmell
2.5/5 stars. It's a shame, but what I'm starting to suspect from David Gemmell novels is that if you've read one of his, you've read them all.
I mean you have the old weathered soldier who has lived a morally suspect life, has contemplated retirement, has the same realist "shit happens, but oh well" philosophy usually as a result of a violent, bloody past, with many regrets (and usually his wife and kids have been slaughtered in some kind of awful fashion) - But due to strange circumstance or "fate" he decides to clean up his act and fight one last time, on a seemingly impossible quest to do this "one good deed" and either die or not in a blaze of glory. I mean this story alone sounds pretty promising, pretty awesome, but after three carbon copies of the same story and cardboard cut-outs for characters... It... Gets samey.
There were a few very annoying things, that paired with how similar it is with his preceeding novels that caused me to knock this off a star. *Warning Rant Ahead*
I didn't get this so much in "Legend" but in this book and "King Beyond the Gate" the women are all so thoroughly two dimensional, so throwaway and pathetic, and are all treated as such. I'm pretty sure every female character in this book (other than the two children) were painted as "whores" or rape victims, both of which are shown as irritating nags when they don't bend to the MC's will at the flick of a wrist (don't worry, they usually do). Danyal, for example, multiple rape victim, get's talked to like absolute shit by Waylander, Waylander says "he would never go with a woman he wouldn't pay for", this is the basic extent of their conversation before she falls head over heels in love with him. Sounds legit. He also physically abuses a prostitute, leaving bruises on her arm saying he got "carried away" - this is especially problematic because he's frequently described that despite his many flaws, he would never abuse a woman, by the narrater! Clearly you do tho. Rape tropes in fantasy are cliche, but when they're used as a plot device and gratuitously, it's cheap, and grating, not to mention disrespectful.
/rant.
Despite all this I wouldn't say this was an *awful* book, and I can definitely see why people would be happy to get away from the stodgey descriptions and intimidating tomes that usually permeate the fantasy genre. These books are fun, uncomplicated, and the action scenes are fantastic. Unfortunately I would suggest that unless you're happy with the same story being fed over and over again to purchase Legend and not bother with the two suceeding novels.
I mean you have the old weathered soldier who has lived a morally suspect life, has contemplated retirement, has the same realist "shit happens, but oh well" philosophy usually as a result of a violent, bloody past, with many regrets (and usually his wife and kids have been slaughtered in some kind of awful fashion) - But due to strange circumstance or "fate" he decides to clean up his act and fight one last time, on a seemingly impossible quest to do this "one good deed" and either die or not in a blaze of glory. I mean this story alone sounds pretty promising, pretty awesome, but after three carbon copies of the same story and cardboard cut-outs for characters... It... Gets samey.
There were a few very annoying things, that paired with how similar it is with his preceeding novels that caused me to knock this off a star. *Warning Rant Ahead*
I didn't get this so much in "Legend" but in this book and "King Beyond the Gate" the women are all so thoroughly two dimensional, so throwaway and pathetic, and are all treated as such. I'm pretty sure every female character in this book (other than the two children) were painted as "whores" or rape victims, both of which are shown as irritating nags when they don't bend to the MC's will at the flick of a wrist (don't worry, they usually do). Danyal, for example, multiple rape victim, get's talked to like absolute shit by Waylander, Waylander says "he would never go with a woman he wouldn't pay for", this is the basic extent of their conversation before she falls head over heels in love with him. Sounds legit. He also physically abuses a prostitute, leaving bruises on her arm saying he got "carried away" - this is especially problematic because he's frequently described that despite his many flaws, he would never abuse a woman, by the narrater! Clearly you do tho. Rape tropes in fantasy are cliche, but when they're used as a plot device and gratuitously, it's cheap, and grating, not to mention disrespectful.
/rant.
Despite all this I wouldn't say this was an *awful* book, and I can definitely see why people would be happy to get away from the stodgey descriptions and intimidating tomes that usually permeate the fantasy genre. These books are fun, uncomplicated, and the action scenes are fantastic. Unfortunately I would suggest that unless you're happy with the same story being fed over and over again to purchase Legend and not bother with the two suceeding novels.