Bloodstone

Rating:
Summary: This isn't a book, it's fuel for my fireplace.
Review: This book is terrible. A fun read, but terrible. It's like eighties action flicks involving Stallone, Ah-nold and Swayze. They are a lot of fun, but don't go looking for anything other than gun and explosions and a hot chick to drool at.
Gemmel borrows elements from the Western man-in-black tradtion (go read Shane instead), fantasy's creatures, and sci-fi's vision of parallel worlds with some religion thrown in as a bonus (read Heinlein's Job: Comedy Of Justice). Gemmel can plot - he just can't write. At least, not well. Shannow is a stiff, inflexible, two dimensional character - and the Deacon isn't any better. Flat out? Read this book because it's the last book on the shelf and you have burned the rest for fuel for the fire to heat your home. For any other reason, it's inexcusable.

Rating:
Summary: A great ending to a bad series
Review: This is the last in Gemmell's Stones of Power series; it's notable mostly because Gemmell has wrapped up a bad series with a good ending. The three earliest books are immature in their writing style and plotting, and, while the fourth is definitely better, Gemmell just seems to be finding his stride. Bloodstone pulls the frayed plot lines together and turns Jon Shannow into the archetype for all Gemmell's tormented heroes. The earlier books introduced a line of meddling immortals, posing from time to time as gods (Athena and Odin among others), and mythical figures including Merlin and Gilgamesh. The series ranges from Arthurian England to Atlantis (home, mysteriously, to the Biblical Noah) to Shannow's post-Apocalyptic Wild West. Time travel has allowed a paradoxical twist in which Shannow sends a 20th century missile back in time to initiate the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis.

Bloodstone takes all these plot twists and manages to make them work. When Shannow sent the missile to Atlantis, he freed a fleet of 20th century planes from time stasis; they land, bringing a strange leader intent on rebuilding the earth to combat a mysterious evil. Who is the stanger? What is this evil only he knows about? With a parallel universe, an ur-villain, and a hero seeking redemption, what more could you ask from Gemmell? I don't think this book would make much sense by itself, unfortunately, and I can't recommend slogging through the whole series just for this, but if you can stand the earlier books, this one is rewarding in the solid, well written style I have found in Gemmell's other series.

Rating:
Summary: Benjamin Denes: I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Review: This was not only the first Gemmell book I read, but also one of the only books in my lifetime that I have purchased by back-cover blurb alone, and I have to say this book blew my mind. Not only were the chractors extremely well written (as are all of Gemmell's charactors. I found myself actually caring for them) but this book contains one of the most amazing endings I have ever read in a novel. The way Gemmell seamlessly weaves a futuristic western setting with fantastic magic, dark Christianity and Atlantean myth is unearthly. In fact, this book made me buy every one of David's books without reading the backs - and I have not been disappointed. Do I have to say more? READ THIS BOOK!