Ghost King (The Stones of Power, Book 1)

Rating:
Summary: non stop action
Review: this book tells the tale of uther pendragon with twists and turns from the way you may have heard it before. an immortal who gives up immortality . a leader who starts as a weak and feeble child and transforms into a noble king

Rating:
Summary: Great Writer - Great Story
Review: This book was my first exposure to David Gemmell and what a pleasure it was to read. I do not read much fantasy, but this book will certainly change my tastes in reading genre. It was fast paced, easily followed, had great characterizations, and contained a darn good, captivating plotline. I could not put the book down.

I do not wish to give a synopsis, since I will leave the total pleasure and experience to you when you read this book. I will say this, if David Gemmell's other books are as good as this one, I plan to read a lot more of his work and fantasy in general.

Rating:
Summary: The First I Ever Read...
Review: Well, one time I was coming home from school, and wandering through the Cincinnati airport looking for something to read. I ran across this book, and devoured it on the way home. (For some reason, the little kiosk in the "Puddle-jumper" concourse of the Cincy airport always has good books...it's uncanny, really)

For all intents and purposes, this is a re-working of the Arthur story, where we meet Arthur as a young Romanized Briton. He gets taken in by a near-immortal Atlantean warrior after his father is killed by other nobles, and trained to take care of himself. He then goes on a quest to find the sword his father threw to the Lady in the Lake, in an alternate universe ruled by an insane Atlantean sorceress.

What's really interesting is that Mr. Gemmell weaves a lot of real-life history into his work, making it very realistic. It is indeed far more likely that the "real" Arthur was simply a Romanized Briton, fighting after the Empire's exit from the Isles. The Legion that he finds in the Mist was actually destroyed, except for its auxiliary cavalry, in the Iceni revolt; instead, in this, they were exiled into the Mist in a fit of pique.

The Sipstrassi stones are also interesting...they allow magic, but a limited supply exists, which is a good limiting mechanic.

This is a very good book to pick up. The second in the series is a sequel, and then the next three are the rather unique John Shannow (post-apocalyptic gunslinger) novels, which are worth their weight in gold. They're set in the same continuity, also. Much of the cosmology (particularly the cataclysm bits) derive heavily from modern fringe theory. I won't go into that, but to say that it's never had a better use.

Rating:
Summary: The First I Ever Read...
Review: Well, one time I was coming home from school, and wandering through the Cincinnati airport looking for something to read. I ran across this book, and devoured it on the way home. (For some reason, the little kiosk in the "Puddle-jumper" concourse of the Cincy airport always has good books...it's uncanny, really)

For all intents and purposes, this is a re-working of the Arthur story, where we meet Arthur as a young Romanized Briton. He gets taken in by a near-immortal Atlantean warrior after his father is killed by other nobles, and trained to take care of himself. He then goes on a quest to find the sword his father threw to the Lady in the Lake, in an alternate universe ruled by an insane Atlantean sorceress.

What's really interesting is that Mr. Gemmell weaves a lot of real-life history into his work, making it very realistic. It is indeed far more likely that the "real" Arthur was simply a Romanized Briton, fighting after the Empire's exit from the Isles. The Legion that he finds in the Mist was actually destroyed, except for its auxiliary cavalry, in the Iceni revolt; instead, in this, they were exiled into the Mist in a fit of pique.

The Sipstrassi stones are also interesting...they allow magic, but a limited supply exists, which is a good limiting mechanic.

This is a very good book to pick up. The second in the series is a sequel, and then the next three are the rather unique John Shannow (post-apocalyptic gunslinger) novels, which are worth their weight in gold. They're set in the same continuity, also. Much of the cosmology (particularly the cataclysm bits) derive heavily from modern fringe theory. I won't go into that, but to say that it's never had a better use.