First Chronicles Of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell

This is simply the best fantasy book ever written. It was the first of David Gemmells books that I read and even to this day it has not been bested. Druss and Sieben make a perfect contradiction but have valuable lessons for each other and us. The story moves along at a great pace and each chapter leaves you wondering what will come next.

You will hold your breath, you will laugh, you will be close to tears and you will love every page of it.

This novel is a masterpiece, and in my opinion, one of Gemmell's best. It's the classic young-man-chasing-his-lost-love story wrapped in satisfyingly gory battles and an overarching depiction of how war changes a man. The main characters are certainly not cookie-cutter, but they are of recognizable archetypes. Druss is the brawler hero, a hulking man with violent passion and a never-quit attitude; Sieben is the womanizing best friend, a man who charms women with his eloquent words; Shadak is the wise mentor, and so on and so forth. It is hard to create a story that has not been told in some shape or form, and indeed The First Chronicles Of Druss The Legend feels familiar. But few have told it quite so well as David Gemmell, with a humble but efficient writing style that perfectly delivers his own version.