As the first of four books in The Rigante series, Sword in The Storm for me defines Epic Fantasy. From the first pages, you get a great sense of the world these characters live in. While it seems to draw heavily from ancient Scotland, you are immediately aware that this is also a world where magic exists.
Every character in this book has more depth to them than some people I know in the real world. Very rarely have I actually found myself caring about what happened to fictional characters as much I did with this book– and the rest of Gemmell's works.
When you get down to the bare bones of the plot, it comes down to a classic battle between good and evil. What really makes it worth the read though, is all the bits that make up this story–from background characters, subplots, unique religious perspectives, etc. Gemmell is great at making heroes seem like real people; they aren't perfect; sometimes the good guys in these books have committed horrors that would make them seem like villains– Redemption seems to be a recurring theme Gemmell thrived on.
I was sad to learn that David Gemmell passed right before I had the pleasure of learning of his works. Thankfully he had gifted a number of great books upon the world prior to leaving it.
I hope this has piqued your interest in this amazing author, and that you to will soon join me in recommending his works.
You can purchase his books through almost every retailer, though this is a particular series that I think is best savored in a physical copy.
And check out this site to see an entire list of the books that David Gemmel has written.
