The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

 

"Reader 1 " Who put Romance in my Grimdark?"  Reader 2 "Who Put Grimdark in my Romance?

     Mark Lawrence, that's who!  Okay, this is the least Grimdark book Mr. Lawrence has written. Wait, that is not true.  Mark Lawrence has his self-published Impossible Times series, a time travel, "Stranger Things" inspired trilogy that starts with One Word Kill. That series too, is not Grimdark. And a great read and one of the best time travel stories I have read in the past decade.  Yes, this is a shout out for this underrated series.  Please read them, they are cheap, short and very readable. 

     This new series, as this is Book One of Three, has more twists and turns than the Ivy at Wrigley Fields. There are a lot of "Whoa, I did not see that coming" moments in this tale. A very satisfying read, the further into the book you dive, and things start to fall in place, you will fall in love with the story whose setting is a library of mysterious origins. 

      Mark Lawrence has always been a First-Person Narrative author, namely POV by Jorg, Jalan, Nona, Nick & Yaz in their respected trilogies. In this tale Mark gives the reader two POVs, his first and I hope not last, multiple POVs style narrative. 

      Mark Lawrence is one of my favorite authors and I hope this is his breakout book. This is the one that I think will get on Fantasy book bloggers and Fantasy BookTubers Top 10 reads of 2023 lists. The kind of book that at the end of the year you will be astonished if your friends have not read it.   

A Classic From 1985. Legend By David Gemmell

                                                                 

      

Two of my favorite Self-Published authors, [author:Michael R. Fletcher|7035308] and [author: Krystle Matar|20047399] are planning to write a book together.  So, they did a buddy read of [author:David Gemmell|11586]'s Legend. What better time to get one of my longest residents of my TBR?

  First published in 1985 and there are parts of the book that are very evident of being written in the early 1980s.  And yet I would still rate this a classic in the genre. The main character, Druss, has qualities that harken back to Robert E Howard's Conan. Owner of a great Battle Axe, Druss got his bones in a previous battle that saved the Empire. Called out of retirement, to once again save the Empire's bacon, Druss spends the book saying "I am not all that that," then proceeds to show by his actions "He Is" A retelling of the famous last stand of the Spartans, always a winning trope. 

     David Gemmell uses omniscient narration, a writing style which has fallen a bit out of fashion in the Fantasy genre.  This book clocks in at a tight paced 370 or so pages, which has also fallen out of fashion. Except for a couple of dated scenes and dialogue, I really liked this book. First of eleven in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone. The last 30% of the book was mostly full-on action.