About this guide

Druss is an independent guide to the novels of David Gemmell, for readers deciding which of his books to pick up next and for those who have read them and want to see how they fit together. It is named after the axeman of Legend, the character most readers meet first and remember longest.

What you will find here

A page for every novel, with a synopsis that sets up the story without giving away its ending, reading notes on what the book does well and less well, and its place in the series. Series pages explain how the books connect. The reading-order page answers the question readers ask most often: where to start. There is a character guide, a glossary of the places and peoples that recur across the books, and a short biography of Gemmell himself.

How it is written

Every synopsis and note on the site is original writing. Nothing is copied from jacket blurbs, publishers' descriptions or other websites, and the novels are not quoted beyond a few words.

Facts are checked before they go in. Titles and first-publication years follow the British first editions, as recorded by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database and the publishers. Plot set-ups and character appearances are cross-checked against independent sources such as contemporary reviews and reference works. Biographical details come from the obituaries published in 2006 and from interviews Gemmell gave during his life. Where sources disagree and the question cannot be settled, the detail is left out.

The synopses are deliberately spoiler-light. They describe the situation at the start of each book, who is in it and what is at stake, and stop there. Where a sequel cannot be introduced without mentioning how an earlier book ended, the page says so at the top.

The covers on this site

The book covers shown here are not the publishers' artwork. They are simple typographic designs made for this site, coloured by series, so that the books are easy to tell apart and the pages load quickly. Gemmell's novels have been reissued many times with different art, and the publishers' own covers are easy to find at any bookshop.

Independence

This site has no connection with David Gemmell's estate, his literary agents or his publishers, and nobody has paid for anything to be said about any book. The views in the reading notes are the site's own.

How the site is paid for

The site carries advertising served by Google AdSense. Advertisers have no say in what is written. Details of the cookies involved, and how to refuse them, are on the privacy page.