DrussA reader's guide to David Gemmell

Reading order

David Gemmell reading order

Where to start with David Gemmell, how each series fits together, every novel in the order it was published, and the Drenai books in the order their stories happen.

Where to start

Start with Legend. It is the book most readers begin with, it needs no background, and it shows what Gemmell does best: a siege, an old hero facing his last fight, and a younger man discovering he is braver than he thought. It is a first novel and reads like one in places, but its energy has kept it in print since 1984. If it works for you, carry on through the Drenai books in publication order.

If you want something darker and more assured, start with Waylander instead. It came two years later, stands alone, and is the earliest Drenai story in the world's own history, so it spoils nothing. Do not start with the Druss prequels (The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, The Legend of Deathwalker, White Wolf); they are written for readers who already know where Druss ends up.

If you prefer history to fantasy, start with Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow. It is late Gemmell, with almost no magic, and it suits readers of historical adventure who have never picked up a fantasy novel. Lion of Macedon is the alternative: classical Greece with a stronger supernatural thread, and a complete story in two books.

For Celtic, clan-against-empire fantasy, start the Rigante with Sword in the Storm. The first two books make a complete story, so you can stop there or go on to the later pair.

For something stranger, Wolf in Shadow is a post-apocalyptic western: a lone gunman with a Bible crossing a world knocked off its axis. Ghost King is the way into the Arthurian side of the same Stones of Power setting. For a single book with no commitments, try Morningstar or Knights of Dark Renown.

Leave the direct sequels and the non-fantasy books until later. Quest for Lost Heroes, The Swords of Night and Day, the second books of each pair and the last two Troy novels all assume you have read what comes before, and White Knight, Black Swan and Rhyming Rings are for readers who already know him.

Series by series

Inside each series this is the recommended order. Every series can be started without having read any of the others.

Publication order

All the novels by year of first British publication, alphabetically within a year. This is the order in which Gemmell's readers met them.

  1. 1Legend (1984)Drenai
  2. 2The King Beyond the Gate (1985)Drenai
  3. 3Waylander (1986)Drenai
  4. 4Wolf in Shadow (1987)Stones of Power
  5. 5Ghost King (1988)Stones of Power
  6. 6Last Sword of Power (1988)Stones of Power
  7. 7Knights of Dark Renown (1989)Standalone novels
  8. 8The Last Guardian (1989)Stones of Power
  9. 9Lion of Macedon (1990)Macedon
  10. 10Quest for Lost Heroes (1990)Drenai
  11. 11Dark Prince (1991)Macedon
  12. 12Morningstar (1992)Standalone novels
  13. 13Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf (1992)Drenai
  14. 14The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend (1993)Drenai
  15. 15White Knight, Black Swan (1993)Outside the fantasy
  16. 16Bloodstone (1994)Stones of Power
  17. 17Ironhand's Daughter (1995)Hawk Queen
  18. 18The Hawk Eternal (1995)Hawk Queen
  19. 19Dark Moon (1996)Standalone novels
  20. 20The Legend of Deathwalker (1996)Drenai
  21. 21Echoes of the Great Song (1997)Standalone novels
  22. 22Winter Warriors (1997)Drenai
  23. 23Sword in the Storm (1998)Rigante
  24. 24Midnight Falcon (1999)Rigante
  25. 25Hero in the Shadows (2000)Drenai
  26. 26Ravenheart (2001)Rigante
  27. 27Stormrider (2002)Rigante
  28. 28White Wolf (2003)Drenai
  29. 29The Swords of Night and Day (2004)Drenai
  30. 30Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow (2005)Troy
  31. 31Troy: Shield of Thunder (2006)Troy
  32. 32Troy: Fall of Kings (2007)Troy
  33. 33Rhyming Rings (2017)Outside the fantasy

The Drenai books in story order

This is the order in which the stories happen, not the order to read them for the first time. It follows the Drenai timeline compiled by the fan site Wolfshead and republished, with a chronological reading list, on the David Gemmell Legend Awards website. Its compilers say a copy was sent to Gemmell and talked through with him, and that some dates were adjusted to make the books agree. Wikipedia and the Gemmell fan wiki follow the same sequence. On the points most often questioned: Winter Warriors comes after Quest for Lost Heroes in the timeline, in the awards site's list and on Wikipedia, and no source we found places it earlier. Knights of Dark Renown and Morningstar are standalone novels that the timeline sets in the same world's deep past, so they are marked optional. The chronology suits a reread. The Druss prequels and White Wolf are written for readers who already know Legend.

  1. 1Knights of Dark Renown (1989)Optional. A standalone novel that the fan-compiled Drenai timeline sets far back in the same world's history.
  2. 2Morningstar (1992)Optional. Also a standalone; the same timeline places it in the world's distant past, after Knights of Dark Renown.
  3. 3Waylander (1986)The earliest Drenai novel proper: the Vagrian invasion and the Armour of Bronze.
  4. 4Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf (1992)Waylander years later; a direct sequel.
  5. 5Hero in the Shadows (2000)Waylander older still; the last of his three books.
  6. 6The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend (1993)Druss as a young man, some decades after Waylander's time.
  7. 7The Legend of Deathwalker (1996)Druss in his prime, among the Nadir.
  8. 8White Wolf (2003)Skilgannon meets an older Druss, shortly before Legend.
  9. 9Legend (1984)Druss in his sixties at the siege of Dros Delnoch.
  10. 10The King Beyond the Gate (1985)Generations after Legend: Tenaka Khan and a Drenai state gone rotten.
  11. 11Quest for Lost Heroes (1990)Some decades later; continues the aftermath of The King Beyond the Gate.
  12. 12Winter Warriors (1997)Later again, with a new cast, when the Drenai have become an empire that has conquered Ventria.
  13. 13The Swords of Night and Day (2004)About a thousand years after Skilgannon's death; the last point in the chronology.