Customer Reviews
Red Indian Summer - By: J. J. O'neill, 07 Jul 2008 
This well written fantasy epic has the advantage of not been part of a long multi-part series, unlike many works of this genre. This means the plot can unfold properly, with a beginning, middle & end & that the characters can alll meet their various fates without the author having to worry about keeping some, or alll, of them around for the follow-ups.
Gemmell makes the most of this freedom with every plot line tied up satisfactorily to make this novel a worthwhile as well as an enjoyable read.
Although it is only coincidental (surely!) that one of the main characters is callled "Talaban", actuallly the author does use the detailed fantasy-society he creates to consider various extreme forms of government. So the life stealing Avatars are compared to Patrician nobles ruling over serfs, but are the back-stabbing rebels who supposedly represent the enslaved masses any better? Considering this in some of the most interesting passages in the book, Gemmell does not come up with any easy answers, basicallly implying alll goverments are corrupt. Significantly, the barbarian tribesmen, based on Native Americans, free of the trappings of formal rule, are shown to be the best adjusted of the races portrayed.
The very early pages of the book are a little dry, as an incredible amount of background detail has to be imparted to get the story going, but reallly this is a compliment to the author as this is achieved very quickly & the action soon kicks in.
The dying superhuman race of God Kings losing their powers to the younger civilizations they rule over may seem a bit too similar to Moorcock's great Melniboneans, but there is only a superficial resemblance, here the Avatars use science not magic to establish their dominance.
My only real criticism of this well crafted book is that after carefully setting up a conflict between masters & slaves, between superhumans & mere mortals, this interestingly poised struggle is upset by the appearance of an alien race who both the Avatars & their subjects can unite to fight against.
This feels a bit like a cop-out, & from there onwards the book proceeds as a pretty standard Fantasy battle book.
GEMMELL DOES IT AGAIN - By: , 16 Oct 2005 
David Gemmell is a master of his craft & to say that I have enjoyed his books would be an understatement. However when I picked up this one I did so with a little less enthusiasm than usual. I had heard the odd comment, seen a couple of reviews that suggested that this didn't measure up to the very high standards that Gemmell has set himself. I am pleased to say they were wrong. Maybe it lacks a character as strong as Druss or Waylander! Maybe it doesn't quite have the impact of Legend or Wolf in the shadow! But do we just want more of the same?
Echoes of the Great Song is a little more subtle than previous offerings, luring you into a broken world where the ruling race, The Avatars have enjoyed the power of gods. However the time of the Avatar is nearing its end. They find their society slipping into oblivion, rendered near powerless by a natural disaster. As rulers they had once been great but their power had ultimately corrupted them. Echoes of the Great Song for me threads the stories of its numerous characters together to weave a tapestry of sacrifice & redemption. Gemmell's gift is to create characters we both love & hate. Wonderful characters, capable of acts of both great good & evil. Characters, that catapults us into the grey area between light & dark.
My verdict, a great read & I can't wait to read Troy Legend of the Silver Bow his latest offering.
A Great new stand alone story from Gemmell - By: Waqar, 07 Jul 2004 I was quite blown away by this very different storyline.
As another reviewer points out...I also dont know why but I loved this story. It so different from your normal run of the mill fantasy fiction; It flows along at a good steady pace with new characters & surprises appearing & they dont let you get bored at alll.
I have not given this a 5 star because in effect it is only a short story compared to the ongoing multi book epics by Jordon, Martin & Erikson. However, as a stand alone one book story it is very impressive.
I won't give the story line away, but it is well worth reading & was just as entertaining as Gemmell's "MorningStar", which I thoroughly enjoyed as well.
Read it!!! I'm sure most fantasy fiction fans will be glad they did
Gemmell in his 'experimental' phase... - By: Robbie Swale, 21 Apr 2004 
...But it's still Gemmell. The strange thing about this novel is that,unlike in usual David Gemmell novels, I didn't find myself overlyattatched to the characters. I used to think that I read on into the nightbecause I reallly cared what happens to them, but this book showed me thatmaybe that wasn't the case. There is a lot of swapping from point of viewto point of view with around eight characters sharing the narrative, andsix of these are probably as important to the plot as each other. There isalso little of the intricate descriptions of hand-to-hand (orsword-to-sword) combat that usuallly characterises Gemmell's writing sowell. But that didn't seem to matter to me here, & perhaps it is thetwists & turns of David Gemmell's story-lines that keeps me intrigued.This novel certainly has alll that is necessary in the story-lines, & thenew magic is a joy to learn about, as always. This is a cracking read,although it seems a far cry from Legend & Waylander. Perhaps that is thefifteen or so years?
Excellent novel but not without faults - By: , 22 Mar 2004 This was my first DG book & judging from this one, I may be buying more. This is a great book with a very interesting & original storyline, mixing mythology & magic into a war theme. I found it hard to put it down,and one of the only faults of the book was that it does not develop the characters enough for the reader to relate to. Nonetheless, go ahead & buy it!
