If you are a little hesitant to read this because the title might remind you of a certain space rock band I can understand you. I would however suggest that you put that aside and give this book a try. This is a fantasy novel that is not too long or verbose - I find some fantasy to be flowery or over descriptive and tend to read more SF as a result.

One thing that I occassionally find tricky in fantasy is how the band of adventurers come together. Some authors get over the problem by deliberately selecting a group of people to go and face a great evil/danger chosen by wise men/kings etc. This book has the party drift together mostly due to their travelling to the city of Falmore. This is actually done in quite a good way although I would suggest you try to read the prologue and first two or three chapters in one sitting so you will absorb where the characters are coming from and where everyone is. That is a slight downside to this book, there are a lot of fantasy places, races and people names thrown in at the start which could get a little bit much - of course if you are a more frequent reader of fantasy than I then this may pose you no problem.

The characters are quite well handled, I especially like Turuth, a typically brash Scotsman (although described as a Northman) and Bob (a two foot tall Zithaen). The story is a traditional good vs evil prophecy type story, a little bit like a Dungeons and Dragons game write-up, but not in a bad way, and thankfully does not have endless passages describing journeying which usually seem to me to be there just to prove the writer has done research in medieval or dark ages travel - in this they tend to just get there.

This is honest easy to read fantasy, it's not going to challenge Tolkien but give it a chance and you will probably get a good read.

When I was first given this book to read I was a little wary. It arrived as an e-book and ended up being printed on numerous A4 pieces of paper. Luckily I ignored my initial feelings and started to read. Initially I found the prologue a little hard going. I was presented with a myriad of names and places and was almost tempted to take notes. However, within a few pages I was wrapped in a fantasy world of classic myth and magic. I would recommend that any reader try and set aside a couple of hours to read through the prologue and into the main tale as the writing style quickly settles down into a comfortable pace. The book has a fairly traditional fantasy form but this is not a bad thing. There are some wonderful characters each with their own personalities, my personal favourite being Turuth.

I only had one problem when reading Legend of Hawkwind: I was nearly late for work on a couple of occasions because I just HAD to see what was going to happen next! I tend to read a lot of fantasy and it has been a while since a book has grabbed my attention this well. There is a space reserved on one of our bookshelves for when this book is available in print in the UK. Adrian Drake is a new author that shows considerable promise. I do hope that the Legend will continue!