The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend

"This was a joy to read. It, as the title suggests, covers the early life of the legendary Druss. A brief summary of the story (spoiler free) is that Druss lives in a small village with his father, Bress, and his wife, Rowena. The village is attacked by a group of slavers who end up killing Bress, along with a majority of the village, and kidnapping most of the women, including Rowena. Druss then sets out to get her back. It's a simple setup to a great story. Druss meets many people on his journey, some that teach him, become lifelong friends, and some great enemies. Unfortunately for Druss, retrieving Rowena is not as simple as he wishes due to crappy timing and other circumstances. He gets so close at one point, only for her to slip away. We also get some really cool backstory on Druss' family, specifically his father and grandfather, Bress and Bardan. Bardan was basically the worst of the worst, a savage killer who everyone feared. This had a bad effect on Bress, obviously, being the child of the worst killer in the land. Bress' life sucks due to this, having to pick up and leave multiple times, from people wanting to kill him due to his father. Fast forward to him living in a small frontier village with his son after his wife died many years prior. We also get some cool backstory of Snaga, Druss' axe. Turns out Snaga is an enchanted weapon that is possessed by a demon that corrupts the user with bloodlust the more it is used. Overall, this was a fantastic story, a lot of great characters and world building. The latter portion of the book is very sad, though I'll not say why here. Just know that it has a sad ending, and you should have another book ready to go so that you avoid the inevitable depression from sad endings. Very highly recommended read."