Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow

Well, I finished reading this last night.
It's pretty much a typical David Gemmell novel, so if you've enjoyed his earlier works, then you'll enjoy this one. The main character is called Heraklion, a Dardanian (today, northern Turkey) noble who's also a shipping magnate. The novel is told mainly from his viewpoint and that of Andromache, a priestess who is Hektor's (aka Hector) intended bride.

Overall, the story itself is not as progressive as I might have liked. The characters are pretty much "cut and paste" jobs from his earlier works are aren't as multi-layered as I've come to enjoy in other author's works. The finale of the novel is easily the most enjoyable segment and does advance the story along, however this makes the novel feel like a extended prologue for what will be the more 'meaty' 2nd & 3rd novels.

Verdict: an enjoyable, if somewhat cliched romp. :)
 
Haven't read it yet because i'm stuck into another book right now, but i got a signed copy for my birthday, so...wow...lol....just can't wait to read it now...
 
I liked this a lot, but I really like ancient greek history and I really like David Gemmel so no suprises there.

Almost made me want to read the Aeneid (but not quite, I'll wait for the next Gemmel book instead).

I agree with Winters_Sorrow to a certain extent, there is a sense that book 1 is mainly set up for the rest of the series but I still really enjoyed it.
 
Book two is out in September, it looks pretty good from the snippet Ive had a look at.
 
I liked that one, even if it was just basically a bunch of people trying to get even with each other in grotesque ways. I thought it was cool, and I'm glad he never mentioned Achilles.
 
just a wild guess here, what if Heraklion is Achilles. I mean, he is a friend of Odissey, he answers to no king.... all that says that he isn't is his friendship with Hector. But that can change in the next two books :) Lets hope not.
 
No. Helikaeon is Aeneas, as it says in the book. Aeneas/Helikaeon is a character from Greek myth/the Iliad, and is (in the myth) supposed to have fled the end of Troy to the land now known as Italy and founded Rome.
 
I know, but it would be a fine twist, wouldn't it? At the end best friends locked in a mortal combat. And in the end they would come to their senses after an epic battle, just short of dealing a death blow to each other.

I'm sorry I'm just writing some stuff, still shocked about David.
 
I was unsure when I came to reading this book, but I shouldnt have worried, David more than delivered the goods. This is an amazing book.
 
well the second book is already out. i've heard talk about there being a ghost writer to finish the third, not sure how true it is. personally i'm holding off on starting it until i find out what's happening!
 
Apparently David's wife will finish the Trilogy alot has alredy been put down prior to his sad passing,
 
yeah i had figured that since the second book was completed that the third would have been well underway.
 
I was in uni on wednesday and browsing through the books in waterstones, now I've wanted to buy this book for a while but there was something stopping me everytime I picked it up. I guess it's because, despite my interest in ancient greece, I was unsure about a book set around the Trojan war.

However, I had money in hand, had bought the books I needed to buy (Reading Ancient Greek) and decided to buy this. I took it home and read quite a bit of it that night. While I do find the story usually jumps between flashbacks and current events too often for my taste, the story itself is so far quite interesting. I've never read a Gemmell novel before despite many of my friends saying his books are good.

I'll see how things get when I finish this book, if I enjoy it all the way to the end I'll buy the second book. I hope that the third book is done, even if I decide not to buy the second book as it would be a shame for the trilogy not to be finished. As a aspiring author myself I think if I'm ever in the middle of a trilogy and I do pass on I'd hope that someone close to me, who understands my works would continue and finish it nicely for me.

As I've read the Iliad and the Aeneid, I did find it strange when I realised that the main character was Aeneas...the whole father situation though confuses me considering the events of the Aeneid....oh well! I guess I'll find out more when I've finished the book.
 
Hellbunny said:
No. Helikaeon is Aeneas, as it says in the book. Aeneas/Helikaeon is a character from Greek myth/the Iliad, and is (in the myth) supposed to have fled the end of Troy to the land now known as Italy and founded Rome.
Click to expand...

I wish I hadn't read your comment as it's kind of spoiled the end of the trilogy for me. The 2nd book plays heavily on hints of Rome but now I know what happens to Helikaeon it's taken away the edge.
 
funny detail in lion of makedone & dark prince there is this swordsman/assassin attalus and in the troy series the alias of assassin karpohorus is attalus.
 
This was actually my first Gemmell book. I haven't had a chance to read the sequel yet, though. I really enjoyed it, enough that I have looked into other books by him.
 
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