Review of Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, by David Gemmel
KVM's review rating: ***** (excellent)
David
Gemmel's fantasy-historical Troy series, starting with Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, was a tough sell for me. I've seen a number of Troy adaptations, and after seeing the horribly so-so Brad Pitt movie by the same name, I was reluctant to spend any more time with the Trojans.
Happily, I can say Gemmel did his usual bang-up job. In fact, I think Lord of the Silver Bow is one of my all-time favorite Gemmel books, in a long list of excellent adventures. I learned that Gemmel wrote this series because he saw the movie and was disappointed by it. "I can do something much better" he is quoted as saying in an interview.
'Much better' he did! The Troy series is an excellent and detailed depiction of the Greek world of Odysseus, Achilles, Hector, Priam, Agamemnon, and the rest. The portrayal of these great epic heroes is SUPERB – each with a very different personality and many that are quite original. For example, unlike the Priam depicted in the movie, Gemmel makes the man a fairly young and very vain king that is rather harsh to his family and everyone else, but is financially savvy and a strong ruler, making Troy the envy of the Greek world. Helen is a plain-looking bookworm with personality that attracts an equally studious Paris, which is an interesting take that I found welcome.
What's better – the main characters are not the well-known heroes. At least, not the main heroes commonly identified with the Trojan War. They all make appearances, some even have major roles (like Odysseus), but many of the protagonists are ordinary folk that live in the times (well, you find out the main character is someone who is destined to become a major legendary-historical figure, but he is not a major "hero" of the "Homerian" Trojan War).
The book is full of Gemmel's usual wonderful descriptions and mature character development, as well as (often hard) love, action, and grittiness typified by his bold writing style. As a history buff, it is VERY interesting to see what his vision of the time period equates to. Honestly, it's the best Troy story that I've ever seen, and is equal to Homer's own epic. And I don't say that lightly.
Sadly, Gemmel died before he finished the third and last book in the trilogy. However, he did leave notes. His wife, a long-time writing teammate of his, is finishing it up. I'm on the second book now, Troy: Shield of Thunder, and I'm looking forward to the next review…