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Troy - Lord of the Silver Bow - David Gemmell

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The Czar
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Troy - Lord of the Silver Bow - David Gemmell

Post by The Czar » Sun August 26th, 2012, 2:36 am

I began this book, the first of the Troy trilogy, after reading a recommendation of it here.

I was a bit skeptical. I love the Trojan War mythology and all, but truthfully... the number one drawback to historical fiction, in my mind, is that it often isn't very exciting, as I already know going in what is going to happen. This is especially true if I know the period well.

So I expected to breeze through a standard retelling of the Illiad, with the same old characters marching through the same old story.

Well, I am halfway through Book 2, and I can't put it down.

Mr. Gemmell does a wonderful job breathing new life into characters you have known since childhood. He makes each of them conflicted and interesting in some way, not the two dimensional figures you often see in Troy rehashes. He also does a good job of concealing who in fact a character is at times. I didn't realize that Aeneas was Aeneas until well into the first book.

He also focuses a lot on telling the story through the eyes of "minor" players in the saga... Aeneas, Andreomache, Odysseus, and just random foot soldiers and whatnot. It isn't just Achilles, Helen, Menelaus, Priam, Hector, and the other major players.

Also, I like that neither side is "good". Yes, Agamemnon is portrayed as a pretty much utterly loathsome figure, but many of the Mykene under him chafe at the "loss of honor" that has happened since the death of Atreus. Achilles, so far, is just an arrogant blowhard. Not much depth there yet.

I like that Gemmell made Priam a pretty unlikeable character. And Hector's "disability" is a strange twist...

I highly recommend the first book of this trilogy, and am looking forward to finishing the series very quickly!
Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.
_______________________________________________
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

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lauragill
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Post by lauragill » Tue September 18th, 2012, 4:50 pm

I liked this book, too, and devoured it in a matter of days. I especially cried at the end when a certain character died.

My only quibble with Helikaon is that he's too perfect. Never at a loss in a fight, rarely without his shirt, always two steps ahead of the enemy. And don't get me started on the Xanthos, a ship a thousand years ahead of its time, with Greek fire, to boot!

I liked the portrayal of Odysseus as a storytelling trader, and rather liked Andromache, who could have been extremely annoying in the hands of another writer. But I would like to see at least one portrayal of Agamemnon where he isn't a stone cold, one-dimensional villain.
Last edited by lauragill on Wed September 19th, 2012, 5:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Shield-of-Dardania
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Post by Shield-of-Dardania » Tue November 13th, 2012, 11:59 am

The Troy Trilogy, with David Gemmel's unique inimitable style, was what launched my journey into the world of HF. As a reader mostly, but also as a writer wannabe still struggling to finish the first instalment of his own trilogy wannabe.

I actually bought and read Book 3, Fall of Kings, first because it was the one I came across while just browsing through the shelves at a local bookstore. Then I worked my way to Book 1 and Book 2.

I have quite often wondered if my liking for DG's Troy is mostly about an amateur's over-enthusiasm for his first experience of something, but hearing others give their own positive comments on it have given me some comfort.

@The Czar:
Not trying to spoil the fun for ya, but there is another interesting disguised character you might like. It's in Book 2, Shield of Power, if I recall correctly.

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Post by Shield-of-Dardania » Tue November 13th, 2012, 2:24 pm

[quote=""lauragill""]
My only quibble with Helikaon is that he's too perfect. Never at a loss in a fight, rarely without his shirt, always two steps ahead of the enemy. And don't get me started on the Xanthos, a ship a thousand years ahead of its time, with Greek fire, to boot!
[/quote]
I would intrepret that as David's way of preparing the character of Helikaon/Aeneas for his eventual destiny as the lone survivor of the Troy catastrophe and the founder of a new kingdom. He did not have the sheer brawn of Hector or Achilles, so he had to have something else. Intelligence, skill, luck etc.

But he did his time too, as a teen seemingly without a future, unloved by his father, scared of heights, scared of the world, psychologically severely scarred by the terrible experience of seeing his mother thrown down a cliff by invaders. He was a basket case, basically. He was only saved by Odysseus, who in fact had been hired by his father to eliminate him.
Last edited by Shield-of-Dardania on Tue November 13th, 2012, 2:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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lauragill
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Post by lauragill » Tue November 13th, 2012, 6:42 pm

[quote=""Shield-of-Dardania""]I would intrepret that as David's way of preparing the character of Helikaon/Aeneas for his eventual destiny as the lone survivor of the Troy catastrophe and the founder of a new kingdom. He did not have the sheer brawn of Hector or Achilles, so he had to have something else. Intelligence, skill, luck etc.

But he did his time too, as a teen seemingly without a future, unloved by his father, scared of heights, scared of the world, psychologically severely scarred by the terrible experience of seeing his mother thrown down a cliff by invaders. He was a basket case, basically. He was only saved by Odysseus, who in fact had been hired by his father to eliminate him.[/quote]

Helikaon's mother committed suicide. You're thinking of Halysia, his stepmother, whose son Diomedes was set on fire and thrown from the same cliff.

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Post by Shield-of-Dardania » Wed November 14th, 2012, 1:46 am

Ha ha. Right. Thanks. My memory is playing tricks with me now. I keep going back to browse through with all 3 books. But it's been some time since I last did that.

Yeah. Helikaon's mother was like a mental case and a drug addict. Sometimes she thought that she was Venus and therefore could fly. It was David's play on the Homer version which said that Aeneas was a child of Venus and King Anchises.

As for the ship Xanthos, BTW, my memory says its special weapon was not really 'Greek fire', which is a sort of tubed flamethrower spewing out flammable liquid, which was then lit into flames and pointed at enemy formations, ships etc., which Thucydides said was used in the siege of Delium in 424 BC.

But what Xanthios had was more like several fixed ballista which was used to launch balls of clay-grass-weed mixture soaked with naphta. The balls, or at least some of them, would land on an enemy ship's deck, then they would be followed up with flaming arrows to light them up. Wiki says this kind of thing was used by the Assyrians as early as 900 BC.

The time of the Troy wars were about 1200 BC, give or take 100 years. Assyrians were already in the Trojan-Hattusan area and thereabouts around that time, as merchants, mercenaries, envoys to the Hittites etc. So, all in all, maybe David wasn't that far off.
Last edited by Shield-of-Dardania on Wed November 14th, 2012, 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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