The Librain……retired

So I am back again! Thankfully, the weather has cooled down quite a lot and we have even had some rain. Several plants have died during the heat but some look to be perking up somewhat. Anyway, let’s get back to my reading journey. Regular visitors will be aware that I have been revisiting some of my favourite authors and books this year, particularly David Gemmell, Joe Abercrombie and Juliet Marillier. I have really enjoyed rereading their work and also discovering other books that I missed in the past.

Over the last two weeks I have read two books by David Gemmell and have almost finished a third! After that I will probably take a break and read something new to me. Anyway, here are the books…

The first book was Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell, a stand alone and not really part of a series although it is linked to his famous Drenai books.

Here is the blurb:

The Knights of the Gabala were legendary protectors of the Nine Duchies – until they disappeared through a demon-haunted gateway between worlds. Manannan, the Coward Knight, held back. Now he lives in torment. Yet war is coming to the Duchies – and with it Manannan’s chance for redemption. But to regain his honour and save his land, he will have to confront his deepest fear. He must ride through the gateway and seek out his lost companions in the unknown world beyond.And the secret he will learn there will tear his soul apart.

And this is my response on Goodreads…

Knights Of Dark Renown by David Gemmell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I must admit that it took me a little longer than usual to really feel immersed in this tale. Gemmell’s work really draws me into the story, with larger than life characters and clever plot lines. However, after a few chapters had introduced the multiple characters and the wide ranging setting, I really enjoyed the story as the brilliant writing drew me on to the ending. I have been a fan of Gemmell’s work for decades and have now added another book to my list of future rereads!

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When I had finished I decided to return to a series that I have already read more than once! As a former student of Ancient Greece, I find Gemmell”s version of the Trojan War a fascinating fusion of myth, history and fantasy. His take on the lives of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great in his Greek Series is also brilliant. I have finished the first book, Lion of Macedon, and will write about it here.

Here is the blurb…

Over and again, the aged seeress Tamis scried all the possible tomorrows. In every one, dark forces threatened Greece; terrible evil was poised to reenter the world. The future held only one hope: a half-caste Spartan boy, Parmenion. So Tamis made it her mission to see that Parmenion would before the deadliest warrior in the world — no matter what the cost.

Raised to manhood in Sparta, bullied and forced to fight for his life every day, Parmenion had no notion of the unseen dimensions of magic and mystery that shaped his fate. He grew in strength and cunning. His military genius earned him the title Strategos in Sparta. His triumphs for the city of Thebes made him a hero. And finally his fate led him to the service of Philip of Macedon.

As Tamis had foreseen, Parmenion’s destiny was tied to the Dark God, to Philip, and to the yet-unborn Alexander. All too soon the future was upon them. Parmenion stood poised to defeat evil — or to open the gate for the Dark God to reenter the world.

Unfortunately, the Goodreads site did not give me the review link in the usual format so I have taken a screenshot instead…

Now, I will return to the second and final book in the series, Dark Prince, which I will write about next week.

Happy reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Welcome to this week’s post. I actually managed to read two books over the past week. One was the final book in a trilogy and the other was a new book by my favourite author!

My first book of the week was David Gemmell’s Fall of Kings, Troy #03. As this was his last book, his wife, Stella Gemmell, also worked on it. This is the blurb…

Darkness falls on the Great Green, and the Ancient World is fiercely divided.On the killing fields outside the golden city of Troy, forces loyal to the Mykene King mass. Among them is Odysseus, fabled storyteller and reluctant ally to the Mykene, who knows that he must soon face his former friends in deadly combat.Within the city, the Trojan king waits. Ailing and bitter, his hope is pinned on two his favourite son Hektor, and the dread Helikaon who will wreak terrible vengeance for the death of his wife at Mykene hands.War has been declared.As enemies, who are also kinsmen, are filled with bloodlust, they know that many of them will die, and that some will become heroes who will live for ever in a story that will echo down the centuries.

And here is my response on Goodreads…

Fall of Kings by David Gemmell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This final part of the trilogy covers the siege of Troy and its aftermath. It was really interesting to see how Gemmell dealt with Homer’s tale. Things like the Trojan Horse, the battle between Achilles and Hector, the fate of Andromache and her son and, of course, events in the wider Mediterranean. I really loved Gemmell’s version of these famous tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and am so pleased that I decided to re read the trilogy. These are excellent books and well worth reading.

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It was interesting to read these books at a time when the new Odyssey film was coming out. Younger Son has seen it but I will have to wait until I can watch it on my iPad or on TV!

My second book of the week was one by my favourite author, Guy Gavriel Kaye. I bought it months ago when it first came out but didn’t feel that I was in the right frame of mind to read it until now. The title is Written on the Dark, #08 Sarantine Universe, and here is the blurb…

Thierry Villar is a well-known — even notorious — tavern poet, intimately familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be swept into the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.

But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as power struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.

As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king – and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.

Both sweeping and intimate, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the equally intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.

And this is my review…

Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I were to describe my favourite kind of books, I would say that they have exciting plots with unexpected twists, colourful characters and well drawn settings. I must admit that I am not always concerned about the beauty of the writing. Perhaps my reading became stuck at an adolescent level?

But that sentence about the writing is completely overturned when it comes to my love of GGK’s work. I adore his books and have read every one, most of them several times. I own them in both paper form and ebook format. So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw that he had published a new book recently.

For a number of reasons it has taken me a while to get around to reading Written on the Dark. GGK weaves a strand of melancholy into his work and I thought that I wouldn’t be able to cope with that in my present struggle with depression. However, I did really enjoy the book and became very attached to several characters and their journeys through the plot. The final pages were particularly brilliant but also poignant and the touches of “real” history were memorable. I will definitely read this again very soon.

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I have struggled to choose a book to follow on after the brilliance of Kay’s writing. I did begin one, but it was so badly written that even I couldn’t carry on with it and I don’t think I will ever try to finish it. So, I have returned to the world of David Gemmell and will write about that book next week.

Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Last week I decided to revisit the work of David Gemmell again. I remember enjoying his books the first time I read them, but that was around ten years ago. This time I am liking the immersion in his blend of history, mythology and fantasy. And reading books set in the world of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey is very appropriate too with the new film!

The first book of the Troy trilogy is Lord of the Silver Bow. This is the blurb…

“Three lives will change the destiny of nations. Helikaon, the young prince of Dardania, haunted by a scarred and traumatic childhood. The priestess Andromache, whose fiery spirit and fierce independence threatens the might of kings. And the legendary warrior Argurios, cloaked in loneliness and driven only by thoughts of revenge.In Troythey find a city torn apart by destructive rivalries – a maelstrom of jealousy, deceit and murderous treachery. And beyond its fabled walls blood-hungry enemies eye its riches and plot its downfall.It is a time of bravery and betrayal; a time of bloodshed and fear.”

And here is my response on Goodreads…

Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I originally read this book over ten years ago and found it even better on a re-read. Having a background in Ancient History and having read the Iliad in Ancient Greek, I really enjoyed Gemmell’s version of the famous tale. He has taken well known characters and made them very human, with faults as well as heroism. I also enjoyed the way he has lifted female characters closer to the spotlight, particularly Andromache. His writing is so brilliant that I almost didn’t notice the length of each book!

All in all, highly recommended!

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On finishing the first part of the trilogy, I then went on to the second…

Part two is called Shield of Thunder. Here is the blurb…

“The second exciting novel in the bestselling Troy trilogy. Interlacing myth and history, adventure and love, this is epic storytelling at its best.

The war in Troy is looming, and all the kings of the Great Green are gathering, friends and enemies, with their own dark plans of conquest and plunder.

Into this maelstrom of treachery and deceit come three travellers — Piria, a runaway priestess nursing a terrible secret, Kalliades, a warrior with a legendary sword, and Banokles who will carve his own legend in the battles to come.

Shield of Thunder takes the reader back into the glories and tragedies of Bronze Age Greece, reuniting the characters from Lord of the Silver Bow — the dread Helikaon and his great love, the fiery Andromache, the mighty Hektor, and the fabled storyteller, Odysseus.

This is my short review on Goodreads…

Shield of Thunder by David Gemmell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second part of the Troy trilogy is a more complex book than the first. Quite a lot of new characters are brought in with new storylines and one who were the main focus before step back a little so that all of the different plot strands can play their part. We are taken all over the Aegean Sea, to many islands, states and cities, by boat and on foot. Battles and skirmishes are fought, ships are sunk, people are killed. Gemmell’s brilliant writing makes the reader feel present in the action rather than being merely an onlooker.

Fantastic writing from a wonderful author!

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I am now well into the third book and still enjoying the writing so much that I don’t really want it to come to an end! I will definitely return to Gemmell’s work in the coming months.

Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Every Wednesday I try to look back at the books I have read during the previous week. I track all of my reading on the Goodreads website and link to the information on there. Over a normal week, I usually manage to finish at least one book, sometimes two. At the moment, I am really enjoying revisiting great books and series that I first read quite some time ago. On occasion, it’s like reading the book for the first time because my stroke in 2019 seems to have erased my memories of even some of my favourite books!

Anyway, this is the book that I read last week…

Last Argument Of Kings is the final book in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. Here is the blurb…

“The end is coming. Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him – but it’s going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there’s only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy. It’s past time for the Bloody-Nine to come home. With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no-one is safe, and no-one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It’s a good thing blackmail, threats and torture still work well enough. Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is far too painful, and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too, and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it. While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world, as he always does. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law…”

And this is my response on Goodreads (the first part is from my original brief comment in 2015)…

Last Argument Of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow again! Love this trilogy and really want to read more, more, more….

Did I say more?

On re-reading in 2026: Wow, once more! This was a fantastic finale to a great series with amazing characters. The action was very well written and the plot was gripping right through to the end. I am planning to read more of Abercrombie’s again over the next few months.

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I will definitely return to Abercrombie’s work soon, but I am now reading another favourite author’s book for a second time. More about that next week.

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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Welcome to this week’s post. First, I apologise for the lack of a post last Friday. I have been really struggling with the extremely hot weather and could not think clearly enough to write anything! I have, however, managed to read two books since my last Reading Roundup.

I decided to revisit the work of one of my favourite authors: Joe Abercrombie. I love his dark humour and amazing characters. The funny thing was that when I entered the book titles on Goodreads, I realised that I had actually read this series before! So, I was re-reading them. However, although there were some faint echoes of the plot and some characters in my mind as I read, I couldn’t really remember much of the plot. Perhaps my stroke in 2019 affected my book reading memories somehow? Anyway, I have now read the first two books in The First Law trilogy and have started on the third.

Here is the blurb for The Blade Itself…

“Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. 

Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. 

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. 

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he’s about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult. 

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood.”

And this is the blurb for Before They Are Hanged…

How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick – and Superior Glokta needs answers before the Gurkish army comes knocking at the gates. 

Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world.

And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters. If they didn’t hate each other quite so much.

Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven – but not before they are hanged.

Today, I don’t have the brain power to write any kind of response on Goodreads, so I will try to do something on this post. Abercrombie’s characters are incredibly well written. They are a group of unusual people with a range of abilities and outlooks. Of the main ones, none is wholly bad or good. There is nuance and also some unexpected developments. Over the series, all of them grow and change. There are also many humorous moments, usually dark, but sometimes poignant.

His writing of violence and battles seems to be very realistic to someone who has never (thank goodness) experienced war. The deep fear, the stupidity of leaders, the waste of lives are all shown in stark words and descriptions. When I finish the final book I will probably take a break from Abercrombie and read something lighter. But, I know I will return to his work for more re-reading very soon.

Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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