Book Summary: Bane, shunned by his father and his home country because of his illegitimate birth, moves away and makes his home in a different land. His new-found acceptance there is ripped away from him, and he becomes a gladiator hellbent on revenge. War is brewing between his new country and his homeland, and he must decide where his loyalties are and whether he can sacrifice what he wants for the sake of his kingdom and people.
Indulgent Book Talk: My husband introduced this late fantasy author to me, and this is actually the second book in one of his series. It stands fairly well on its own, but it's easier to understand the nuances of Bane's past if one reads the book that comes before it (Sword in the Storm). This is probably the most well-written fantasy book I've read. Gemmell handles language skillfully and can hold his own with people who appreciate the "literary." These books are definitely written with more of a male audience in mind (most of the main characters are male and there are wars and fights and beards and manly grunting aplenty), but I still find this author's plotting to be skillful and his characters interesting enough to ignore the fact that there aren't many strong female characters. Although set in an imaginary world, there is what I believe to be deliberate parallel between this fantasy world and ancient, conquering Rome.
Glorifying Elements: Gemmell does a good job of exploring human nature in all its mess, sin, and triumph. Rarely are there true good guys and bad guys in his stories; his heroes are often just as flawed, if not more so, than his villains. Bane, for instance, is a man who thirsts for violence, and once he has a reason for revenge, will stop at nothing to have it, even when others are counseling him against it. But he is selfless and looks out for others and will sacrifice his own safety to help someone. In contrast, his friend, Banouin, despises violence and thinks (rightly) that Bane resigns to it too readily. But he is cowardly and selfish. These are the kinds of contrasts that Gemmell frames in his novels.
Gemmell also explores faith and spirituality without commenting outright on it, always through the eyes and perspectives of his characters, who vary exceedingly. A religious group called "The Tree Cult" suffers persecutions much like Christians did in ancient Rome, and Gemmell seems a least a little sympathetic to the religion. But he has a knack for observing how humans really behave while trusting the reader enough to draw his or her own conclusions, which I appreciate.
Worldly Elements: These books are for an adult audience only. They are rife with war violence, and while the descriptions of injuries and gore didn't really bother me personally, I can see where others might have a problem with them. More concerning are the treatment of women; it's set in a context where men rule and women are usually seen as little more than property, but the fact that there was really only one strong female character who wasn't a love interest to counteract that was frustrating. Men in these novels frequently seek out "earth maidens" (the term the author uses for a prostitute), with little or no apology or indication that this is anything less than what men do. There are some instances of strong language, and while this book didn't have any drawn-out descriptions of sex, the book that came before this one did, so beware of that. Since this is fantasy, there are allusions to magic, spirit-ism, and animism, but these novels aren't quite so saturated in that element as other fantasies I've read.
General Recommendation: For mature readers, I think these books are really quite good, but careful discernment and page skipping might be necessary to extract their positive aspects.
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