This is a great book. It is hard to fit it into a categorie - although David Gemmell is a renowned fantasy author, this book is not a classical fantasy. It could be labeled as historical fiction. The word fiction already implies it is not necessarily entirely acurate. Gemmell took some (great) liberties with the classical Troy mythe and created an excellent start to a trilogy.
Gemmell combines epic and historical fantasy into three novels set in the time of the Trojan Wars. This first book is the set up for events that lead to the war between Troy and Mycanea.
Historical figures as Agamemnon, Aeneas (Helikaon), Odysseus and Hektor and many more are brought to life in an exceptional way.

This is a story of war, romance and legend featuring honor versus treachery with characters that are very human, flawed and neither good nor evil. The pace of the story is terrific, it is totally absorbing and believable with realistic characters. The Greek Gods of the myths are almost not present in this tale, which gives it it's realistic feel. The focus is on the people, the characters are multi dimensional and there is no black and white characterisation. There are the supporting 'bad guys' who are a bit two dimensionally evil (like Agamemnon), but the main characters are beautifully developped. Helikaon has a definitive dark side and the character of Argurios, betrayed by Agamemnon and forced to fight against his own people, is especially well developped. The dialogs, the vibe of this classical era, the (bloody) battles - everything feels and reads just right.

Lord of the Silver Bow is an colourful, exciting and action packed book and highly recommended not only to readers of historical fiction but also to fantasy lovers who don't mind the absence of magic, dragons, elves, dwarfs and trolls.

Great stuff anf highly recommended!

9 / 10

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Not good at all, I might be sick of Gemmell but I am definitely sick of Gemmell in Greece. ( )

Set in the locations and times of the Trojan war, the opening book of the trilogy sets the story up for the invasion of the Greeks on Troy. ( )

Riviting, excellent reimagining of events leading up to the Trojan War. This novel reads like a historical fiction rather than a fantasy. ( )

The Gemmel series on Troy is outstanding. I shied away from it for a while, because Troy is so passe, especially with the horrible movie of late. But, when I learned Gemmel actually wrote this series after seeing the movie, because he thought he could do the legend much more justice, I had to pick it up (also being a die-hard Gemmel fan, myself). He wasn't kidding--this series is wonderful. Smart, imaginative, intriguing, mysterious, and full of Gemmel's usual outstanding characters--even ones he borrowed from the legends. They come alive like no other book on Troy I have ever read (and, in additon to the Odyssey and Illiad themselves, I've read several). I'm really looking forward to the third book, which is being finished by his wife since, sadly, Gemmel passed away in the middle of it. May he rest in Elyssium. ( )