The King Beyond the Gate

In a most wonderful epic tale, Gemmell explores how a band of warriors and peace-makers confront their personal demons during an attempt to end the tyranny of a corrupt king. Throughout the story Gemmell explores the notion that power corrupts, from the hearts of a single man, to the desires of a king. The tale is woven differently to previous Drenai works, following a more complex pattern, and is quite able to stand alone as a book in it's own right. The anti-hero theme that is prevalent in previous tales is diluted here, creating a stronger sense of emotion around the central characters, serving Gemmell's main theme of corruption of the human psyche. This fantasy tale is on par with previous, and excellent, Drenai tales; it has show more twists, epic battles and a strong emotional weave. Highly recommended. show less

Two generations after Druss the Legend, an evil ruler Ceska has risen to power. Three former protectors of the realm (Tenaka Khan, Decado and Ananais) are reunited in their determination to bring him down, gathering allies as they face overwhelming odds and dark forces. Strong women: leaders and lovers. Courage, bravery, righteousness, and sacrifice, the hallmarks of epic fantasy, abound here. Gory.

My favorite quote: Love was what mattered. Love of one for one. The touching of hands, the touching of hearts. The warmth of belonging, the joy of sharing. There would always be tyrants. Man seemed incapable of existing without them. For without tyrants there would be no heroes, And man could not live without heroes.

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The King Beyond the Gate
Series: Drenai Saga #2
Author: David Gemmell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 321
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Several generations after the events that took place in Legend, Drenai is now ruled by a mad sorcerer who discovered ancient machines that allowed him to fuse men and animals, thus creating super warriors completely under his thrawl. Ceska started out as just an advisor but now he rules. Along the show more way he destroyed the one group that could have destroyed him, The Dragons. Elite Warriors, the Dragons chose not to oppose Ceska when he initially took control but were later destroyed by him. A few of them survived the ambush mainly by not being there. One such Dragon was Tanaka Khan, a half caste of Drenai Nobility AND Nardir nobility.

He sets out on a quest to assassinate Ceska, not caring if he lives or dies afterwards. Along the way he comes across old and new friends and realizes he really doesn't want to die. He gets help from the new 30 and eventually must seek the aid of his Nardir brethren. However, the only way to gain such aid is to become their Chief. He does so but visions of Nardir supremacy begin dancing through his head like sugar plums on Christmas Eve.

Ceska is destroyed along with his Dark Templars (dark versions of the 30) and Tenaka returns to the Nardir. The Epilogue reveals how he comes back to Drenai with a Nardir army in several years and is opposed by former allies from this story.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this a tiny bit more than Legend even while the action was a bit less. It “almost” bordered on the repetitive what with the multi-walled stalling approach but the Joinings (the man/beast hybrids) were a cool idea even if a bit under utilized.

I was talking with someone on Librarything about Gemmell and I realized that I would have enjoyed this stuff much more 15-20 years ago. I think this is geared a bit more towards the adolescent and young adult male but I don't know how the modern soyboi would take it. Anyone CAN read this but if you've read fantasy for close to a decade I suspect this won't tickle your fancy quite as much.

Nothing bad and I enjoyed this and plan on continuing the series, just not “fantastic” if you know what I mean.

★★★☆½ show less

The 2nd of the Drenai books, and set around a hundred years after the events of 'Legend', is it as good? I'd say not quite...but it's bloody good all the same :) As ever with Gemmell it's the characterisation that makes it. Instead of Druss you have Tenaka Khan, with all new personal demons and all new corruption to battle against. Can't fault his writing style or his battle scenes.

Another enjoyable read.
Only gave it 4 stars as I felt Legend was better.

Such easy reading, good story-telling, interesting characters.
A bit of a shame that I assume the next novel in the series will again be future generations ahead and none of the events in this book were probably epic enough for any of the characters to be mentioned in further books. The epilogue is probably the last I'll hear of Tanaka Kahn, etc.

I mean, I know there are more books regarding Druss the Legend, and although I haven't read them yet, there are more than one book about Waylander.

A wonderful sequel to Legend. It loses a star because the part with the new Earl of Bronze was too confusing and seemed glossed over - was he acting a part or being taken by the spirit of his ancestors? There were also some jagged segues between chapters.

Excellent fantasy and it fits right in with the rest of the Drenai series. Classic hero fantasy here, a little magic, a lot of fighting. No elves, dwarves or dragons, this is more man vs. man fantasy.