Winter Warriors

Now that, my friends, is a book cover. I love great art on the cover of a novel and, in my mind, Winter Warriors certainly falls into that category. If being picky I would have the bird removed but as it has a significance in the story it's fine where it is.
Winter Warriors is the tale of three ageing warriors who are thrust to the forefront of a fight against demonic forces. Those forces, to be unleashed upon the world in all their evil fury, need the sacrificial blood of three kings. The first two come easily but the third is who the story revolves around.
The third king is actually heir to the throne as he is yet to be born when the novel begins. The three warriors Nogusta who is a great swordsman, Kebra the Bowman and Bison the giant show more vow to protect the unborn child and his mother, the queen, with their lives. Do they succeed?
As any regular visitors to my blog know I love David Gemmell's work. This novel was no exception and it is of course filled with all of Gemmell's hallmarks such as main characters who are easy to relate to, great dialogue, heroic deeds, joy and despair. Yes, despair. He always gets me with the despair and it's very rare I read a Gemmell novel without tears welling up in my eyes at one point or another. It takes a great talent to get me emotionally invested in a novel and great talent is something the author certainly had. I say "had" in the past tense as David Gemmell passed away back in 2006.
If you like a supernatural element in your novels then you will find magic, sorcery, demons and spiritual possession within these pages. The story itself would not have worked anywhere near as well without those supernatural elements and so it forms the backbone of the story itself.
As much as I loved Winter Warriors I wasn't reading it with blinkers on and there were a few things I didn't like. Firstly, it took a while for the story to drag me in as it focused too much on building up the characters at the beginning - around the first quarter of the book was used to lay the foundation of the story. That paid off in the end when the story reached a climax and I didn't know who was going to die or who was going to survive but the beginning didn't need to be as fleshed out as much as it was. Also, the main city is called Usa, as in oo-sar, but due to conditioning I read it as the name of the country. Perhaps that can be seen as the fault of the reader but I think most people seeing Usa would read it as the abbreviation for United States of America and, for me at least, that kept pulling me out of the story whenever I read it.
Overall though this was a magical tale of great quality and wonderful story telling. It was the type of book that left me sad once it had ended and made it difficult to start reading something new. show less

Yet to read a Gemmell book I haven't enjoyed.
This book falls short because I feel I have read it all before.
Different era, different character names - but basically the same characters and general story as previous books, particularly Quest for Lost Heroes.
I'd rather a follow up story with previous characters than a new generation with new stereotypical characters.
The only difference this book had was a raising of stakes from country vs country to world vs demon invasion.

Winter Warriors is more akin to the Dragons series of books by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. There are prophecies, evil wizards, treacherous demons, a city befouled, and lots of protagonists to follow. Whereas Gemmell's work is usually tight and grounded in war, Winter Warriors definitely follows a different path. The plot is somewhat unoriginal, however Gemmell is a masterful author and ensures the characters are well defined (for some have appeared in a previous Drenai tale) and the relationships between them are fraught with tension and honour. It's a book that you won't put down, although it's not Gemmell's best work. An enjoyable fantasy romp.

One of the best of D Gemmells novels in my opinion, and they are all at least decent. This book is essentially a rewrite of an earlier book, The Quest for Lost Heroes. I think he succeeded in improving on the themes he presented there.

This is an outstanding, standalone sword and sorcery book chock full of highly memorable characters. Its got plenty of action and a more traditional story structure than what he usually uses. I've re read this one several times and will again I am sure.

Another of Gemmell's popular themes. Three older warriors, once heroes, now partially forgotten must save themselves and the kingdom again, even if it looks impossible and they won't get the credit in the end. Unlike some others this features a team of heroes so the dynamics are a bit different, but still typical David Gemmell. Good stuff for sword and sorcery fans, though mostly sword.

Three old ex-soldiers fought against the forces of Darkness. Classic!

More of the same from Gemmel.