The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell

The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell

Two generations after Legend and the Drenai peoples are in crisis again. They have a tyrant ruling them with an iron fist—a particularly frightening iron fist in that it is backed up by magically created combinations of man and beast called joinings. Gemmell focuses his story on a grandson of the barbarian king Ulric and the Earl of Bronze from the last book—a half breed who fits in nowhere but is a brilliant strategist and warrior. He gathers former companions in arms to kill the tyrant and ends up trying to plan a defense against the tyrant’s legion and his joinings.

 

This book does not reach the emotional heights of Legend, but it’s still a superb story with great personal battles and large-scale military action. The mystical “thirty” appear again to aid the defendants, this time facing Black Templars instead of barbarian mystics. All in all, this is another wonderful novel in which we get into the hearts and souls of men and women trying to save their world from cruel oppression. As Gemmell is still willing to kill just about everyone he puts on the page, the ending is quite painful to read. You’ll care about the people dying and worry tremendously about every character.