Fall of Kings

December 3, 2007
In this last installment of David Gemmell's Trojan trilogy (following Troy: Shield of Thunder), Helen is a plain, mousy woman whose beauty is entirely of the inner sort, and Hektor is a cuckold left raising another man's son. Agamemnon is depicted as a rapacious predator seeking the riches of Troy to support the armies he needs to hold the territories he has conquered, and Priam a shadow of his former glory, brought low by an Alzheimer's-like disease. Strong characterizations and sturdy plotting evoke the horror of the conflict, and the story's mythic power. David Gemmell left the novel uncompleted upon his untimely death in 2006, but his wife, Stella, who did most of his research, has brought the books to a satisfactory conclusion.

January 1, 2008
Adult/High School-This story is told as if it were the true history from which the "Iliad" was written. Homer, we find, got parts of the story wrong. The Helen portrayed here is a plain-looking woman who becomes beautiful in the way she dies, even to the men sent to kill her. Achilles and Hecktor duel to the death, only to be betrayed by someone else and die fighting at each other's side. And the Trojan Horse is transformed from a wooden ruse into something more believable, but just as clever and lethal. Characters have been changed, invented, and blended together from the cast in the "Iliad" and are vividly brought to life. David Gemmell's "Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow" (2005) and "Troy: Shield of Thunder" (2007, both Ballantine) have a depth of narrative and spectacle similar to Tolkien's tales of Middle Earth, and teens raised on those books and their like will be at home here. The author died before finishing this book. His wife helped research the earlier volumes in the series and worked from her husband's half-finished draft and notes seamlessly to finish this last, powerful title in the saga."Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 5, 2007
In this last installment of David Gemmell's Trojan trilogy (following Troy: Shield of Thunder), Helen is a plain, mousy woman whose beauty is entirely of the inner sort, and Hektor is a cuckold left raising another man's son. Agamemnon is depicted as a rapacious predator seeking the riches of Troy to support the armies he needs to hold the territories he has conquered, and Priam a shadow of his former glory, brought low by an Alzheimer's-like disease. Strong characterizations and sturdy plotting evoke the horror of the conflict, and the story's mythic power. David Gemmell left the novel uncompleted upon his untimely death in 2006, but his wife, Stella, who did most of his research, has brought the books to a satisfactory conclusion.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2007
The bad news isthat David Gemmell died before he could complete the eagerly awaited conclusion of his Iliad trilogy. The good news is thathis wife and research partner, Stella Gemmell, finished the final volume of this rousing saga. History buffs will probably be disappointed by the revisionist slant, but those familiar with the series will continue to embrace this new version of the Trojan War. Despite the fact that the fall of Troy has been done to death, this imaginative retelling breathes new life into an overly recycled tale of intrigue and deception. Though the Gemmell team displays the same deft narrative touch and respect for historical atmosphere that distinguished the previous two volumes, readers will be surprised by the unexpected twists and turns the plot takes. Although all the major playersOdysseus, King Agamemnon, Achilles, Helen, Priam, etc.are familiar, their actions, decisions, and fates are entirely original and fall within the trendy new what if? category of historical fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)