Excellent Story

David Gemmel never wrote a bad story but this is one of his best

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absolutely EPIC!!

David (R.I.P.) is THE master of fantasy adventure, & this lived upto the standard. 10/10.

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EPIC LISTEN 👂🏿

David Gemmel will always be a legend himself in my eye it books take me on a journey I don't want to come back from 👌🏿💯

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fantastic

amazing book and amazing series ... that's me finished all 11 now and everyone has been in my opinion original and full of characters that are incredible.
not sure if it's a case of me being a bit older too but I found this book the best of the 11 and thats saying something as each book has so much to it! David Gemmell was a fantastic writer and it's a joy to have discovered his work

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Make Sure Your Deeds are Always Noble

The prophecy says that 3 kings must die; only then will the gateway be open for the Illohir to return from the Great Void. Two down and a newborn heir is left, guarded by 3 aged warriors who show that strength is not only limited to the young. They are flawed, but determined to protect the newborn.

When two demon brothers go to war with each other, things will not end well and the fallout for everyone will be devastating. However, Emsharas shows that, although he is no longer in demon form, he still has the strength to deal with Anharat.

This is slightly different from the previous Drenai books insofar as it concentrates on demons, magick and the void. It is also a standalone.

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Classic Gemmell

Great story and performance. I've read the book numerous times and I will listen to it again.

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Classic!!!

I have read this book on more than a few occasions and have gone back to enjoy the sections where the action is superbly written. Sean Barrett, as usual does a fine job of narrating this Drenai classic. Antikas Chareos is my favourite character in this tale closely followed by the Bison, Nogusta and Kebra. DG pulls off another fantastic story to entertain you and Sean Barrett does this justice in the Audible version.

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Awesome Gemmelled again

Absolutely brilliant read it over the years many times and the audio version is perfect
Thank you

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The Grand Finale of the Drenai

The biggest disappointment of this book is that it's the last one in the Drenai series! Sean has done a marvellous job of reading David's masterful Drenai saga and I am already looking forward to listening all over again. A must for any Gemmell fan.

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One of his best

Winter Warriors will feel instantly familiar to anyone who has ever read a David Gemmell book, particularly one in the Drenai series. Once again we have the aging warrior who is also a reluctant hero-archetype that Gemmell so readily relies upon.

Winter Warriors is different though.

This time there's three of them.

You might think this would make the story even more formulaic, but that's not the case as the writing and characterisation are strong. In fact, it's some of Gemmell's best work in that department.

While our grizzled warriors all share certain traits, we're not dealing with three Druss the Legends™ here. All of them are concerned about their failing physicality and about a future without soldiering, but that's where the similarities end. Even superficially they're quite different; Nogusta the swordsman, Kebra the archer, and Bison the wrestler. They have nicely contrasting personalities and you get the sense that they know each other well; there's a real sense of camaraderie with this geriatric band of brothers. Nogusta and Kebra are especially well fleshed out, and both are wrestling with the demons of their past whilst tackling the more literal ones in the present. Bison is a little more simple minded and his motivations are more straightforward, but he's no less likeable for it.

There's also a large cast of side characters, but they too are mostly well written and likeable. A lot of minor characters suffer in Gemmell's books as they receive little page-time and lack characterisation. Luckily the vast majority of the characters in Winter Warriors get sizeable povs to flesh them out and make us care. Even the primary villains of the story, literal Demons, get the pov treatment, which humanises* them to some degree. There are a couple of weak links but mostly I enjoyed my time with the characters and was bothered by their deaths**.

The plot itself is strong and features demonic sacrifice, prophecy, magic, undead warriors, a hulking monster, possession, brotherhood, battles and a princess. There's elements of the Western in Winter Warriors, as the three old men go on one last mission; escort a princess through various dangers to an abandoned city where we have our showdown. There's also a wonderful section early on that almost slips from fantasy to outright horror, as one of our characters navigates a city at night that is full of possessed and murderous citizens. The fantastical elements are also welcome here, a nice change to the fairly generic source priests that feature in some of the other Drenai books. There's even mention of Dryads, which is nice. Still no dragons, although Winter Warriors comes close.

There's a lot to like here, with a strong story, likeable characters and the familiar Gemmell themes of "Love, friendship, honour, courage and redemption". Winter Warriors has a depth and creativity that is lacking in some of the authors earlier work. The book even touches on racism at points, for you see, one of our heroes was a black man all along. With cool blue eyes no less.

8/10

*Demonises isn't quite right
**There are a few and some are rather shocking

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