The 22nd year of being Ryan Hartley, documented.

I usually only do 100 Word Reviews for the movies I’ve watched, but I received a special request to do one for David Gemmel’s Troy Trilogy. I’ve only read the first two books of the trilogy (Lord of the Silver Bow and Shield of Thunder), but that should be enough to jot down 100 words…

Troy is fantasy without the magic. Kings and soldiers battle one another in a time of heroes. There’s a healthy dose of political intrigue, a dash of humour and a dollop of romance. The characters are no mere one-dimensional cut-outs, but are nicely rounded, each with their own desires and demons. The action clips along at a decent pace and the reading is easy and engaging.  Lovers of swords-and-sandals epics will be well pleased and for the rest Troy remains an entertaining and straight-forward fantasy-style fiction set against the back-drop of an all-encompassing and devasting  war in Ancient Greece.  

Note: Troy does contain episodes of rape and references to lesbianism. You’re just going to have trust me when I say that it’s not bad at all.