Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell review

*manifesting this into a TV series with fingers and toes crossed as I do not own a cork board and I don't have any magazines to cut pictures out of and glue onto the board*

July 13, 2025

Categorization: Fantasy

Subcategory: Fantasy with a dash of Historical-Mythological Fiction

Where read: On Kindle

Non-spoiler review. I mean, this is a retelling of the story of Troy, not much I can spoil there.

So I guess, historical fiction or in this case mythological fiction (I invented it but it sounds kinda legit right?) isn’t strictly Fantasy… but honestly, what else could it be, I ask you? Especially when the “history” that is being retold is based on a mythological city like Troy. Imagining the personalities and back stories and dialogue of these myths and legendary characters are pure, unadulterated Fantasy, if you ask me. Also, this is my blog and so what I say, goes.

As an aside, I don’t know why it is that I absolutely loath reenactments of history on the Discovery channel (does this still exist?), but I love reading historical fiction. My visceral reaction to seeing reenactments on television is “eew, how could anyone think that that is how it went down? That doesn’t look real at all!” whereas my reaction to reading extreme liberties taken by writers of historical fiction on things like the conversations of famous historical characters is “ooooh, I bet that is exactly how it happened, tell me more”. I think it’s because reading allows your mind to fill in the blanks and therefore makes a literary retelling more personally palatable, whereas watching someone’s visual reimagining on TV feels like a violation of how your brain has already processed what it has absorbed about history.

But I digress.

I actually read Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell and the rest of the Troy series (The Shield of Thunder and The Fall of Kings) years ago and just recently thought to pick it up again, having accidentally dug out my physical copy from storage. I’m already on the third book (The Fall of Kings) and I just have one question.

WHY HAS THIS SERIES NOT BEEN MADE INTO A NETFLIX SERIES YET??

As I write this, the obvious answer is… it is too expensive., obviously. It has all the expensive “epic” stuff, like naval battles, sprawling fortresses, glorious depictions of royalty and many kinds of tribes and nations that is no doubt a lot of work and time and CGI and research to produce. But oh boy, would this make a wonderful TV series. It has enough highs and lows and side stories and a ton of interesting characters with their own personal “sidequests” that could fully flesh out a Netflix series. It has a ton of romance and drama and battles and politics! About 70% of its characters are really hot muscle-y men with an excuse for walking around wearing nothing but tight armour or little white togas and body oil at least 50% of the time! It has really great one liners that really bore down deep into the essence of what it was to live in an age of heroes, a time when men didn't have to wake up and get into their cars to attend a budget planning meeting with excel files in their offices. No, men freakin' woke up and donned their armour and took their swords and shields and freakin’ got on their boats and rowed them to make war!!!! When someone looked at them sideways they took their spear and stabbed that mother*%0$er in the gut!!  Good times.

I even think that the reflections on violence and war and what it means to be a ruler and a citizen would especially resonate in these newly troubled times. And that is truly a scary thought.

But I digress.

Reading this now with new eyes, one thing about Gemmell’s writing struck me, especially coming after and involuntarily comparing with a few other books I read just before picking up this one. His language isn’t flowery (like The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, which I wrote about here) and neither does it have the “ancient” flavor that I noted as Steven Pressfield’s particular genius here. Gemmell's characters speak with a modern flavor. His writing is direct and punchy. It’s as if he has no time for flowery language or to beat around the bush, because there is too much story to tell.

Thus, the simplicity of his writing has its own power. His stories are full of, for lack of a better word, rich content. All of it is marrow, and none of it is fat. Every character has a background and a unique personality and outlook on life, and each individual story is interwoven with others so seamlessly as to make up the entirety of his narrative. In gamer terms, there are no filler sidequests for David Gemmell. Every individual’s story is part of the main quest. At no point in the Troy series are you going to be bored. You are going be fully immersed in a king’s lust for power, in a princess’ unrequited love, in a little boy’s first time on a freakin’ ship and his first adventure in a pirate island. You are going to experience in your bones what it is to be a warrior of a code of honor, and what it is like to be betrayed by shitty people. It is exciting and heartbreaking and inspiring all at once.

And so I ask again, why have the Netflix gods not smiled on this gem? I understand this is an old series, but by God, it is a gold mine of great content. I think it would also appeal to a wide range of audiences. I can see old people (who don’t want to watch Emily in Paris) watching this, I can see Gen-z-ers (who seem to like old stuff like Bridgerton, also, what does the reference to the “Roman Empire mean”, and does that indicate an interest in the actual ancient Greek and Roman times or does it mean something else entirely?) watching this, I can see people of all genders watching this and finding something to be excited about. The tale of Troy is a classic for a reason, right? David Gemmell already brought it to life. Now it’s up to Netflix or the other streaming gods to bring it home. I am telling you, this could be the next, albeit shorter, Game of Thrones.

And to help Netflix, I am going to engage in my favorite exercise, which is casting my favorite characters:

1.        Andromache – Natalie Portman

2.        Helikaon – Henry Cavill

3.        Odysseus – Peter Dinklage

4.        Agamemnon – that guy who played the Nazi inspector from Inglourious Basterds (huh, I did not realize that it was spelled this way until looking it up on Google just now). Wow, that guy was awesome and totally scary.

5.        Priam – obviously, the guy who played Tywin Lannister. Priam is practically Tywin Lannister.

6.        Laodike – Florence Pugh (aren't you guys impressed that this ol' millennial knows who that is. I like her in Little Women)

7.        Argurios – Michael B. Fox (insert fire emoji)

8.        Banokles – The Rock or Jason Momoa

If this looks similar to my dream cast for my previously-manifested Hyperion movie here, what can I say, I like who I like. Also, I don't know that many actors.

In the meantime, read the series. Trust me, you are not going to be able to put it down.

Crazy coincidence - apparently there is an Odyssey movie coming out next year! The events of this movie do not coincide with the events of the Troy series, but close enough! I think it is going to be a really big deal because I recognize most of the cast in this Wikipedia link, and even the director (Christopher Nolan - umm Batman and that movie about the dreams Inception right?) which never happens! Zendaya is going to be in it and she is one of my dream cast mainstays! Gosh, I can't wait. Gen-Z-ers are right. Manifesting is so powerful. I mean, it is not exactly what I asked for but it is pretty darn close.