‘The King Beyond The Gate’ – David Gemmell (Orbit)

It’s been another one of those weeks (not really bad, just… intense) and my current read, ‘Shadow of the Gods’ seeing as you asked, is nowhere near being finished so I thought I’d grab a book off the ‘Insurance Pile’ and round off the week in a slightly more relaxed manner 😉 I’ve been slowly working my way through the David Gemmell books on my shelf and a few weeks ago, it was the turn of ‘The King Beyond The Gate’, a book that I hadn’t read for a few years; certainly long enough that I’d forgotten large chunks of what happened. The best kind of read then, a guilty pleasure that you can’t quite remember but you know you’ll enjoy 😉 Let me tell you about it…

A century has passed since the heroic defence of Dros Delnoch. But the people of the Drenai face a new terror: a mad emperor kept in power by two forces of unsurpassed evil. The Joinings are werebeasts of awesome power. The Dark Templars are warrior-priests whose fighting skills are without equal. Against them, the Drenai face certain defeat.

One man, an outsider hated by the Drenai for his Nadir blood, and despised by the Nadir for his Drenai ancestry, sets out to bring down the emperor. He is one man against the armies of chaos.

He is Tenaka Khan - the Prince of Shadows.

As much as I enjoy reading Gemmell’s books, I end up trying not to feature them here so much as, well… Once you’ve read one, it can feel like you’ve read them all. Standing up against ferocious odds and the possibility of redemption for even the most cowardly or evil person. Now there’s a sentence that you can throw at any book of Gemmell’s and watch it stick. ‘The King Beyond The Gate’ is very much one of those books but Gemmell does it all so well (he’d had enough practice by this point) and the message is so passionate that you can’t help but find yourself back on board again. I absolutely read the hell out of ‘The King Beyond The Gate’, buoyed on that passion and vigour.

Again, I’m running the risk of saying nothing new at all but Tenaka Khan really is the best character to follow and watch being thrown into a situation where everything is falling apart and whatever he chooses to do will ultimately work out for him. Given Tenaka’s ancestry, whether the Drenai lands stand or fall, he will do just fine for himself. That’s a hell of a choice when you think about it and it’s really interesting to watch how Gemmell balances the needs of ‘Tenaka the Drenai’ (Drenai always win) and ‘Tenaka the Nadir’ (the Nadir must never win, not at all). It’s a fine tightrope to walk and I’d say that Gemmell does a good job of satisfying both sides. It’s no spoiler to say that Tenaka wins but doesn’t, all at the same time.

So there’s a lot going on with Tenaka then, definitely something there to get behind no matter who you’re rooting for. It also really doesn’t hurt that Tenaka is an awesome fighter as well, making for some great scenes that once again, wouldn’t look out of place on the big screen. Gemmell had a real knack for creating vivid characters and then having them do stuff that makes you gasp and go ‘wow…’

Gemmell lets this effect trickle down to the supporting cast, the end result being that the book, as a whole, just jumps full of these moments, coming from everywhere, as the cast just bounce of each (or fall down clutching a mortal wound, either way…)

‘The King Beyond The Gate’ is another fast paced read with a cast that you can’t help but get behind, along with villains that you will find yourself booing if you’re not careful. I’m glad I took the time to pick it up and re-read, hopefully I won’t leave it so long next time.