The Ten Thousand

There is nothing I love as much as buying a book on a whim from an unknown author...and having it turn out to be incredible. "The Ten Thousand" was such a book for me. Transposing actual historical events into a parabolic fantasy world results in a uniquely engrossing historical novel/fantasy hybrid. The prose is terse and wonderfully appropriate for the subject matter, and the characters are sparsely but masterfully sketched, developed just enough to give the book (which tends to focus on events on the grand rather than personal scale) just the right amount of "character driven narrative". The battle scenes are incredible. I am not a fan of war scenes, am usually bored to tears by them, yet literally felt my heart beat faster and experienced occasional adrenaline rushes reading the battle scenes in this book. It was enough to make want to pump my fist in the air while gruffly shouting "yeah!" in a soldierly voice. Take the movie "300" and give it a fantasy makeover, actually interesting characters, a more meandering plot, talented writing and you would end up with something similar to "The Ten Thousand." Completely worth every cent, it really makes me wish that Kearney was more widely read and appreciated

This is an amazing piece of Fantasy Fiction! Kearney has pulled out all stops to create an action packed free for all. The story takes place in an alternate universe were the Macht(Ancient Greek)a warrior society who live among the city states of their continent. The Macht have gained a fearsome reputation as the finest warriors the world has to offer. On the opposite side of the world of Kuf we have Asurian Empire(Ancient Persia) which rules the known world, but there is descent in the air, the brother of the Great King wishes to take the throne and power for himself. To achieve his goals he hires Ten Thousand of the most feared warriors the world has to offer, they are a secret brotherhood of Macht warriors who have never been defeated in battle. They will make the Asurian Empire tremble! I'm hoping there will be another one of these great Fantasy novels from Kearney in the future. He has left a lot of scope to create another. We see the young but brilliant Rictus taking command of the surviving Macht warriors. It's possible he may return once again to do battle with The Great King Ashurna and his Macht general Vorus. I await with baited breath and crossed fingers that we will see a return to the world of Kuf.

A few months back I noted The Ten Thousand as being one of my hot tips for 2008. Reading a lengthy preview that the author sent me a while back reinforced this feeling, and now reading the complete novel has confirmed my initial guess. Probably the most underread author in epic fantasy has delivered his strongest novel to date. The Ten Thousand is based on The Anabasis, the best-known work of the Greek writer Xenophon. In that book Xenohpon relates how a Greek mercenary force of ten thousand warriors was hired by Cyrus the Younger, a Persian prince seeking to supplant his brother. When Cyrus was killed, the Greek army had to fight its way out of the now-hostile empire and find its way home. In this novel the setting is the world of Kuf, which is divided between two humanoid species: the Macht and the Kufr. The Macht live in a mountainous peninsula made up of feuding city-states (reminsicent of Greece), whilst the Kufr inhabit the vast Assurian Empire to the south-east which dominates a huge continent. Many of the most famous mercenary companies of the Macht are summoned to the capital where a vast host is being assembled to sail across the sea and join the armies of the Assurian pretender Arkamenes, who seeks to usurp his brother, Ashurnan. Amongst these are Gasca and Rictus, two young warriors who join up for very different reasons, the former to see the world and fight, the latter to forget the horrors of the destruction of his city and family. As the story proceeds we meet other characters: Jason, the young and charasmatic commander of one of the mercenary companies; Vorus, a Macht living amongst the Kufr who is an advisor to Ashurnan; and Tiryn, Arkamenes' consort. The story unfolds similar to the events of history, with the Macht fighting their way into the very heart of the Empire where Ashurnan awaits them with a vast host. There, at the Battle of Kunaksa, the hinge of the world will turn, with dire consequences for everyone involved. As normal, Kearney anchors the story on his characters: Rictus, the young warrior lost in his grief and rage who finds opportunity and responsibility thrust upon him; Jason, the popular commander who doesn't know what he wants from life until, amidst the blood and mud, he finds it; Vorus, the exiled warrior who finds his loyalties and admiralties torn; Ashurnan, a ruler desperately trying to be a great king but not knowing how, whilst his brother believes he is great and worthy and doesn't realise the truth; and Tiryn, whose own preconceptions and believes are put to the ultimate challenge. They are flawed people, but the reader cannot help empaphising with them and the increasingly harsh challenges they face. Kearney has previously attracted the reputation of doing battle sequences better than almost any other writer in the genre, better than Bakker, Martin or Erikson, with perhaps only Gemmell and Cornwell at the very height of their powers challenging him. The battles here are hard, brutal affairs but