The King Beyond the Gate

Published in 1985 The King Beyond The Gate is the second book by Gemmell, after Legend. While the book is set in the same world it's not a direct sequel. Many years have passed and all the previous characters are long since dead. My first impression was that this decision to set the novel so far into the future helped to give the book more of an epic feel. It was a tale that spanned generations. I also felt that Gemmells writing had improved.

The plot is like Legend, as are the characters. As with Gemmell's previous book one of the main themes in The King Beyond The Gate is how the main protagonists manage to survive. Especially as they are all past their physical prime. They are each haunted by their past. Gemmell does a fine job in familiarising the reader with the details of their own internal conflicts, hopes and fears.

Being a Gemmell book you get the obligatory gore and blood. He is one of the best authors I've read for writing heroic combat and battle scenes. And of course these are always against overwhelming odds. He also weaves in misfortune, heartbreak, friendship, love and sorcery too.

Mentioning sorcery, one of my minor criticisms with The King Beyond The Gate is that it uses magic more than other instalments in the series. I would have also preferred to hear about how the Dragon had fallen and Ceska rose to power at the start of the book too. As this doesn't happen, at the start of the book we get the main characters bumping into one another by chance. I felt at this point the plotting could have been somewhat tighter.

So in summary, I'd recommend The King Beyond The Gate if you love exciting action driven fantasy novels. Perhaps not my favourite Gemmell book but The King Beyond The Gate does what is says on the tin: it doesn't try to be any more than enjoyable entertainment.

Quotes

As with all Gemmell books, I love to pick out the quotes which resonated with me. Here are the ones I highlighted when reading The King Beyond The Gate:

- Too many people go through life without pausing to enjoy what they have. /Ch. 2
- Nothing in life is sure, my son. Except the promise of death. /Ch. 4
- Evil lives in a pit. If you want to fight it, you must climb down into the slime to do so. White cloaks show the dirt more thank black, and silver tarnishes. /Ch. 10
- All things in the world are created for man, yet all have two purposes. The waters run that we might drink of them, but they are also symbols of the futility of man. They reflect our lives in rushing beauty, birthed in the purity of the mountains. As babes they babble and run, gushing and growing as they mature into strong young rivers. Then they widen and slow until at least they meander, like old men, to join with the sea. /Ch. 12
- “Foolish: It's all foolish. Life is a farce— a stupid, sickening farce played out by fools.” /Ch. 16
- “I had a teacher ... He said there were three kinds of people in life: winners, losers and fighters. Winners made him sick with their arrogance, losers made him sick with their whining, and fighters made him sick with their stupidity.” “In which category did he put himself?” “He said he had tried all three and nothing suited him.” “Well, at least he tried. That's all a man can do, Lake. And we shall try.” / Ch. 19
- A man makes mistakes, but he lives by them. Foolish it may be on occasion. But in the main it is the only way to live. We are what we say only so long as our words are iron. /Ch. 19
- All things are possible, ... Except the passing of regret. /Ch. 20
- Life is sad enough, Magir. Laughter is a thing to be treasured. /Ch. 22