After reading David Gemmell's Troy trilogy set in Ancient Greece, I was excited to get more into his work. The Troy series was classic heroic fantasy, full of larger-than-life characters and plots. The Rigante is no different, and Sword in the Storm was a nice start to a series.

Sword in the Storm is set in an analogue of Scotland in pre-Roman Britain, with the main characters being Celtic tribesmen. Our main character, just like in Troy and Legend, grows into a great warrior. Gemmell's books aren't super complex, but they're easy reads, fun and brutal, and can be surprisingly heartfelt. Peppered throughout are little moral lessons that, while coated in the context of the story, are still applicable today.

Sword in the Storm isn't a literary work, but it is a good fantasy novel. Gemmell is a real master, and does what he set out to perfectly. He's the best heroic fantasy author, and his DNA can be found in a ton of current authors' books. I wasn't quite as impressed by Sword in the Storm as I was by Troy - the characters were a little flatter, the setting not as rich - but it was still a good read and sets up plenty of tension for future novels in the series.