Winter Warriors feels like a particularly appropriate next step in my journey through David Gemmell’s Drenai novels. By now I know what I am getting from Gemmell. Warriors, impossible odds, questions about honour and duty, and characters who discover that doing the right thing is rarely as simple as it sounds.

But Winter Warriors also feels surprisingly reflective.

The central idea is one Gemmell returns to repeatedly: what happens when warriors who have spent their lives fighting are suddenly forced to question what they are fighting for?

That really worked for me.

The story centres on three veteran warriors, Nogusta, Kebra and Bison, who are drawn into a desperate struggle as the Drenai face another seemingly unstoppable enemy. These are not young men looking for glory. They are old soldiers who have already seen enough bloodshed to know exactly what war costs.

And that changes everything.

I particularly enjoyed the way Gemmell handles ageing here. His heroes are not invincible action figures. They are tired, battered and aware that their bodies are no longer what they once were. Yet there is still something inside them that refuses to simply sit down and accept that their usefulness has ended.

I found that increasingly affecting as I get older.

The younger me would probably have been focused on the battles, the warriors and the sheer bloody-minded determination of people refusing to give up. Late-fifties me still enjoys all of that, obviously, but I find myself much more interested in the reasons behind it.

What keeps somebody fighting when they know they might not survive?

What makes a person put themselves in danger for people they may never even meet?

And perhaps most importantly, when does duty become something greater than self-preservation?

Gemmell has always been fascinated by duty, but Winter Warriors gives it an interesting twist. These men are not fighting because somebody has told them they are destined to be heroes. They are fighting because they have reached a point where walking away would be harder to live with than the consequences of staying.

That distinction matters.

Gemmell’s heroes rarely seem particularly interested in being heroes. They simply cannot stand by when they believe something is wrong.

There is also some interesting commentary on power and political ambition. The Drenai are once again caught up in the consequences of people wanting control, and Gemmell is particularly good at showing how ordinary people end up paying the price for the ambitions of those at the top.

The powerful make decisions.

The soldiers carry them out.

The civilians suffer the consequences.

It is a familiar pattern, but Gemmell gives it enough human detail to keep it from feeling like a simple political lecture. His characters are rarely entirely good or evil, and that makes the conflict much more interesting.

I also enjoyed the story’s examination of loyalty.

Loyalty to a ruler is one thing. Loyalty to your comrades is something else entirely.

Nogusta, Kebra and Bison have been through enough together to understand that loyalty is not really about flags or titles. It is about the people standing beside you when everything has gone horribly wrong.

That is one of the things I have increasingly appreciated about Gemmell’s books. His great warriors are often defined less by how many enemies they can kill than by who they are willing to stand beside.

And yes, there is plenty of killing.

This is David Gemmell, after all.

There are battles, desperate defences, betrayals, moments of sacrifice and warriors doing spectacularly unreasonable things because somebody has to do them. I still get a tremendous amount of enjoyment from that side of his writing.

But the action works because Gemmell makes the people involved matter.

Winter Warriors also has a strong sense of mortality running through it. These characters know that their stories are coming towards their final chapters, and there is something rather moving about watching them decide what they want those final chapters to mean.

That probably explains why this one hit me rather differently than it would have when I was younger.

I am increasingly drawn to Gemmell’s older heroes because they feel less like wish fulfilment and more like people trying to make peace with the choices they have made.

And, as always, Sean Barrett deserves considerable credit for filling the world of the Drenai with life. His narration gives these weathered warriors real personality and presence, and there is something wonderfully familiar about hearing his voice carry me back into Gemmell’s world. The production may feel somewhat dated in places, but Barrett remains a huge part of why these audiobooks work so well for me.

Winter Warriors is ultimately a story about ageing, loyalty, duty and deciding what kind of person you want to be when there is very little time left to change.

The younger me would have remembered the battles.

Late-fifties me is remembering the warriors.

And I think that is probably the real strength of Gemmell’s writing. The swords and battles get you through the door.

It is the people who make you want to stay.

Buy your copy here