The Ten Thousand [Mass Market Paperback]

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 they are also used to make the characters change and grow, with every engagement also reflecting some revelation or advancement in the characters. It is an excellent device, perhaps not a conscious one, but handled superbly.

In this one novel (The Ten Thousand is a stand-alone, although Kearney does not rule out other works set in the same world) Kearney successfully encapsulates all of his strengths as a writer, making for his tighest, most satisfying novel to date, and may possibly have just given us the best epic fantasy of 2008.

The Ten Thousand (*****) is an engrossing, superb novel of war and its impact on humanity with a fitting ending.

A grim recounting of a harsh and unforgiving military campaign set in the Bronze Age.

Story:
Ten Thousand is based on The Anabasis, an ancient Greek story about 10,000 mercenaries hired by one prince to overthrow his brother. Paul Kearney basically swaps out Greek Soldiers with Romans and calls them Macht. And he keeps the Persians but calls them Kufr, which looks like a typo. Then he tells the same story. There are a few other fantasy races in the book that act like normal people, but there is really nothing special about them.

World Building: FAIL
There is almost no fantasy world building in this book, other than changing the names and skin color of historic races. No magic, No amazing settings, no beasts other than a Yeti cameo.
Romans = Macht
Persians = Kufr
Grey Skinned, Yellow Eyed, Stocky Slaves = Juthan
Qaf = Yeti
The ruling elite are gold skinned, violet eyed, horse faced humanoids.

Characters:
There are a few main characters, and they are developed early on. But as the book progresses, many more less developed characters join the story and they become a bit muddled.
Rictus is a young, poor, warrior who joins the mercenary company after his village is destroyed.
Gasca is a young warrior who leaves home with his fathers spear and shield to join the mercenary company.
Jason is one of the leaders of the mercenaries, who must make difficult decisions throughout the campaign.

Writing Style:
The writing style is very gritty and the action is intense, but there is one major flaw. The goals of the characters are not set from the beginning and conflicts are not foreshadowed, so it is hard to root for the characters. As a reader, you just sort of go along with the journey and hope they make it. There are a few plot twists to keep things interesting, but the lack of "reader participation" makes the book feel flat. The book is full of details about harsh life in the legion and many characters die from "realistic deaths" like frostbite, infection, etc... But it really doesn't feel like heroic fantasy like the Robert E. Howard Books (Conan) or the David Gemmell Books (Druss the Legend). The human element becomes lost in the shuffle. The dialogue is also very matter of fact and to the point, which dilutes the characters' personalities.

Action:
The action scenes and battle strategies are very detailed. You do feel the impact of spears, the clash of armies, and the agony of defeat. You will also suffer the wounds, bitter cold, and agonizing hunger of the mercenaries. This book is full of fights, cavalry, skirmishes, and all out wars similar to the movie 300.

Maturity: M
There's swearing, rape, horrific deaths, gore, etc... It's not for young readers.

Overall:
This isn't a bad book. It's just a retelling of The Anabasis. You might as well just read the Anabasis. But if you want a fast paced historical drama full of action and grit, this will hit the spot.

Read it if you love battle stories set in Ancient Rome.
Read it if you love gritty battles.
Avoid it if you like high fantasy, dragons, or magic.
Avoid it if you really want to get attached to characters.

If you enjoyed this book, you should read the Drenai and Rigante Books from David Gemmell, the Robert E. Howard Conan Stories, the mercenary books by Joe Abercrombie, or the Books set in the Warhammer universe. They all have better battles, better settings, and better characters.

Note: The sequel to this book, Corvis has better characters, better writing, and the same type of gritty battles. It's 1 cent, and you can enjoy it without reading this one.

With its graphic combat and mad-dash pace, Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand is a grim, brisk novel; it's just not a necessary one.

The Ten Thousand is about Rictus, a young warrior who must lead ten thousand Macht mercenaries through the hostile Kufr Empire. If the premise sounds familiar, you may have read Michael Curtis Ford's ponderous The Ten Thousand or Xenophon's Anabasis, which is the origin material for both books. Kearney's novel is better than Ford's, featuring lean and mean prose that revels in the muck and stink of warfare. His descriptions of the Macht battle tactics bring to mind Stephen Pressfield's awesome The Gates of Fire, which Kearney obviously read, since he borrows at least one line of dialogue ("You were the best of us"). These two novels are separated by tone: The Gates of Fire is rousing and inspirational, whereas The Ten Thousand is gloomy and fatalist. To be honest, I prefer an uplifting story to a depressing one.

Although Kearney transplants Xenophon's story to a fantasy setting, I do not consider this novel to be a complete fantasy. The fantasy elements are not integral. If you replace Macht with Greeks and Kuf with Persia, you have the same exact story as historical fiction. To be fair, the author does inject a few interesting fantasy details. First, I like how men are a minority race in this world. In Kuf, they are treated as exotic and alien. It is the reverse in most novels, and I wish Kearney had explored this idea further. Second, the cursebearers are intriguing. These warriors wear unique black armor, which, in a way, symbolizes the Macht as a whole: Their most important artifacts are armor because war is their way of life, and the armor's darkness represents the futility of such an existence. Again, I think that Kearney could have done more with this idea.

Overall, The Ten Thousand suffers from a dearth of complexity. The story is a retelling of a classic premise with few detours. The characters have no depth beyond simple archetypes: the eager youngster, the grizzled veteran, the selfish miscreant, the noble leader, etc. They are faceless warriors who never lift their helmets long enough for us to know them as individuals.

Kearney proved his talent in the Monarchies of God series. He should use his talent to craft an original story rather than rehash an old one.