Publishing Information: Paperback; 480 pages
Publisher: Solaris; 26 August 2008
ISBN 10: 1844165736
ISBN 13: 978-1844165735
Series: Book 1 of Macht Trilogy
Copy: Out of Pocket (for both reviewers)
Reviewer: Tyson and Yagiz
Back of the Book:
"On the world of Kuf, the Macht are a mystery, a seldom-seen people of extraordinary ferocity and discipline whose prowess on the battlefield is the stuff of legend. For centuries they have remained within the remote fastnesses of the Harukush Mountains. In the world beyond, the teeming races and peoples of Kuf have been united within the bounds of the Asurian Empire, which rules the known world, and is invincible. The Great King of Asuria can call up whole nations to the battlefield. His word is law.
But now the Great King's brother means to take the throne by force, and in order to do so he has sought out the legend. He hires ten thousand mercenary warriors of the Macht, and leads them into the heart of the Empire."
Tyson
I have several Paul Kearney novels sitting on my shelf and for a long time have planned to get this book read. Finally, I had a chance to do it. The Ten Thousand is a classic military fantasy novel in the vein of Pressfield's The Gates of Fire and the graphic novel 300. A feared and legendary group of mercenaries have been hired to raise the king's brother to power of the greatest empire on the planet.
The Ten Thousand is epic in scale, the army marches at a fairly decent pace and the story unfolds well over a year as they travel a great distance through the empire. The Macht, as the mercenaries are known resemble the Roman legion crossed with the Spartans. There is a hierarchy to the group and one individual is elected to the lead (think head general) which is similar to the original concept of a Roman dictator. The world the Macht come from is mountainous and the lifestyle they are accustom to would be considered spartan. They live in a world were the majority of men are soldiers until they are no longer useful in the phalanx. Once that happens they become farmers and artisans and breed the next generation of warriors. The history of the race is done artfully and you do not have to read massive amounts of text at one sitting. It is woven in as the story unfolds. The empire's history is also woven in this fashion and you come to have a grasp of the universe that Kearney has created. The Ashur Empire is interesting as the Macht are human in appearance and the Ashur Empire is composed of many different races that are thrown into a caste system.
Nearly every character that The Ten Thousand focuses on are interesting and have their own story and background. The only real issue I had was Arkamenes. The Ashur Empire was growing and as far as I could tell in good hands. The king, Ashurnan, loved his brother and treated him as best he could. Why Arkamenes wanted the crown and would do anything to overthrow his brother had me baffled. Their was no motivation beyond wanting what he could not have. Which I guess would be enough but it just seemed oversimplified. In my opinion, there should have been something deeper to his motivation. Kearney does an excellent job of bringing some great characters to life and unfortunately he also does a brutal job of killing them off when you least expect it. It leaves you wondering just who will live until the end of the novel.
Just like the march the Macht undertake through the Ashur Empire, The Ten Thousand moves at a furious pace. It starts out with an aggressive battle and does not let up until the very last page. Kearney manages to tell an great story that focuses on the grittiness of war as well as the requirements to keep the machine moving and conquering. The Ten Thousand does an amazing job of displaying how tides of war can change in the blink of an eye and the emotional impact it has on the troops.
The Ten Thousand is a highly entertaining novel and is a great introduction to the author. Bloody, gritty and fun. There is a fair amount of foul language but nothing you would not expect if you were in the trenches with the troops. As far as I was concerned it was an attempt to add some realism to the mercenaries and how they deal with the rigors of war and the possibilities of imminent death. Highly recommended. The sequel Corvus was released in October and a review will be coming soon.
Plot: 8
Characters: 8
Style: 9
Overall: 8.5/10
Yagiz
Years ago my parents gave me a book thinking, rightly so, that I would like it. It was Michael Curtis Ford's The Ten Thousand. It was an excellent modern-day reinterpretation of Xenophon's The Anabasis. That's why I was intrigued when I heard about Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand for the first time two years ago. I didn't get to read it until a few weeks ago, partly because of lack of opportunity and partly because I didn't know what the author was capable of.
Earlier this year, Solaris Books republished Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God, a five-book series, in two voluminous omnibuses and for me, they have been one of the highlights of the year so far (My reviews of both books: Hawkwood and the Kings and Century of the Soldier). I was so impressed by the author's work that I immediately ordered my copy of The Ten Thousand. And I am glad that I did because Paul Kearney is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers (as of this writing, I am halfway through Corvus, the second book of The Macht trilogy. Tyson and I will publish our joint review next week).
Kearney's The Ten Thousand takes place in Kuf, a world that is home to various humanoid races. The reader mostly hears about the human-like Macht, the tall, golden skinned Kefren and the gray skinned Juthan. The Macht are pictured as a mysterious and martial race who are exceptionally disciplined on the battlefield. However they've always remained in their homeland (their mythology/history talks about one exception) close to Harukush Mountains, until Arkamenes, High Prince of the Asurian Empire hires ten thousand Macht mercenaries and in order to dethrone his brother, he leads them into the heart of the empire, to the imperial capital, Ashur.
Ashur had been laid out in a grid, maybe four thousand years before. Vorus had studied on it, and believed the city to be twice as old; but always built on the same pattern. Imperial Ashur. Her walls were a hundred and fifty feet high, and sixty pasangs long. In their shadow lived some two million people. Kefren of all castes, Juthan by the scores of thousands, common Asurians, Arakosans, Yue, Irgun, Kerkai. They were all here.
These ten thousand mercenary warriors, hired by Arkamenes, are the best Macht had produced. Led by their general and centurions, they work as a deadly war machine on the battlefield. They are capable of battling an army many times their size. In his book, Kearney brings the reader to the heart of this army of mercenaries. Behind the blood-stained facade, the reader can witness surprisingly diverse and humane aspects of this great brotherhood. At times, the story is so intense, the reader feels herself sweating in a bronze helmet, holding a spear with calloused hands and charging on a muddy battlefield while singing paean, the Macht battle hymn.
To become a sellspear, a man might forsake his ancestors, his memories, the very place that gave him birth, but in return he was admitted to this brutal brotherhood and given a new thing to fight for. A city in miniature, clad in bronze, and dedicated to the art of warfare.
They were soldiers, creatures of appetite and routine with a core of indefinable restlessness at their heart. They were callous, brutal, sentimental, sardonic. They were selfish and selfless. They would knife a man over a copper obol, and would share with him the last of their water. They would trample a masterpiece of art in the dirt and be brought to tears by a veteran's voice raised in song. They were the dregs of the earth. They were Macht.
Kearney borrows only the main traits of the historical setting in his book. The Persian empire, at the time of Xenophon, stretched from India to Egypt and Greece. The historical Ten Thousand started their journey in Sardes (west of modern Turkey) and they crossed all Anatolia and went into today's Iraq to face the army of Artaxerces II in Cunaxa. In the book, Kuf's map bears some resemblance to Asia Minor's geography. However, the world of Kuf has two moons, Phobos and Haukos, that deeply influenced its peoples' myths. It is also a setting without magic, with the only mystery being the Cursebearers' black armours. But the story is so gripping that the reader never misses stronger fantasy influences.
The Ten Thousand is a very fast paced book. I am certain that the author could have stretched the story for dozens of pages. However, in not doing so, he let the reader experience the story as fast as on the back of a galloping horse. Just shy of 500 pages in paperback format, it is not a long book but Kearney manages to introduce many memorable characters and develop them throughout the book. His characters are believable, a trait that I've found in his other books. The reader won't find pure evil or pure good in this book. However she will meet characters that she will care very much and she will feel strongly about.
Kearney is also very skillful in showing two different sides of a struggle, which probably adds more humanity to his characters. The reader can always ask would she be a better person if the life treated her the same way as it treated the protagonists.
Last but not least, even though it is the first book of a trilogy, The Ten Thousand reads perfectly well as a standalone. Therefore, you can commit to it without committing to the whole trilogy... Although, I'm certain that once you read about the Macht, you will want to go back to Kuf.
I cannot tell you how glad and satisfied I was when I turned the last page of Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand. Not only because I had read an excellent book and Corvus was the next book on my list. But because Kearney had raised the bar very high with The Monarchies of God, and The Ten Thousand was still great despite my high expectations.
Plot: 8
Characters: 9
Style: 9
Overall: 9/10
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