A harbor. A promise. A gathering conflict.
Troy: Shield of Thunder
The coast is a meeting place for travellers, warriors and uneasy alliances. As conflict gathers around Troy, Gemmell asks what courage and loyalty might mean to people caught inside a legend. This is the second part of a continuing story: begin with Lord of the Silver Bow, then arrive here with its relationships still in mind.
Begin reading
01 / A place to begin
A spoiler-light introduction.
Arrive with the first volume in mind.
The coast is a meeting place for travellers, warriors and uneasy alliances. As conflict gathers around Troy, Gemmell asks what courage and loyalty might mean to people caught inside a legend. This is the second part of a continuing story: begin with Lord of the Silver Bow, then arrive here with its relationships still in mind.
Gemmell's Troy is an imaginative retelling, not a translation of Homer or an archaeological account. In a publisher-hosted interview about the trilogy's opening volume, he explains his interest in mortal lives and the freedom of creating his own version. Read the novel's choices alongside the older tradition without treating fiction as proof of Bronze Age events.
Includes warfare, violence and loss. This continuing story draws on relationships established in the first volume. The series and publisher blurbs reveal later developments; use the titles for reading order and save those descriptions until afterward.
Sources: U.K. publisher — Troy: Shield of Thunder · Publisher series record — Troy: Shield of Thunder · Publisher-hosted author interview — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Reader note
Includes warfare, violence and loss. This continuing story draws on relationships established in the first volume. The series and publisher blurbs reveal later developments; use the titles for reading order and save those descriptions until afterward.
- First publication
- 2006
- Form
- Novel; heroic historical fiction drawing on the Troy tradition
- Original language
- English
- Publication note
- First published in 2006. Exact first-publication day is not established; selected paperback dates are later edition dates.
02 / Ways of looking
Choose a reading lens.
Three original prompts. Pick the question you want to carry into the book.
Your reading prompt
Loyalty
Follow an obligation.
Choose one relationship and notice the promises made in quiet scenes as well as in conflict.
Place
Read the coast as a meeting point.
Notice who arrives, who can leave and how journeys bring different commitments into contact.
Retelling
Recognize a novelist’s choices.
Keep what you remember from ancient myth beside what this novel actually establishes. What becomes immediate or uncertain?
03 / The copy desk
Find the edition for you.
Outside sellers and libraries handle purchases and loans. They determine stock, prices, condition, eligibility, and waits. Routes and bibliographic details checked .
All 2 reading routes shown.
Ballantine U.S. trade paperback
Paperback
A larger U.S. paperback format for an extended first reading. Useful if you prefer a trade-size page rather than the compact Corgi format.
- Publisher
- Ballantine Books
- ISBN
- 9780345477026
- Edition date
- 2007-12-26
- Pages
- 512
- Extra material
- Additional introductions, notes or supplementary material have not been established for this edition. Publisher dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 inches, as listed by the publisher. Textual differences from other editions have not been established.
Exact selected paperback ISBN 9780345477026. Check the external provider’s regional and format terms.
Exact print ISBN search. Check seller condition, binding and delivery terms.
Title-level discovery of a separate licensed Transworld ebook; the selected print ISBN is not a verified local holding. An eligible card and participating-library licence are required; availability and holds vary.
Corgi compact U.K. paperback
Paperback
A compact U.K. paperback for carrying. Its 640 pages and smaller dimensions distinguish the physical format; they do not establish extra chapters or a revised text.
- Publisher
- Corgi
- ISBN
- 9780552151122
- Edition date
- 2007-04-02
- Pages
- 640
- Extra material
- Additional introductions, notes or supplementary material have not been established for this edition. Publisher dimensions: 177 mm × 40 mm × 107 mm, as listed by the publisher. Publisher displays 02/04/2007 in U.K. day/month/year order. Textual differences from other editions have not been established.
Exact selected paperback ISBN 9780552151122. Check the external provider’s regional and format terms.
Exact print ISBN search. Check seller condition, binding and delivery terms.
Title-level ebook discovery; print borrowing requires checking your library's catalog for this ISBN. An eligible card and participating-library licence are required; availability and holds vary.
Modern copyrighted work. Purchase authorized copies or borrow through licensed libraries; no free full-text route was verified. No book text or cover is hosted here.
04 / Alongside the book
Keep a thread.
01 / Begin with the first volume
Begin with the first volume
Let the relationships arrive before the battles. Read Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow first. At the opening of Shield of Thunder, note which loyalties have carried over. Keep the publisher's later-volume blurbs for after reading.
02 / Trace a loyalty
Trace a loyalty
Watch one character's obligations change when private commitments meet public danger. Choose one relationship to follow. Notice promises made in quiet scenes as well as in conflict. Ask whose account of duty you trust, and why.
03 / Read the retelling
Read the retelling
Attend to what this novelist chooses to make human, uncertain and immediate. Separate what you recognize from ancient myth from what the novel establishes. Notice who tells stories inside the story. Read Gemmell's interview after the first volume if you want context for his choices.
05 / After reading
Let the questions stay.
Optional deeper reading. The panels below may discuss later events or the ending. They begin closed so you can choose when to continue.
Deeper themes · possible spoilersLook beneath the surface.
Original PointCast interpretations and prompts, rather than the author’s stated meaning. Open after reading if you want to preserve the discovery.
The cost of a promise
Which obligation becomes most difficult to keep, and how does the novel make that difficulty visible?
Courage away from battle
Where does courage appear away from a battlefield?
Alliances and trust
How do personal loyalties complicate political alliances?
Reading group · discussion spoilersBring it into conversation.
These questions concern the whole work. Return to the edition you are reading for examples and compare passages rather than page numbers.
- Which voices control how an event is remembered, and whose experience falls outside that account?
- What does the focus on mortal characters allow Gemmell to explore?
- What changes in your understanding of the first novel after reading the second, without anticipating the third?
06 / The next door
Nearby readings.
Continue the series.
Begin with Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow. Shield of Thunder continues the trilogy; knowledge of the ancient myth does not replace the first novel. Publisher descriptions contain later developments; the order below is spoiler-light.
- Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow
Volume 1. By David Gemmell.
- Troy: Shield of Thunder
Volume 2. By David Gemmell.
- Troy: Fall of Kings
Volume 3. By David and Stella Gemmell.
Sources / Follow the evidence
The reading is personal.
The references are inspectable.
A companion with its sources.
U.S. publisher
U.S. publisher — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Selected Ballantine paperback ISBN, format, publication date, pages and dimensions; New purchase route.
U.K. publisher
U.K. publisher — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Selected Corgi paperback ISBN, format, date, pages and dimensions; Troy book two; Retailer choices.
Publisher series record
Publisher series record — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Explicit numbered reading order; David and Stella Gemmell credited for Fall of Kings.
Author-associated book record
Author-associated book record — Troy: Shield of Thunder
First publication year 2006.
Publisher-hosted author interview
Publisher-hosted author interview — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Gemmell's own explanation of imaginative retelling and mortal focus; First volume's title.
Licensed digital distribution catalog
Licensed digital distribution catalog — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Title-level ebook library discovery.
Library licensed digital catalog
Library licensed digital catalog — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Separate ebook ISBN 9781409084655; Transworld release date and EPUB/OverDrive Read formats.
Bookseller marketplace
Bookseller marketplace — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Exact selected U.S. ISBN used-copy search.
Bookseller marketplace
Bookseller marketplace — Troy: Shield of Thunder
Exact selected U.K. ISBN used-copy search.
Introductions, reading lenses, pathways, and discussion prompts are original editorial copy. No book text is reproduced on this page.
The artwork was generated as an original editorial atmosphere. It is not an official cover, archival evidence, an author’s artwork, or a publisher endorsement.