Winter Warriors
core novel 1997 The Drenai Saga
Record
| First published | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.22 (8,139 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 339 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345432308 |
| Internal chronology | 10 |
Synopsis
Emperor Skanda has conquered the neighboring Ventrian realm and married its former emperor's daughter, Axiana, who now carries his unborn child and heir. To consolidate his own power and remove potential rivals, Skanda forces many veteran soldiers into abrupt retirement, including three aging warriors, Nogusta, Kebra, and Bison, and the once-legendary general Banelion, all discarded despite decades of loyal service. As a creeping demonic darkness begins to haunt the imperial city and threaten the pregnant empress, these cast-off soldiers find themselves drawn back into action, called on to protect Axiana from both supernatural and very mortal threats that the empire's current guardians seem unable to face.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Drenai Saga
- Series: The Drenai Saga core; position 8 of 11 in the series' recorded order
- Author: David Gemmell
Notes
- 1997 confirmed (Wikipedia overview's 1996 is wrong; first edition Bantam 1997).
- From the series record (The Drenai Saga): Publication order differs sharply from internal chronology (recorded per book in internal chronology).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Drenai Saga: position 8 of 11: previous The Legend of Deathwalker (1996) · next Hero in the Shadows (2000)
- Internal chronology, within The Drenai Saga: position 10 of 11: previous Quest for Lost Heroes (1990) · next The Swords of Night and Day (2004)
Sources
← The Drenai Saga dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.