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Heart of Bronze #2
Jericho Moon
The sequel to Iron Dawn continues the adventures of Barra the Pict, a mercenary soldier who, together with her brawny companion, Leucas, and the magician Kheperu, attempts to free the prince of Jebusai in the land of Canaan. Reprint.
528 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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189 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Woodring Stover
51 books1,010 followersMatthew Woodring Stover is an American fantasy and science fiction author. He is perhaps best known for his Star Wars novels -- Traitor, Shatterpoint, Revenge of the Sith and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. He has also published several pieces of original work, such as Heroes Die, which Stover described as 'a piece of violent entertainment that is a meditation on violent entertainment'. Stover's work often emphasises moral ambiguity, psychological verisimilitude and bursts of intense violence.
Stover is deeply interested in various forms of martial arts, having trained in the Degerberg Blend, a concept that utilises the thought behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as its foundation.
Stover is deeply interested in various forms of martial arts, having trained in the Degerberg Blend, a concept that utilises the thought behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as its foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 10, 2019
Liked this story more than Iron Dawn--the good vs. evil struggle was more nuanced, the main antagonist wasn't evil, just struggling to do his best in service to a manipulative, dangerous god. That was the most interesting aspect for me, MWS's take on the Old-Testament-style (jealous, vengeful, terrifying) Judeo-Christian deity. Graeg is still the goodest boy ever.
August 11, 2011
I was introduced to Mr Stover's work recently - Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle were both quickly elevated to personal favorites of mine. So I figured I'd check out his earliest work that I'd heard of, a little two-part "series" set in Earth's Bronze Age, which in Stover's hands is every bit as fantastical and magical as any "traditional" fantasy world. Iron Dawn was the first book, and sadly, I wasn't particularly overwhelmed by it - I've heard mention that the three main characters are based on some characters from one of Stover's old roleplaying campaigns, and the book pretty much read like one of those campaigns. Not bad, but definitely not as developed as his most recent stuff.
Of course, I'd be surprised if some people wouldn't be offended by this book - Stover plops his characters in the middle of the Israelites' attack on the city of Jerusalem, and (for the most part) shows the Israelites and their God as the enemies, rather than the familiar Old Testament protagonists. Myself, I don't have a problem with it; I've always liked to read things that look at old stories from the other side.
Jericho Moon took a little while to get into, but I think it was better-written overall, and had a lot more depth and meaning behind it. I felt that Barra, the main character, was corralled into the storyline a bit - this is a mercenary barbarian woman who somehow becomes the Champion of Jerusalem, and I'm not entirely sure I liked how it came about - but for the most part, the characters were a lot more developed. Secondary characters were surprisingly well-done; one of my favorites was Joshua, the leader of the "antagonists" (Israelites) but definitely the most sympathetic person in both books. And most importantly to me, the story was epic - suspenseful, with the most astounding things happening left and right, and hardly giving you the time to catch your breath.
So, all in all, I think I liked it well enough. Still not a patch on Stover's "Caine" books, but more enjoyable than I thought it would be at first, and much better than the first book. Mr Stover is definitely improving as he goes along.
Of course, I'd be surprised if some people wouldn't be offended by this book - Stover plops his characters in the middle of the Israelites' attack on the city of Jerusalem, and (for the most part) shows the Israelites and their God as the enemies, rather than the familiar Old Testament protagonists. Myself, I don't have a problem with it; I've always liked to read things that look at old stories from the other side.
Jericho Moon took a little while to get into, but I think it was better-written overall, and had a lot more depth and meaning behind it. I felt that Barra, the main character, was corralled into the storyline a bit - this is a mercenary barbarian woman who somehow becomes the Champion of Jerusalem, and I'm not entirely sure I liked how it came about - but for the most part, the characters were a lot more developed. Secondary characters were surprisingly well-done; one of my favorites was Joshua, the leader of the "antagonists" (Israelites) but definitely the most sympathetic person in both books. And most importantly to me, the story was epic - suspenseful, with the most astounding things happening left and right, and hardly giving you the time to catch your breath.
So, all in all, I think I liked it well enough. Still not a patch on Stover's "Caine" books, but more enjoyable than I thought it would be at first, and much better than the first book. Mr Stover is definitely improving as he goes along.
July 29, 2025
LOVED THIS ENTIRELY!
fantastic book, especially because of the religious connection.
highly recommended to ex-christians full of incandescent rage. the number of highlights i have on my copy of this book!
fantastic book, especially because of the religious connection.
highly recommended to ex-christians full of incandescent rage. the number of highlights i have on my copy of this book!
April 11, 2016
Jericho Moon é mais um romance fodásico do Matthew “Acts of Caine” Stover, um autor que busca sempre quebrar os limites e os clichês da literatura de Espada e Magia contemporânea. Jericho Moon é a continuação de Iron Dawn, e forma a duologia Heart of Bronze, seus primeiros livros antes de ganhar a fama pela saga Acts of Caine (e que está demorando demais para sair um livro novo, caray!).
O romance faz uma reinterpretação dos eventos do Livro de Josué (e também descritos no Pentateuco), de uma maneira literal. Ele segue a cronologia estabelecida no Iron Dawn (o primeiro livro desta duologia chamada de Heart of Bronze), colocando os eventos da conquista da terra de Kena’am (Canaã). O livro transforma os personagens do livro de Josué; Josié, Eleazar o Grande Sacerdote e seu filho Phineas em pessoas reais.
Dentre esses personagens do lado dos hibiru (hebreus antigos) Josué é o mais trabalhado, visto que parte da história é narrada em seu ponto de vista. Josué é caracterizado como um homem que dedicou sua vida continuar o legado de Moisés, mesmo sendo um guerreiro e sem nenhum talento para as palavras como o profeta. Ele ainda não se recuperou da perda de Moisés, vinte anos antes da narrativa, e agora velho, a última coisa que ele quer é entrar em uma guerra. Os fantasmas do massacre em Jericho o atormentam, mas ele não pode ir contra a vontade Divina, por sua própria experiência ele viu que aqueles que se voltam contra o deus dos hibirus morrem.
É sob esse temor da punição divina que ele marcha cem mil hibirus, reunindo todas as tribos do deserto para a conquista de Jebusin (Urusalin em Egípcio ou Jerusalém como ficou conhecida nos nossos dias).
A narrativa, assim como em Iron Dawn, mistura fantasia, alguns anacronismos em uma história empolgante passada em 1.200 a.C. . A narrativa lida com temas interessantes como a relação entre fanatismo religioso e guerras santas, genocídio motivado por razões religiosas e a desumanização causada pelo desejo de vingança.
O grupo de personagens principais continua o mesmo, com a protagonista Barra e seus dois companheiros, Leucas, um grego veterano da guerra de Tróia e Kheperu (fantástico como sempre!) um mago Egípcio pervertido e exilado por ter se envolvido com magia demoníaca. Como uma mercenária, Barra segue para a antiga cidade de Jebusi , cujo rei está contratando mercenários para tentar defender sua cidade da horda dos hibiru que seguem devastando o deserto.
Barra é a grande atração da saga, uma mercenária mulher com uma psicologia complexa e bem construída. Mãe solteira, ela se aventura em batalhas por rejeitar a vida doméstica e para conseguir dinheiro suficiente para seus filhos.
Matthew Stover tem sempre premissas interessantes para seus livros. Em Jericho Moon a idéia básica é mostrar a queda de Jericó e o avanço dos hebreus após essa conquista do ponto de vista dos outros povos da região, principalmente dos Jebusitas da cidade de Jerusalém (antes do período israelita).
Como nos outros livros do Matthew, não existe uma diferença entre o bem e o mal, as motivações são complexas e muito ligadas ao que se tem que fazer para garantir a própria sobrevivência em um mundo brutal. O transforma o avanço dos hibiru como sendo motivado por um deus vingativo e ciumento, e pelo terror de ir contra os desejos desse deus.
A história alterna principalmente entre os pontos de vista de Barra, a mesma guerreira picta do romance anterior Iron Dawn e Josué, o líder dos mais de cem mil hibiru que seguem para repetir a destruição de Jericó em Jebusin (a antiga Jerusalem).
Em meio a uma trama intrincada e cheia de reviravoltas, Matthew Stover consegue incluir uma discussão sobre fé religiosa versus humanismo, que me surpreendeu dada a quantidade de eventos que acontece na narrativa.
Fica a recomendação, é um excelente livro e leitura obrigatória para quem leu Acts of Caine!
O romance faz uma reinterpretação dos eventos do Livro de Josué (e também descritos no Pentateuco), de uma maneira literal. Ele segue a cronologia estabelecida no Iron Dawn (o primeiro livro desta duologia chamada de Heart of Bronze), colocando os eventos da conquista da terra de Kena’am (Canaã). O livro transforma os personagens do livro de Josué; Josié, Eleazar o Grande Sacerdote e seu filho Phineas em pessoas reais.
Dentre esses personagens do lado dos hibiru (hebreus antigos) Josué é o mais trabalhado, visto que parte da história é narrada em seu ponto de vista. Josué é caracterizado como um homem que dedicou sua vida continuar o legado de Moisés, mesmo sendo um guerreiro e sem nenhum talento para as palavras como o profeta. Ele ainda não se recuperou da perda de Moisés, vinte anos antes da narrativa, e agora velho, a última coisa que ele quer é entrar em uma guerra. Os fantasmas do massacre em Jericho o atormentam, mas ele não pode ir contra a vontade Divina, por sua própria experiência ele viu que aqueles que se voltam contra o deus dos hibirus morrem.
É sob esse temor da punição divina que ele marcha cem mil hibirus, reunindo todas as tribos do deserto para a conquista de Jebusin (Urusalin em Egípcio ou Jerusalém como ficou conhecida nos nossos dias).
A narrativa, assim como em Iron Dawn, mistura fantasia, alguns anacronismos em uma história empolgante passada em 1.200 a.C. . A narrativa lida com temas interessantes como a relação entre fanatismo religioso e guerras santas, genocídio motivado por razões religiosas e a desumanização causada pelo desejo de vingança.
O grupo de personagens principais continua o mesmo, com a protagonista Barra e seus dois companheiros, Leucas, um grego veterano da guerra de Tróia e Kheperu (fantástico como sempre!) um mago Egípcio pervertido e exilado por ter se envolvido com magia demoníaca. Como uma mercenária, Barra segue para a antiga cidade de Jebusi , cujo rei está contratando mercenários para tentar defender sua cidade da horda dos hibiru que seguem devastando o deserto.
Barra é a grande atração da saga, uma mercenária mulher com uma psicologia complexa e bem construída. Mãe solteira, ela se aventura em batalhas por rejeitar a vida doméstica e para conseguir dinheiro suficiente para seus filhos.
Matthew Stover tem sempre premissas interessantes para seus livros. Em Jericho Moon a idéia básica é mostrar a queda de Jericó e o avanço dos hebreus após essa conquista do ponto de vista dos outros povos da região, principalmente dos Jebusitas da cidade de Jerusalém (antes do período israelita).
Como nos outros livros do Matthew, não existe uma diferença entre o bem e o mal, as motivações são complexas e muito ligadas ao que se tem que fazer para garantir a própria sobrevivência em um mundo brutal. O transforma o avanço dos hibiru como sendo motivado por um deus vingativo e ciumento, e pelo terror de ir contra os desejos desse deus.
A história alterna principalmente entre os pontos de vista de Barra, a mesma guerreira picta do romance anterior Iron Dawn e Josué, o líder dos mais de cem mil hibiru que seguem para repetir a destruição de Jericó em Jebusin (a antiga Jerusalem).
Em meio a uma trama intrincada e cheia de reviravoltas, Matthew Stover consegue incluir uma discussão sobre fé religiosa versus humanismo, que me surpreendeu dada a quantidade de eventos que acontece na narrativa.
Fica a recomendação, é um excelente livro e leitura obrigatória para quem leu Acts of Caine!
November 29, 2020
I found Jericho moon an overall more enjoyable read than the first installment, Iron Dawn. While the setup to Iron Dawn was excellent, and was also doing the heavy lifting of introducing you to the main characters, I felt it became extremely trope filled, with lots of conveniences that led up to quite an anti climactic conclusion.
While there are still some tropes here, I found them to be less of a plot problem than in Iron Dawn. And likewise I found the end to be far more serviceable.
However the big thing that upped my engagement with this book was that Matthew Stover included a villain I've always wanted to see appropriately displayed as a villain, namely Yahweh himself. If you are like me when you watch things like The Prince Of Egypt, Noah, or just read the Bible, Yahweh comes across as some kind of malevolent eldritch force, or almighty demon, with his followers being helpless puppets at the mercy of the God Tyrant which is precisely and refreshingly what you get here.
In this vein, while Yahweh is the villain the actual antagonist is Joshua, Moses' successor who is a lot more interesting than Remmie from Iron Dawn, who had an interesting backstory and buildup but little else. Joshua is simultaneously despicable and extremely pitiable which is exactly what he needed to be to make the character work.
All in all, while I had fun with these two books, they don't rise to the heights of Stover's 'Heroes Die' and I can only recommend them if you are looking for a fairly generic albeit competently written sword and sorcery romp, or if like me you are extremely intrigued at the idea of seeing Yahweh portrayed a very different way.
While there are still some tropes here, I found them to be less of a plot problem than in Iron Dawn. And likewise I found the end to be far more serviceable.
However the big thing that upped my engagement with this book was that Matthew Stover included a villain I've always wanted to see appropriately displayed as a villain, namely Yahweh himself. If you are like me when you watch things like The Prince Of Egypt, Noah, or just read the Bible, Yahweh comes across as some kind of malevolent eldritch force, or almighty demon, with his followers being helpless puppets at the mercy of the God Tyrant which is precisely and refreshingly what you get here.
In this vein, while Yahweh is the villain the actual antagonist is Joshua, Moses' successor who is a lot more interesting than Remmie from Iron Dawn, who had an interesting backstory and buildup but little else. Joshua is simultaneously despicable and extremely pitiable which is exactly what he needed to be to make the character work.
All in all, while I had fun with these two books, they don't rise to the heights of Stover's 'Heroes Die' and I can only recommend them if you are looking for a fairly generic albeit competently written sword and sorcery romp, or if like me you are extremely intrigued at the idea of seeing Yahweh portrayed a very different way.
April 18, 2019
Oh man, this gets so intense and epic!
I love that, however much Yahweh is described as a heartless monster, the Israelites themselves are only ever prisoners or victims of him. Joshua never dips into villain territory – in fact, he gets depicted as sympathetic and tortured right up to the very end. My God(dess), that heartfelt confession to Kheperu in the Holiest of Holies about how he missed Egypt, and their chains of comfort.
The duel between Barra and Eleazar (the Lady/Yahweh) in which Barra’s pronouns become capitalized is as epic as any Malazan climax, with the added meta-power that a fighting woman is standing off against literally angry patriarchy – I love that “sweaty sex” is described as a purity to fight Yawheh’s corruption.
Stover’s also pretty adept at starting a chapter in a way that seems perfectly feasible to pick up from the previous one – like it doesn’t feel like a timejump or anything – but then he starts recalling how we got to this point anyway.
I guess my only complaint is I wish this had been written like ten years later, Barra would have been gay!
I love that, however much Yahweh is described as a heartless monster, the Israelites themselves are only ever prisoners or victims of him. Joshua never dips into villain territory – in fact, he gets depicted as sympathetic and tortured right up to the very end. My God(dess), that heartfelt confession to Kheperu in the Holiest of Holies about how he missed Egypt, and their chains of comfort.
The duel between Barra and Eleazar (the Lady/Yahweh) in which Barra’s pronouns become capitalized is as epic as any Malazan climax, with the added meta-power that a fighting woman is standing off against literally angry patriarchy – I love that “sweaty sex” is described as a purity to fight Yawheh’s corruption.
Stover’s also pretty adept at starting a chapter in a way that seems perfectly feasible to pick up from the previous one – like it doesn’t feel like a timejump or anything – but then he starts recalling how we got to this point anyway.
I guess my only complaint is I wish this had been written like ten years later, Barra would have been gay!
October 1, 2014
I first came across this book in researching on the trope of God is Evil. Boy what a rollicking read. Finished it under 48 hours even tho it's 500 plus pages long. The writing is crisp and lean, but doesn't truck in tired tropes too much.
The main characters are like able, and believable. The setting is rich - post-Jericho Canaan. The premise is simple -- and deliciously subversive. A band of mercenaries is hired to protect a city from an invading army. However the invaders are the Hebrews from the Old Testament -- they're called the Hebiru by the Jebusi, the natives of the town that eventually became Jerusalem. Better yet the Hebrew aren't your typical villains -- they're actually slaves of a vicious god, driven to do his remorseless bidding or face annihilation -- and their leader Joshua is shown in a sympathetic light.
I recommend this or anyone who's a fan of fantasy as well as anyone who's tired of the standard Tolkien ripoff.
The main characters are like able, and believable. The setting is rich - post-Jericho Canaan. The premise is simple -- and deliciously subversive. A band of mercenaries is hired to protect a city from an invading army. However the invaders are the Hebrews from the Old Testament -- they're called the Hebiru by the Jebusi, the natives of the town that eventually became Jerusalem. Better yet the Hebrew aren't your typical villains -- they're actually slaves of a vicious god, driven to do his remorseless bidding or face annihilation -- and their leader Joshua is shown in a sympathetic light.
I recommend this or anyone who's a fan of fantasy as well as anyone who's tired of the standard Tolkien ripoff.
May 26, 2016
A great adventure story. You could possibly read this without ever reading Iron Dawn, but where is the fun in that? Okay this story portrays Moses' Israelites as tribal, genocidal, zealots who want Jebusi (Jerusalem) razed to the ground and every living thing within it's walls utterly destroyed. Not to say that they are the 'villains', in this story everyone is just doing what they think is 'right' so to label one person(s) as villainous would depend on your perspective. This may offend some readers. Also the story is scattered with profanity. Now while neither of these things really bother or offend me, I know there are some out there that don't care for this sort of thing. Great fun, great characters by a great author. Makes me wish there were more works by Mr. Stover to enjoy.
September 6, 2021
A solid ancient-world actioner elevated by a nifty religious perspective: it takes the Book of Joshua (and the characterization of God therein) seriously, and then tells a story from the perspective of those being threatened by the Hebrews, which allows for some interesting ideas about what fanaticism means when the gods are real but not especially likeable.
October 28, 2025
Way better than the first book in the series. I love how I was able to see young Stover improving between the two books. That's fantastic. If you're a fan of his then these may be hard to find, but this one in particular is worth the read.
April 21, 2024
Loved the historical pieces woven in and take on religion, a real page turner.
August 21, 2014
If ever there was a case to be made for not judging a book by it's cover, this is it. It looks like a Harlequin romance, but it's actually a very clever historical novel with fantasy elements. Think almost Robert E Howard's Conan or Bran Mak Morn set in Biblical Judea.
Stover writes about characters living in the generation just after Moses using the rules and tropes of fantasy fiction, and it works. He brings a new perspective to old characters just by portraying them as if the old stories were true. There's no Christian whitewashing here, it is a brutal and hard time to be alive. In particular, the God of the Old Testament is a terrifying thing to behold. On the other hand, some of the original characters sometimes struck me as being too modern and a bit out of place. He said somewhere that originally they were characters in an RPG-type game he was playing, and that probably explains some of their deficiencies. Still, I really liked the Egyptian priest, Kheperu.
It's not as good as his later works in the Heroes Die series, but it's still a good read.
Stover writes about characters living in the generation just after Moses using the rules and tropes of fantasy fiction, and it works. He brings a new perspective to old characters just by portraying them as if the old stories were true. There's no Christian whitewashing here, it is a brutal and hard time to be alive. In particular, the God of the Old Testament is a terrifying thing to behold. On the other hand, some of the original characters sometimes struck me as being too modern and a bit out of place. He said somewhere that originally they were characters in an RPG-type game he was playing, and that probably explains some of their deficiencies. Still, I really liked the Egyptian priest, Kheperu.
It's not as good as his later works in the Heroes Die series, but it's still a good read.
May 3, 2009
Stover certainly has no love for God. If you can get past the blasphemy, this is a good read. Much better paced than his previous novel, "Iron Dawn," despite being longer. This comes from enthralling characters from every perspective, not just his power trio of heroes. As a Christian, much of this book was tough to take. It has done me good, though, by forcing me to answer certain questions as pertaining to God.
April 18, 2012
A great sequel to Iron Dawn, with the characters we loved thrown in the middle of a worse situation than the first book... and an interesting reflection on religion.
April 22, 2023
I can't read so I had to judge this by its cover
I dictated this through speech-to-text software
I dictated this through speech-to-text software
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews