Warriors Review: The Triumph by Robin Hobb

I am a Robin Hobb fan.
I have known her for years. She is an utter sweetheart, a treasure in the fantasy community. It was her persona at events a decade ago while I worked at Barnes & Noble that drove me to read Assassin’s Apprentice, to discover what all of her fans already knew. Beyond her personality and caring nature, I discovered she is also a damn fine writer. Without any pomp yet with a yearly growing fan base, she delivers book after book, all wonderful, all filled with the very things that make fantasy fantasy.
I had not, however, read her short story work.
I have now changed that.
The Triumph by Robin Hobb is a novella in the Warriors anthology, which will be published next week on March 16th. The short story has nothing to do with her previous work. It is a stand-alone work for all intents and purposes, which means it is accessible to those people who have not yet read her other entries in the genre.
It is also one of the most powerful entries in Warriors.
The novella is set in Carthage as Rome attempts to bring it under rule in the First Punic War. The tale follows two different points of view: Marcus Regulus, a historical consul for Rome who is intent on acquiring Carthage for the Empire, and Flavius, who has been dragged into various conflicts due to the battle lust of Marcus. The men are separated by station but both share the life that is serving Rome. As the reader discovers, it is a terrible life.
There is battle. There is bloodshed. There is loyalty. There is a dragon.
It is one helluva read.
In my opinion, out of the novellas in Warriors, it ranks up there with those delivered by Tad Williams and George R. R. Martin. It is an extremely well-written piece, poignant in its intent, touching at its end, the two main characters drawn together by circumstances neither can control but carrying a duty they cannot ignore. Robin weaves the two narratives together, separate yet one, even as she flashes back at events in her characters’ tumultuous lives.
Definitely keep The Triumph in mind for one of your first reads of Warriors.
You won’t regret it.
I wrote Robin to ask her a few questions about The Triumph:
1. Hi Robin! How were you approached to contribute to Warriors and what was it like working with George and Gardner?

Robin: I was contacted by email about the anthology. I’ve contributed to anthologies that George and Gardner have done before, as well as selling to Gardner as a magazine editor. As editors, they are easy to work with. Frequent reminders to ‘get that story in’ which is actually helpful for a procrastinator like me. And the editing is clean and clear and improves the story. No complaints here!

2. Some writers term themselves as only long-fiction writers, yet you’ve done a number of short stories over the years alongside your novels. What draws you to the short story medium? Is it invigorating to step away from your long-fiction?

Robin: Short stories are horribly hard for me. Horribly. I like to sprawl. In the ideal short story, every sentence either describes the setting advances the plot or tells you something about the character. A great sentence does all three. So, to do short fiction, I write something that is much too long, cut, cut, cut and then send in something that is still too long with an apology. I love the short story medium because it is like cutting a diamond to take the story idea and cut everything away until all you have is the shining heart. Invigorating? No. More like meticulous torture. But some stories demand to be told in that form. And if you want to tell them, you have to do the work.

3. The Triumph is one of the best novellas in the anthology, the story of Marcus and Flavius’ friendship a powerful one. How did you come to choose Carthage as the setting when the rest of your work has a more general fantasy setting to it?

Robin: No choosing involved. That is where the actual historical incident took place. I fictionalized a great deal, of course. But the basic bones of the tale were all set out for me.
The story is based on a recorded incident in Roman history. Zonaras gives this account of it, based on the earlier work of Dio Cassius:

‘Now while Regulus was encamped beside the Bagradas river, there appeared a serpent of huge bulk, the length of which is said to have been one hundred and twenty feet (for its slough was carried to Rome for exhibition), and the rest of its body corresponded in size. It destroyed many of the soldiers who approached it and some also who were drinking from the river. Regulus overcame it with a crowd of soldiers and with catapults.’

And there are other mentions of it in Roman chronicles.
Pretty cool, huh? Roman soldiers didn’t make up tall tales. Too many witnesses. And the ’slough’ or skin and the skull were displayed in the Roman Senate for years until destroyed by a fire.

4. How did you approach the research for the short story? Do you like research?

Robin: This was a story I’d encountered a long time ago. I took Latin in high school and we had to read and translate all sorts of Latin accounts for the classes. This tale is also mentioned in a really fun book, Dragons: A Natural History by Dr. Karl Shuker. I recommend the book to anyone interested in mentions of dragons through the ages. So I’ve had it in the back of my mind a long time, and it just took brushing up and re-reading the original sources and refreshing my Roman history.

5. What do you hope readers take away from reading The Triumph?

Robin: I hope they enjoy it as a good tale. I’ll always long to know more about exactly what happened there, and what on earth those soldiers encountered.

To read more about Robin Hobb, visit her at her new website! As for the anthology, Warriors goes on sale March 16th in fine bookstores everywhere.
More tomorrow!