politalX Politics Store - Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £5.99
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553812169
ISBN: 0553812165
Label: Bantam Books
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
Number Of Pages: 525
Publication Date: 2000-02-03
Publisher: Bantam Books
Studio: Bantam Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
Thus reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world's greatest battles for freedom. Here, in 480 B.C., on a narrow mountain pass above the crystalline Aegean, 300 Spartan knights and their allies faced the massive forces of Xerxes, King of Persia. From the start, there was no question but that the Spartans would perish. In Gates of Fire, however, Steven Pressfield makes their courageous defence--and eventual extinction-- unbearably suspenseful. In the tradition of Mary Renault, this historical novel unfolds in flashback. Xeo, the sole Spartan survivor of Thermopylae, has been captured by the Persians and Xerxes himself presses his young captive to reveal how his tiny cohort kept more than 100,000 Persians at bay for a week. Xeo, however, begins at the beginning, when his childhood home in northern Greece was overrun and he escaped to Sparta. There he is drafted into the elite Spartan guard and rigorously schooled in the art of war--an education brutal enough to destroy half the students, but (oddly enough) not without humour: "The more miserable the conditions, the more convulsing the jokes became, or at least that's how it seems," Xeo recalls. His companions-in-arms are Alexandros, a gentle boy who turns out to be the most courageous of all, and Rooster, an angry, half-Messenian youth. Pressfield's descriptions of war are breathtaking in their immediacy. They are also meticulously assembled out of physical detail and crisp, uncluttered metaphor: "The forerank of the enemy collapsed immediately as the first shock hit it; the body-length shields seemed to implode rearward, their anchoring spikes rooted slinging from the earth like tent pins in a gale. The forerank archers were literally bowled off their feet, their wall-like shields caving in upon them like fortress redoubts under the assault of the ram. The valour of the individual Medes was beyond question, but their light hacking blades were harmless as toys; against the massed wall of Spartan armour, they might as well have been defending themselves with reeds or fennel stalks." Alas, even this human barrier was bound to collapse, as we knew all along it would. "War is work, not mystery," Xeo laments. But Pressfield's epic seems to make the opposite argument: courage on this scale is not merely inspiring but ultimately mysterious. -- Marianne Painter, Amazon.com
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Best historical novel ever written!
Comment: Actually, this is one of the best books I've ever read (and I've read a few). Pressfield manages to de-mythify and rationalize the Spartans and their way of life. This isn't a hollywood-style swashbuckling epic but a gritty, realistic description of how these people lived and why they did what they did. The prose is eloquent and contemporary thus enabling the reader to relate to the characters on a personal level, you can really feel their hurt, sorrow and anger.
The battle scenes and Spartan battle training are portrayed in a refreshingly down-to-earth manner: you won't find any mindless glorificatiion or heroic elevation here, only a bunch of comrades-in-arms trying to deal with their environment the best way they can, that is the way they've been raised and trained to. Dienekes's mantra of "war is work" really sums up the rational, pragmatic approach of those warriors. A number of sub-plots, such as the story of Rooster's revolt and acceptance or Xeone's love for his cousin, are also beautifully narrated and help keep the reader's interest on a number of levels. The end of the book is -at the same time- extremely moving, inspiring and thought-provoking.
Overall, a truly excellent book, highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A magnificent book
Comment: The best book I have ever read
If one is not moved and inspired by the Spartan code, discipline, courage and honour, then one is possibly dead
More strength to Mr Pressfield, as he continues to honour the fighting man through the ages, most recently with the superb Killing Rommel
Why can't a man like this be President of the USA and/or Prime Minister of the UK?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Go tell the Spartans ...
Comment: What an excellent book this turned out to be. It was my first read of a Steven Pressfield novel and, having read Valerio Massimo Manfredi's 'Spartan' and knowing the basic storyline of the Battle at Thermopylae, Pressfield's novel offers a microscopic description and analysis of those long-ago events.
The concept of having the story told to Xerxes by a survivor of the battle, relating stories of events and contributing characters, gave the book a particularly stroing plotline. I suspect this is a main feature of Mr Pressfield's writing style, as Last of the Amazons has been written in a similar vein.
There are obviously many other books about this battle, but I don't think they are as well constructed as this one. In a word (or two) - Get This.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fitting tribute to the heroes of Sparta
Comment: I found this book utterly compelling. It is the sort of read that leaves you with rings around the eyes after 'just one more chapter' the night before. The characters have a way of winding their fingers around your heart so that by the inevitably tragic ending you are willing them to survive. It has a brutality that is initially quite unsettling but utterly true to the historical reality of life in the ancient world. By the half way mark I was completely absorbed and enthralled by the narrative drive and suberb characterisation. The literary style is 'beautiful' in its truth and lack of sentimentality, even when describing the grime realities of war. Do read this book and listen to this amazing tale of courage and brotherhood.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Fiction History.
Comment: This really is very good. I am a huge fan of fiction history: Iggulden, Scarrow, etc - and this from Pressfield is really up there. Quite hard to get into at first, but once in its wonderful. The characters and story are all fleshed out well and this really brings the Battle of Thermopylae to life.
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