Gates of Fire

Rating:
Summary: None Better
Review: The reviewers who did not enjoy this book are obviously very different from me. Sure, there are things to critizise about "Sparta" and "slavery" and "war-mongering" but what that has to do with reviewing this wonderful book is beyond me.

The story of the protagonist's adoption into Spartan society was an excellent vehicle to provide an outsider's view of this amazing society. The non-linear story-telling was brilliant -- else the whole thing would have boiled down to a countdown to the inevtiable finale that every reader must already know. And I have to say that the actual treatment of the battle was the single best (thrilling, believable, riveting) piece of military history novelization I have ever come across.

Let me sum up: Gates of Fire has a permanent spot on my top shelf, It is a well-told story about war, honor, and sacrifice. If you think that "glory" and "war" have any intersection then here it is. The views of Spartan society were far more interesting than most such books -- in part because the extremes of this culture rival anything created by sci-fi writers. Surely not even Klingons are this tough. I found the training to be not unlike the summer two-a-days I was subjected to in high school football in Texas. My coach never executed anyone, that's true, but given half a chance...

Rating:
Summary: Very good but VERY violent
Review: Pressfield has created a very nice piece of historical fiction. I know that it is supposed to be classified as "Non-fiction", but I can't completely agree. The battle at Themoplyae occurred 2500 years ago, so I have a hard time believing that all of the details are exactly as they occurred.

However, a debate on the novel's genre is just sematics. What we have here is an engrossing novel on a fascinating time period. The Spartans as a whole are a interesting group. It was a civilization made up entirely of of "Navy Seals", and all men were expected not only to fight, but to be superior warriors.

"The Gates of Fire," is very good but it is also violent and descriptively gory (Stephen King has nothing on Pressfield!). The story is very well paced and while some of the characters could have used more developments, they are believable. However, character development and pace are only side-notes to the story. This is a book about war and those who were born to fight it. We learn about discipline and self-sacrifice. It might even be the the perfect read for the U.S. millitary to hand-out during the begining of boot camp!

I recommend "The Gates of Fire", to all who think that they can handle the all the deatils that it contains. This is definitely not a book for those who are a little squeemish at the thought of blood!

Rating:
Summary: Good motivation
Review: Teh other revieweres have done a very good summary of the book, so I must be brief.

Those who:

- Like reading adventure and passion (in this case a different kind of passion, full of pain);
- Wanna have some fun, because you won't rest before the end;
- Are sympathetic to Ancient History;
- Are willing to know how spartan warriors thought and made their strategy;

must read the book.

To some extent, the history gives you strength and motivation to keep fighting not a field battle (of course), but the life battle.

Rating:
Summary: Fiction blends with history to create an epic war story
Review: Pressfield uses fact and fiction to encapsulate the reader in the Greecian/Persian wars of 400 B.C. The story is artfully told from the point of view of a captured slave who served as a Spartan squire and gains audience with Xerxes as a dying prisoner. The Battle of Thermopylae is the central focus of the novel, yet the storyline revolves around the boy's life and his experience with the Spartans, sort of from the outside looking in. Genius writing, an amazing story, a must read. Also, Marines will find it on the Commandant's reading list for professional education.

Rating:
Summary: Outstandingly good - couldn't put it down
Review: The Spartans have been the Bad Guys of Ancient Greece for a long time. Most of us were brought up with the idea that the Athenians were "good" - philosophy, drama, visual arts, democracy - and the Spartans were "bad" - war, war, and more war. Pressfield does three things here and does them superbly: he shows us what Thermopylae meant at the time, including why the 300 Spartans and their allies had to stay and die, even if they could have retreated, and, to some degree, what it means now; he gives us a look into what Spartan society may have been like; and he tells a story of humanity and one of our deepest and longest lasting battles, the battle against fear.
Technically, this is a superb book. He takes a first-person narrative and makes it riveting, even though, on one level, we all know how the story turns out. He takes a totally alien culture and brings it to vivid life. He makes situations very different from our daily ones reach through time and hold our attention. And he writes set pieces - battles, training scenes, discussions between characters - that blow the roof off. When he writes, you're there.
Spartan society was a kind of parasite culture that controlled and was sustained by a captive host culture. The Spartans devoted themselves to war to protect themselves from revolts from their subjects and to protect themselves and their subjects from foreign aggression. Pressfield takes us into the thinking that he postulates would have underpinned this society - how would a race of warriors, especially curious, analytical Greeks, have dealt with such issues as the omnipresence of death and its companion, fear? What kinds of questions would they ask themselves? How would women function in such a society? What does liberty mean in this context?
I think it would have been a waste of narrative time and space to have Pressfield - as a previous writer seems to have wanted - indulge in seriously anachronistic PC stuff about how bad slavery was and oppressed this and nasty that. He paints a picture of a society dedicated to war in a time when the world was very harsh. Even if a Spartan 2400 years ago could have imagined what early 21st century mewing about oppression would have been like, he could not have functioned in his society for a moment if he paid it any attention.
There are some odd things in the way Pressfield has imagined his world. I was surprised to see such tall Egyptians and to run into place names for Europe that the Spartans probably would not have known, since they were later Roman names, but I suspect these were just to keep readers from being totally lost.
There isn't enough space here to list this book's virtues. I'd love to get Pressfield's look into Roman Republican society.

Rating:
Summary: quite possibly the greatest warrior's narrative EVER
Review: this book is utterly amazing. this book was personally recommended to me and my fellow cadets by Lt. General Hal Moore. (of We were Soldiers Once and Young fame) needless to say this is truly a masterpiece. the asides of the main character add both depth and at many points humor while simultaneously bringing forth an inate sense of Spartan culture and socio-economic structure. throughout the book one develops a personal connection with the characters. while the main character is both intruiging and novel the focus should primarily be on Leonidas the Spartan Leader and co-King. truly he was a man of the greatest patriotism. although i would love to fully expound upon the book i will leave it to you the reader to truly delve into this bonafide masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: The Way of the Warrior
Review: This fine novel of historical fiction is an exhilarating journey for the reader. Steven Pressfield crafts an exciting tale for the reader that is not only entertaining and engaging, but also historically accurate.
Steven Pressfield provides the reader with a startlingly real look at the lives of the legendary Spartans. With the help of the narrator, Xeo, we learn more about the Spartans ways of life, the way of the warrior. How they train, how they work as a community how they live. This vivid look into the Spartan life style is given constantly throughout the book in a flashback of events given by Xeo.
The story tells the life of Xeo, a man enslaved by the Spartans who trains and fights alongside them. Xeo accompanies the Spartan warriors on their journey to Thermopylae. There he witnesses the horrific battle between the 300 Spartans and their faithful slaves, and the overwhelming Persian army, 100,000 strong. Xeo being the only survivor retells the tale of all that happened in the week of battle.
Through his story we learn more about the Spartans and of war than many would have expected. We learn of the companionship that occurred between not only the esteemed warriors, but also between the warrior and his slave.
The story of the epic battle that goes on is an exciting and gripping one. Steven Pressfield draws you into it. You can feel the tension and weariness that the Spartans feel after days of nonstop battle against a relentless foe. Its almost as if you are there too, walking around in armor and lugging a shield around awaiting your turn to fight the next army sent up by the foreign invaders.
The overall feeling of the book is an awe inspiring tale in which you learn many new things about a people and a way of life that has died in today's world. You get a glimpse of what it was like to be a warrior in the truest sense. And all of this is written beautifully.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Tribute to Literature
Review: If you like historical fiction and you have not read this book I do believe you are missing out.

Rating:
Summary: An Engrossing and Deeply Moving Book
Review: Maybe the best book I've read since Cold Mountain. It is a thoroughly engrossing story, based on the battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartan soldiers, along with other Greek allies, held off an overwhelming force of invading Persians for several days. The narrator of the book is Xeno, a battle squier who is the sole survivor of the Spartan force. Pressfield convincingly sheds light on the nature of friendship, bravery, fear, freedom, honor, the differences between the sexes, and above all, love- love of country (and one's city) and the brotherly/fatherly love between the Spartans. The first few pages, explaining how Xeno comes to be brough before the Persian king Xerxes, to whom he relates his story, may seem boring or more likely confusing to some, but persevere and you will be richly rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Defeat in the History of Western Civilization
Review: The Battle of Thermopylae is generally regarded as one of the greatest military engagements of all time. It took place in ancient Greece, between the legendary warriors of Sparta and the huge army of the Persians under Xerxes. Remember him from Western Civ class? Yeah, me neither. But I returned to this book after taking Western Civ recently, after my first attempt at slogging through it failed. This is definitely a book that goes down easier with some background info; even basic knowledge about the Greek city-states will help.

It's not giving away much to give a brief outline of the battle. Basically, 300 Spartans (or Lakedaemonians, as they called themselves) defended a single mountain pass into Greece against about 2 million Persians. Yes, 300 - and they held the pass for 3 days, too, long enough for their allies to muster a resistance at Athens that would eventually defeat the Persians for good. The story is told in flashback, the conceit being that one Spartan has survived the siege and is brought to Xerxes, who wants to know more about these heroic soldiers who didn't seem to care that they were fighting a suicide mission and who, despite their inevitable defeat, gave the Persians a hellacious ass-whomping for a few days there.

The narrator is in fact a former slave serving as a squire to one of the Spartan warriors, which allows for plenty of gushing about the Spartans' prowess. The 3 days of the battle itself come at the end of the book, allowing plenty of time to flesh out the character of the Spartans and a little bit about ancient Greece before getting down to the blood and glory.

And glory it is. If you choked up during 'Braveheart' or 'Gladiator', expect a teary moment or two here as well. What makes this story all the more poignant is the fact that it is, so far as we can tell after several thousand years, completely true. The epitaph described in the book - "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by/That here obedient to their laws we lie" - actually exists, carved into the rocks of the Gates of Fire and still visible today.

The first half drags a bit - sometimes more than a bit. The narration itself twists and turns and winds its way, often confusingly, through the story. And again, if you don't have at least some idea of who the Athenians and Corinthians, et al, are, you're going to have no idea what the heck is going on.

Still, the Battle of Thermopylae is famous today. (Remember 'The Last Samurai'? Tom Cruise mentions Thermopylae when he's planning the suicidal final battle of the samurai.) Steven Pressfield's novel does a great job explaining how a single 3 day battle could survive as the single greatest defeat in the history of Western Civilization.