Gates of Fire

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The strength of this novel is the poignancy of the characters, their relationships, the dialogue, the personal moments. It has some good, hectic war scenes, but I will remember most the relationship between the lead character, the slave Xeones, and his cousin Diomache, I will remember the typical epic speeches and monologues by the Spartan leaders prior to Thermopylae. For a historical war novel, this is one of the better ones I've read when it comes to human interaction.

There are only two weaknesses that hamper the book. 1.) it bogs a bit in the middle, as some of the characters start to blend together. The character *moments* are strong, but some of the elder Spartans at least run together a bit until the final chapters. And 2.) The historical reality of Sparta vs. Persia was hardly as noble and heroic as presented in legend and in this book. As fiction, it's no problem. But Sparta was one of the worst, most tyrannical cultures in the history of humanity--there is very little to valorize in Spartan culture. I can understand and appreciate how the story of the 300 captivates the imaginations of generation after generation--it's one of the best legends of Western European history--but the Spartans were hardly fans of liberty and freedom, their own freedom or the freedom of others.

Still a great read though.