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Rating: 
Summary: Spartan
Review: > Manfredi, author of the best-selling Alexander trilogy, is back with a new epic adventure. Two men, both sons of a valorous Spartan commander, are brothers by blood, but yet fate has destined them to be enemies instead. Amid the cruel law of Spartan, it was thus that the crippled brother Talos, whose genuine name was Kleidemos, was reluctantly separated from his family at birth. Yet, the Gods did not entirely abandon this baby. By chance, a helot finds Talos and saves him from the wild. Helots were a once proud race of men now enslaved by the Spartans. Therefore, raised by the helot shepherd, Talos lives in servitude while his brother, Brithos, remains in the mighty warrior class of Spartans.
> As the years passed, the two boys become men, both concealed from the existence of each other. It is till one day, when Brithos stands over Talos, ready to give him a fatal blow that he realizes that there is a special bond between them two. Their blood ties were still shrouded from Brithos, yet a mysterious force stopped him from killing his brother. Determined to find an understanding, both Brithos and Talos becomes entangled in a series of adventure, eventually discovering their identity as brothers.
> However, as war clashes between the Greeks and the Persians, petrifying incidents occur and Talos is left dealing with yet the many baffling puzzles of his life. When Talos finally learns that he is both a Helot and a Spartan, he is harassed by a final and decisive decision; the decision between whether he should pursue the footsteps of his noble father and brother, or whether he should lead the people that once raised him and gave him a chance to live. Full of passion and valor, Spartan is a thrilling novel that portrays a realistic scenario of the ancient world.
Rating:
Summary: Spartan
Review: > Manfredi, author of the best-selling Alexander trilogy, is back with a new epic adventure. Two men, both sons of a valorous Spartan commander, are brothers by blood, but yet fate has destined them to be enemies instead. Amid the cruel law of Spartan, it was thus that the crippled brother Talos, whose genuine name was Kleidemos, was reluctantly separated from his family at birth. Yet, the Gods did not entirely abandon this baby. By chance, a helot finds Talos and saves him from the wild. Helots were a once proud race of men now enslaved by the Spartans. Therefore, raised by the helot shepherd, Talos lives in servitude while his brother, Brithos, remains in the mighty warrior class of Spartans.
> As the years passed, the two boys become men, both concealed from the existence of each other. It is till one day, when Brithos stands over Talos, ready to give him a fatal blow that he realizes that there is a special bond between them two. Their blood ties were still shrouded from Brithos, yet a mysterious force stopped him from killing his brother. Determined to find an understanding, both Brithos and Talos becomes entangled in a series of adventure, eventually discovering their identity as brothers.
> However, as war clashes between the Greeks and the Persians, petrifying incidents occur and Talos is left dealing with yet the many baffling puzzles of his life. When Talos finally learns that he is both a Helot and a Spartan, he is harassed by a final and decisive decision; the decision between whether he should pursue the footsteps of his noble father and brother, or whether he should lead the people that once raised him and gave him a chance to live. Full of passion and valor, Spartan is a thrilling novel that portrays a realistic scenario of the ancient world.
Rating:
Summary: A Moving Tale of Two Brothers and Two Worlds
Review: For those who've read and enjoyed Pressfield's GATES OF FIRE, it may seem hopless that anyone will ever write another tale of the Spartans in as moving and powerful a fashion. But this one nearly attains that goal. Here is a novel of two brothers, separated as babes, the elder a perfect Spartan paragon, the younger deformed at birth and abandoned by his parents to die of exposure in the wild. Rescued by a shepherd of the Helots, that people who were enslaved by the Spartan citizenry, the crippled child is raised and strengthened by his adopted people and taught to become their long dreamed of champion. But the Spartan blood of Talos the Cripple calls to him and draws him inexorably back to his Spartan roots even while the Spartans alternately torment and tolerate him, recognizing him as one of their own. Drawn into the great Battle of Thermopylae, the crucial plot-point of GATES OF FIRE, Manfredi's SPARTAN follows Talos in his struggles against the brutal inhumanities of Sparta and his own return to their ranks . . . and the conspiracies that characterized the ancient Hellenic world of the Greek city-states. The depth and poetry of Talos' personal experiences and the war in his soul carry this tale, though, perhaps, some of the other characterizatations grow pale by comparison. His Helot and Spartan mothers seem ghostly shades, even in life, while his beloved Antinea has but a bit part. The other Spartans are not much stronger and the plot feels a trifle contrived as we follow Talos from slavery to heroism and then to the point where he must choose a path between the two. The tale was compelling and kept me going throughout, but the ending felt just a bit too melodramatic, with one too many loose ends. But, in the end, this was a tale that aimed to spin a modern myth out of ancient Greek cloth, complete with prophecies and mysterious dreams and a sense of fate, and the gods, at work. Not quite a tragedy in the old Greek sense, it's nevertheless finely done for all its faults. If not quite perfect, it's yet a fine rendering of an ancient and, by modern standards, despicable people, though we come to see their humanity even through the harsh and brutal measures that define them. A good one and worth it, if you like historical fiction, especially the kind that comes to us from the ancients. -- SWM
Rating: 
Summary: Slow down a bit
Review: I'm halfway through the book now, and am seriously considering putting it down. See the other reader reviews for comments on the storyline. It is indeed a nice tale, set against a most powerful backdrop. However, it just feels like the author rushes through events at too fast a pace. Entire battles are described in a few paragraphs, what should be long prolongued drama filled scenes of major character death is boiled down to a few sentences. Really, the story told in this book is good enough to have been expanded into 6-8 books, but instead we are treated on a whirlwind tour spanning from the birth of the main character, to teenage years, to Thermopylae, to Platea and across the ocean - all in half the book so far. It's beginning to get tiresome.
Rating:
Summary: Slow down a bit
Review: I'm halfway through the book now, and am seriously considering putting it down. See the other reader reviews for comments on the storyline. It is indeed a nice tale, set against a most powerful backdrop. However, it just feels like the author rushes through events at too fast a pace. Entire battles are described in a few paragraphs, what should be long prolongued drama filled scenes of major character death is boiled down to a few sentences. Really, the story told in this book is good enough to have been expanded into 6-8 books, but instead we are treated on a whirlwind tour spanning from the birth of the main character, to teenage years, to Thermopylae, to Platea and across the ocean - all in half the book so far. It's beginning to get tiresome.
Rating: 
Summary: I must be missing something....
Review: I'm halfway through this book and have to admit I can't quite agree with the over the top praise this author is receiving. Does he know his subject? Absolutely. At times though I think that he falls back into the role of professor and the unpronouceable (for me at least since the peoples and age of which he writes is not completely familiar to me) names come rolling out one after the other barely giving me time to digest one before trying to figure out who or what the next one is. I think he takes for granted that anyone picking up this book must have a working knowledge of the time period and be aquainted with all diverse people that filled the army of "the Great King". I have to admit I am partial to Bernard Cornwell's writing and it was because of his praise printed on the cover of the book that I purchased it. I'm used to Mr Cornwell gently introducing peoples, customs and devices of a past age thoroughly explaining their purpose and existance in well crafted prose. I know the author is Italian and the writing feels like an interpreted work (I'm not sure if it was originally written in Italian which would explain a lot if it was)with stilted often very unrealistic conversations between the characters. I haven't so far gotten a very good sense of the characters either and feel they could have been fleshed out a little more. On the plus side, I have found the story itself intriguing enough to continue reading. It's almost as if I feel I need to finish this to see if it gets any better or was worth the read to begin with. Wish me luck!
Rating: 
Summary: superb author and an equally superb translator
Review: VMM is one of the greatest writer ever, he has such an in depth knowledge of the hellenistic, roman and greek period. His background does not only supports his writing, but he is also an extremely capable stroy teller. I had read all his books, the alexander trilogy, the lost legion and spartan and I always had difficulties in stop reading them and always end up rereading them all over again. in Spartan, VMM vividly described the spartan way of life and all the historical happenings that surrounded the spartan legacy, from the suppresion of the helots, the persian invasion, the famous death of King Leonidas and his 300 spartans, the earthquake that prompted the helots to revolt and the subsequent battles. VMM has a 'fluid' way in writing his works, hence he is not trapped in following the familiar pattern all over again which tends to happen to other authors, thus VMM managed to avaoid the boredom of a repeated story line. And an merit should also be rewarded to the translator, without whom the books will be non accesibe to the english readers. The translators had indeed managed to capture the very essence and beauty of VMM's works. 2 thumbs up for the translators. I recommend all of VMM books, he is truly a marvelous historian and story teller. Simply impossible to stop reading. I am eagerly waiting for VMM's next book.
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