Spartan

I got this book from a friend in Puerto Galera, Philippines, about 3 years ago. It didn't seem like my kind of book. Boy, was I wrong! SPARTAN has it all. The story is simple -- two brothers separated at birth but inextricably bound in a common destiny, and the triumph of good (the freedom of a conquered and enslaved people) over evil. As a simple yet incredibly consistent and complex story, you get caught up in the action from the first page. So the book succeeds in the most important task: telling a good story. Second, Manfredi (or rather Christine Feddersen-Manfredi, the translator) tells the story using language that begs to be reread to be fully enjoyed. The book has almost poetic merit in places. Indeed, this book will get taken back to Thailand this summer for a second read! I'd highly recommend it to anybody.

Let's cut to the chase: This novel is at least as good as Pressfield's "Gates of Fire" (an excellent book), but in two areas I feel it surpasses it. The first is that it is a faster moving story. The second is that although Manfredi, like Pressfield, clearly admires the spartans, he doesn't sanitize them quite as much. Both novels are written from the perspective of a slave, but Manfredi's Talos has feelings much more in line with what a slave would feel, I think. Both involve Thermopylae, but where that is the central theme of "Gates of Fire", here it is one occurance among many halfway through the story. Elsewhere in the reviews for this book, I found one reader who felt a little lost with a few of the characters. Manfredi does an excellent job of bringing to life historical figures such as exiled King Demaratus, but I admit that it may help to have a general understanding of the Persian war. Interestingly, the prose flows particularly well for a translation. If you like reading about ancient heroics, I highly recommend this novel.

Talos is a young crippled Hellot man who is the servants to the great Spartan warriors. But when Talos has to defend a young woman he comes to the attention of a group of Spartans and not only that but the Spartan General looks at him with such pain in his eyes. The story follows two young men as they battle at Thermopylae - one as a Spartan warrior the other as a servant and leanr that together they can make a terrible pair. I really enjoyed this book and haing actually studied the time period that it describes I greatly enjoyed the different perspective on it. Though I did feel sorry for Talos and I must admit shed a few tears - which I don't do very often with books but is becoming more regular.

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. -- SWMThe King of Vinland's Saga

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.