Rating: 
Summary: OUTSTANDING!
Review: Just finished. Could not put down. Simply awesome. Nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: Another "Wave" of Excellence
Review: After waiting for this book to be available, and after
buying it and reading it, I have given it an honored space
amongst all the books in my bookcase, right next to Pressfield's
other "hallowed " book, "Gates of Fire." Pressfield is one of
the few authors for whom I would stand in a line of any length to get
an autograph, and this is coming from someone who doesn't "hero
worship" people, aside from my dead grandfather and
Teddy Roosevelt,and Charlton Heston(and yes, I am also a "generation-X" female)! This book,in my
opinion, is even Better than "Gates of Fire," in its complexity
of the main character, Polemides, called "Pommo" in the
book. Pommo is more loyal in his "disloyalty" than the so-called
loyal characters in the story. Yes, others will yell, "But the book is about Alcibiades,
and Pommo is just "confessing" and isn't the main character!"To which I will say, I love the way Alcibiades is portrayed,
but I love Pommo better! The two share a bond in that both
are seen as working for the other side, yet both are "guilty" of
loving Athens more than those who switch sides.... It's brilliant and wonderful, and rebellious in its entire nature as a book, just like both Pommo and Alcibiades. Pressfield, no doubt, truly loves Greek history- one can tell from the Greek words he throws in often, blending them in with the English, and it's almost as if this book alone could be rated
a Course 101 in Greek; yes , there is even a reference
"dictionary" in the back of the book for the reader's enlightenment, and it helps, most especially with the
Greek terms used in the depiction of the Sea battles...... Readers-to-be should know that this book
is "heavy" on the "Sad" scale, and when one is finished with it,
one feels as a reader that he or she has "earned" the right to
put the book down. It is not for the light-hearted and easily
depressed. Seriously. But if you love Greek history and
Pressfield's writing style, this is a must-have book.
Rating: 
Summary: Of War and Heroes
Review: Steven Pressfield tells the story of the heroes of war in ancient Greece with considerable skill and a sense for the detail and ambiance of the time in his book Tides of War. The story is told by Jason, who is defending both Socrates and Polemides, the man who is accused of murdering Alcibiades. In many ways this tragic story is one of great insight regarding the role heroes of the day play in our lives. Alcibiades, a leading general of Greece, was vastly influential in the tides of the Peloponnesian War in which Athens and Sparta struggled for superiority in the ancient world. Alcibiades was a gifted and moving spokesman who embodied all that was considered beautiful at the time. He was a gifted sportsman and with his magnetic presence could easily sway his peers in wartime and peace. During times of peace he had great gusto for living and few scruples. In wartime Alcibiades willingly took the risks necessary to secure victory. He chose his sides by necessity and his loyalty was often in question. Pressfield deftly manages to both educate and entertain. Tides of War is both a history and a novel of some insight about war and soldiers. Polemides brother, Lion is presented as a man of great integrity. Lion states "I was taught as a boy that a goddess resides there, silent, in that sanctuary at the pinnacle of pain. This goddess's name is Victory." Pressfield is gifted in presenting the world of the soldier in both language and character in a way that brings realism and authenticity to the work. For those in search of a quick and entertaining read, it may be best to avoid the Tides of War. It is a detailed book that takes quite effort and time to devour in its entirety. For those who have the stamina to stick to it, you will be rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: The Crux of Fiction and the Gates of Fire
Review: The effects of this read will echo in many conversations. This is the stuff of realism garnered from history and written in a style of the day of it's historical exposition. Though some critics have pointed out its inconsistencies and baned the anachronisms that only a critic could find, the over-all delivery is exciting and convincing.
Rating:
Summary: my review
Review: The main subject in this story is Alcibiades, a great commander of people during the times of the Peloponnesian wars. His story is told to Jason, a juror, by Polemides. He was the man charged of assasinating Alcibiades. Although I found some parts too descriptive of the fighting and hard to follow, all in all I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me an insight of what life was like during those times, and so little si really known about it. The story, though centralized in the Peloponnesian Wars, also describes the way people let their lives and how they suffered also. I am a big fan of all historical novels, and this one was no exception. Good reading and very informative.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
Review: Let me first say that I am extremely happy to have discovered Stephen Pressfield--he is truly a prodigal writer. His epic imagination, indefatigable attentiveness to subtle detail, and artful technical precision simultaneously summon the Ancient Greece of 2400 years ago to the mind of the reader with the immediacy and color of a living thing, and recount a little known history of perhaps the first major modern war; the 27 year embroilment and imperial struggle between ascetic, conformist Sparta and her disciplined infranty and the incomparable navy of the bold, brazen, and insatiable Athens. At the same time, Tides of War, like any brave excursion into the stormy emotional depths of history, is a poignant Tragedy. At times the fatalistic bind of the individual human destiny to the dark machine of Civilization seems unbreakable (many, many lives are haplessly shattered by the almost unbelievable catastrophe of the Peloponnesian War); as it does in the telling of so many individual tales of heart-rending woe, namely, the trireme captain-narrator's. And then the retrospective unfolding of the tale (through two narrators, principally through Polemides, an ill-fortuned navy captain under the aegis of Alcibiades himself, but also through Jason, an aged bourgeois soldier-civilian) returns to the axial figure whose shadow falls over that potentous period in Old World history, and whose presence is the fire and blood of the book itself: Alcibiades. Suddenly one's spirit is borne aloft on rushing winds, and all of the dolorous webs of war's bloodshed, plague, and suffering are burned clean away by a simple purity: the sheer and epic humanism of Alcibiades, a man tormented not by fear nor poverty nor impotence, but by an absolute superiority that fixes him from birth as a leader of men, an ideal to be worshipped and reviled, an individual fated to rise to the highest pinnacles of human achievement and plummet headlong from them. Alcibiades is both classical hero and figure of dramatic tragedy, wrestling the Fates and whole empires to reap his destiny as a preternatural man so far beyond his contemporaries that, in the full radiance of his rising star, he seems destined for godhood. It is the portrait of this extraordinary warrior-admiral-general-nobleman-politician-lover, the "boldest and most brilliant man of his day", that is the most riveting tale of the novel, glinting like silver coins beneath the broad flow of the general historical survey of the times. Pressfield immaculately blends philosophy, eloquent oratory, incisive description, and cinematic action with characters at once terrible and beautiful, and, above all, so realistic that you can almost smell the sea-salted hair or hear the rough voice of the broken soldier. Pressfield has a remarkable instinct for the atmosphere and style of the times, especially in his depiction of the diametric foils of Sparta and Athens; this ability to summon a certain attitude or color of long-lost cities from dusty historical texts alone is consistently inspiring. In short, or long, as it has turned out to be, Tides of War is a fantastic book. Precious few stories are as epically conceived or as eminently scribed. I'm off to buy Gates of Fire!
Rating: 
Summary: I got bored
Review: I really liked his earlier work Gates of Fire. This book I though was okay. It is very similar in style. They both deal with a man explaining what happened. Athenian political I did not find so interesting. And I though it was too long. Towards the end I felt that it was an effort to finish it. I would suggest it would be more profitable to spend your time reading Thucydides "History of war".
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but disappointing
Review: I enjoyed "Gates of Fire" immensely and was a bit disappointed with the pace and main characters in "Tides of War." The story spans the 27 year long Pelopenesian War and necessarily skips around to various points in the drawn-out war. The chapters describing the seige of Syracuse are very interesting, but too much of the book covers the various political and diplomatic machinations during the war. Moreover, I did not care much for the chief characters, who are a bit two-dimensional. The book's story centers around the career of Alcibiades, who appears to be a very interesting and enigmatic, but not ultimately not very sympathetic, character. The book's main character, a grizzled mercenary veteran of the war, is also a bit flat and unnattractive. These issues aside, the book does contain some rousing action scenes and the complex diplomatic and political machinations are not completely without interest (just a bit slow).
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but not Gates of Fire..............
Review: Tides of War is an excellent book which tells a tale of Alcibiades, the formidable Athenian traitor-general. It's treatment of the Peloponnesian War is somewhat spotty as the conflict raged off and on for 27 years, but the novel does occur at significant stages. The treatment of Athens' invasion of Sicily is the highpoint of the effort. Pressfield manifests within the reader an esprit de corps with the hard-luck Athenian forces. Suspensefully presented in graphic and gripping detail, the book is a fine compliment to Pressfield's other novel of ancient Greek conflict, Gates of Fire. However, Gates of Fire presented, what I thought to be, a more sympathetic and, thus, more endearing cast of characters. Additionally, Pressfield is hard pressed to muster the ardent martial glory of Thermopylae in this tale of a broader conflict. This is, by no means, a mark against Tides of War. Tides of War is also quite able to grip and retain it's reader. It is simply a matter of two excellent books; Gates of Fire, in my estimation, being somewhat superior. Accordingly, I highly recommend them both to any consumer of historical fiction.
Rating:
Summary: 5, but I still like Gates of Fire better
Review: In Tides of War, Pressfield takes up the story of the rise and fall of the Greek city-states roughly from where he had left it in Gates of Fire. those who have not read the latter, SHOULD. Both books offer a wonderful portrayal of the ancient world which is neither romantic nor drily historical. They are both excellently researched, beautifully written and well-thought-of. Pressfield understands the Classical Era extremely well, and even if he didn't, he's a very talented author, with a very competent touch on the emotional level.
A note of caution to those who have read Gates of Fire:
This is not a sequel. Its scope is much broader, and its characters very different - and less central to the story. Do not look for the same degree of emotional involvement. This novel is much more historical than its predecessor.
In fact, the contrast between the two books mirrors the contrast between the two eras: the early classical era and the late classical era, which I will not presume to describe in these few lines. Still, one book cannot be fully understood without reading the other. Buy both. They are excellent.
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