Tides of War

Rating:
Summary: Not worth buying
Review: This is not a good book. No matter what anyone else says or writes, or how well the book is selling, or how many good reviews it may receive in the media, it is not a good book. Tides of War is written at the same low "standards" set by the author's previous historical novel, Gates of Fire, which was also set in Classical Greece. It even has the same general pattern of inconsistencies from chapter to chapter and sometimes within single paragraphs, the same medically and physically impossible exploits on the battlefield, at least as many of anachronisms, and the same profanity rich, boring dialogue. It even exceeds Gates of Fire in distancing the reader from the central story by having perfectly remembered incidents and conversations passed on through at least three different storytellers, some of them relating events 30 to 60 years in the past. (Ancient Greeks are assumed to have had perfect memories, or know shorthand.)

Anachronisms? What anachronisms? Well, the one that struck me most strongly was the existence of nautical charts at least eighteen hundred years before they were invented. (At least they aren't represented as "a drawn to scale blue print" like that map of Thermopolyae in Gates of Fire.) However, I was also disconcerted by the use of the term dreadnought to describe a Greek trireme (war ship), which was only slightly worse than than calling them by another 20th century term, battleships, throughout the rest of the book.

Medically and physically impossible events? Well, there are several superhuman Greek soldiers in this book, just as in Gates of Fire. One could pick up and throw a 60-pound stone after being hamstrung and stabbed in the back twice, once through the liver. Also, there is that sailing by various Greek ships during fierce storms that would in truth have immediately destroyed any ship built in classical Greece.

Inconsistencies? Well between pages 333 and 337 the reader has the dubious privilege of hearing the lecture addressed by a Spartan general to his own troops and the assembly of an allied city on the sources of Spartan strength, which boils down to "Courage...born of obedience." But on pages 338 to 341, literally on the same night as the speech, the Athenians attack the city and the Spartan general is unable to hold his own men in obedience, as they are spurred into an attack at great disadvantage to themselves by the insults of a 17 year old Persian prince. Didn't whoever proofread this book have a memory that worked over 5 pages? And by the way, at this battle the principal narrator, the man who is the original source for most of the events, is injured by "flaming turpentine" so that his "entire left side had been incinerated." As a result he "could not see nor feel of my face aught but charred meat." Not only does this horrible wound, which must have left remarkable scars, heal quickly, it is never mentioned by the man or any acquaintance of his later life, which lasts at least another decade.

So what is the deal with this book, which is selling tremendously well, even before it has been reviewed by any major independent media sources? Well the battle scenes are dramatic. Everyone seems to like the way the author writes about combat. The longer the battles are, the more people dead and dying, and the more outrageously unbelievable the stamina of the participants, the better they sound. Apparently no reader bothers to stop in the middle and count up the number of hours of constant combat in heavy armor described, or the probable impact on the various characters of the wounds they have received. Also, there is the illusion of learning history. After all, this book is about the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens isn't it? And the author does throw in all kinds of Greek words, Greek place names, and enough speeches by participants to make it seem like something literary must be going on.

But I don't think that it is the dramatic battle scenes, or the speeches, or the illusion of historic events revealed which explain the success of this book. I think that it is the fact that the author has no sense of chronology, and so each page or section unfolds in its own context, and thus a sense of immediacy which readers like. For example, near the beginning of the book the narrator is on one ship out of a fleet of twenty-two which is sailing along the Greek coast while prevented from landing by a force of enemy cavalry. Since the twenty-two ships must have contained at least 2000 men, the cavalry must have numbered in the hundreds at least. Then, after a fierce storm, a dangerous forced beaching in a cove, followed by a dramatic - and completely impossible - escape to sea by two half-manned boats, the crews from those two boats, no more than 50 men, are sufficient to route the entire enemy force. Someone, in fact a lot of people, including the author, editor, and proof reader, must have been so involved in the navigation through the storm and the dramatic night battle afterwards, that they forgot how many cavalry there must have been before the storm. (Of course, the author never did give us a count....)

By the way, I found the religious views of some of the characters in Tides of War interesting to say the least. Consider this quote from the end of the speech of the Spartan general mentioned in the fourth paragraph above: "We are the Almighty's right arm, God's holy agent, and no force between sea and sky may prevail against us." "...the Almighty's right arm"? "God's holy agent"? This sounds like something that might have been said by Elizabeth I of England or a leader of one of the Christian crusades, not something from a leader of a society whose religion had many Gods.

Rating:
Summary: Huge Historical portrayal
Review: No one (even inside a university) must know Fifth Century Athens the way Mr. Pressfield does. He brings us into the frame with elegant language reminiscent of the time. Interesting characters, vivid warfare and a compelling saga.

Mr. Pressfield is fearless in staging this literary feast. I know of no other author who leads such a passionate charge into ancient history. Where was he when I was trying to grasp history in school. Bravo. Job well done.

Rating:
Summary: Another fantastic winner by Steven Pressfield
Review: Steven Pressfield has again managed to bring flesh and blood to those we read about in our classic studies. This effort is every bit as fascinating as "Gates of Fire" and the research put forth it creating this novel is evident in every page. I purchased this book today and finished it in a day. It left me wanting for more.

Rating:
Summary: Less than I'd hoped for
Review: Alcibiades is a less than admirable historical figure for me, and because of that the Peloponnesian War, its means and consequences, and its eventual outcome, is difficult for me to be particularly interested in. If someone could pull it off, I thought, surely the author of the masterful Gates of Fire could do so. Alas, even Pressfield faltered somewhat. His battlefield and nautical fights were done well, but characterizations and intrigue were weak. I found few characters to really sympathize with, and my attention wandered off so many times and I spent so much time wishing that it would hurry up and "get better," that I wouldn't recommend it to most people.

However, if you are interested in ancient Greece, find an opportunist like Alcibiades an interesting figure to study, and don't mind tragedy without much heroism, you may like Tides of War. To be fair, in retrospect I wasn't sorry I read it; there were some parts that I really enjoyed. You may want to prepare yourself by familiarizing yourself with some of the main details of the Peloponnesian War, as Tides of War skims over much of it. Further, to Pressfield's credit, the novelization of a near-thirty year long war with such intricate complications is truly difficult, and he makes a bold attempt.

Perhaps he shouldn't have tried, or perhaps he should have narrowed his scope to a traditional novel structure: exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, resolution. Nevertheless, I give this book 3 stars, as Pressfield does as good a job as anyone out there could. I just wish he hadn't tried - and I wish I hadn't read it with the hope that it could be anywhere as good as Gates of Fire.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Fictional Account of Alcibiades
Review: A great novel on the war between Athens and Sparta and Athens' disastrous campaign against Syracuse. Pressfield's choice of words and grammar captures the reader and creates the proper mood for the narrative. Again, the voice is made credible by using a double narrative technique in which one legitimizes the other.

One can't really compare this work to "Gates of Fire" as the story covers very different events and greater time periods. The objectives of the characters are multi-faceted and change frequently throughout the story. Instead of the "us vs. them" theme in "Gates of Fire" the parties in this story are all equally unscrupulous as to their motives and methods. Pressfield overcomes this dilemma by good character development: he focuses a lot on describing what lies behind their motivations and so gives legitimacy to their actions to which the reader can relate. As in "Gates of Fire" Pressfield's main narrator is the voice of a common man who is rough and tough who has nothing to lose: this makes the character a little more approachable from the modern perspective.

Overall, a great book. Pressfield has truly revived the form of the classical epic with this work.



Rating:
Summary: The lesser horse in the Pressfield stable
Review: "Tides of War" is just not up to par with the other offerings from Steven Pressfield. What Pressfield does wonderfully in "Gates of Fire" and competently in "Virtues of War" is give you characters you care about and tell a tale of historical fiction through their eyes and experiences.

Pressfield misses the mark in two ways here, first giving us characters with whom we cannot identify, and then failing to effective tell the story in the voice of the characters.

You should skip this one, but don't let that dissuade you from running, not walking, to "Gates of Fire" and then jogging to "Virtues of War."

Rating:
Summary: The Rise and Fall of Imperial Athens most cunning leader
Review: This is an excellent read regarding the Hellenic Peloponessian Wars. I really enjoyed how masterfully the anti-hero Alciabides is described throughout the whole book. This book is about how the Athenian demos' (and their elected leaders') lust for imperialism brought about the wonderful expansion of Western Civilization, but also the fall of Athens. I could not put Gates of Fire down, but this book took me much longer to read. In the end, I'm glad I put it down since I was then able to contemporaneously read about the Pelopenisian Wars through Thucyclides fine read. Alciabides is truly one of the most fascinating figures of Antiquity and Pressfield masterfully injects him throughout this story. This book's fictional characterization of his rise and fall, as seen through the eyes of Alciabides good pal, is brilliant. I do not compare this book to Gates of Fire since this book does not deal so much with courage (even though Alciabides was a courgageously cunning Athenian military genius, who was trained in Sparta in post-Thermopylae Greece). This book is about a time period, and partially covers one person's odyssey throught this fascinating yet violent time. Alciabides perhaps personifies how the Ancient Greek city states were able to create and spread Western civilization to a point where even now, we remember them. No better figure in Antiuity (before Alexander the Great), was a better representative of the greatness and deplorability of Imperial Athens and of the Ancient Greeks, than Alciabides. This book is truly Pressfield's finest fictional literary work (to date) due to the true depth covered of the crucial figures of the Peloponesian Wars. I was impressed

Rating:
Summary: Ancient history with great relevance to our own time.
Review: The main problem I had with this book was the narrator's point of view. Instead of using Alcibiades as the narrator and thus focusing the action on him, the author uses a mercenary soldier who eventually kills the most charismatic character in the book. Pressfield is not the only author guilty of this sin. Michael Curtis Ford used a minor soldier as narrator of the great exodus of Xenophon in his book, "The Ten Thousand".
Nonetheless the book is worth reading for its rich language and deep understanding of ancient Greek politics and warfare.

Rating:
Summary: Poor 2nd attempt after Gates of Fire
Review: I admit that it's unfair to expect another Gates of Fire -- but I enjoyed that wonderful book so much that I had high hopes for the story of Alcibiades. In fact I couldn't even finish it... rambling, confused and, well, not engaging. I will try another Pressfield book to see which of these efforts represents the real author. If only I could read Gates of Fire for the first time again...

Rating:
Summary: Captivating Tale of one of History's Great Characters
Review: Alcibiades, the main character in Steven Pressfield's "Tides of War," is a surprisingly neglected historical figure. Thanks to Pressfield, the thrilling tales of Alcibiades' exploits will be known to a much wider audience.

Alcibiades was the first man in Athens, earning both the adoration of the people and the hatred of other ambitious men. Pressfield captures the essence of Alcibiades' leadership ability -- his few flaws (such as a lisp) make him even more admirable -- and the essence of the hatred he generated among his fellow Athenians. This duality allows Alcibiades to convince Athens to pursue the doomed Sicilian expedition yet allows his foes to arrest him and deny him the right to lead the expedition.

Alcibiades had a mercenary streak a mile wide, and soon Alcibiades is leading the hated Spartans against his former countrymen. Proving he is no mere Benedict Arnold, Alcibiades seduces one of the Spartan queens, and soon he is fleeing for his life from Sparta and ends up in Persia, serving the monarch who wants nothing more than to erase the Greeks from the face of the earth.

Pressfield vividly describes the topsy-turvy Greek world of the Athenian-Spartan conflict, capturing the horrifying details of battle (the harbor battle and the inland battle on Sicily are masterful) and political intrigues with great skill. The madness of war comes home with powerful blows. Pressfield also throws us into the prison-pits of Sicily, as the survivors of the expedition cling to life under the most horrible of circumstances.

While the driving force of the book, Alcibiades does not tell his own story . . . there are two narrators, including the man who ultimately assassinates Alcibiades after he has betrayed not only the Athenians but also the Spartans. The periodic loss of Alcibiades from the narrative is the only thing that keeps the book from gaining its fifth star . . . as riveting as the book is, it would have been more so had Alcibiades told the story himself. (Although, to be fair, Pressfield's decision to have Alcibiades' assassin tell the story gives it a poignancy not soon forgotten, as the assassin was a close friend of Alcibiades' for many years.)

For fans of historical fiction, this book is a must-read. While not technically a sequal to Pressfield's "Gates of Fire," that book takes place earlier in the fifth century and provides a valuable context for this book, and probably should be read first -- although by no means is that required.