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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553383683
ISBN number: 055338368X
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: September 27, 2005
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: September 27, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 3131
Studio: Bantam
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Product Description:
The national bestseller!
At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.
Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history--one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale....
From the Paperback edition.
Amazon.com:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
Thus reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world's greatest battles for freedom. Here, in 480 B.C., on a narrow mountain pass above the crystalline Aegean, 300 Spartan knights and their allies faced the massive forces of Xerxes, King of Persia. From the start, there was no question but that the Spartans would perish. In Gates of Fire, however, Steven Pressfield makes their courageous defense--and eventual extinction--unbearably suspenseful.
In the tradition of Mary Renault, this historical novel unfolds in flashback. Xeo, the sole Spartan survivor of Thermopylae, has been captured by the Persians, and Xerxes himself presses his young captive to reveal how his tiny cohort kept more than 100,000 Persians at bay for a week. Xeo, however, begins at the beginning, when his childhood home in northern Greece was overrun and he escaped to Sparta. There he is drafted into the elite Spartan guard and rigorously schooled in the art of war--an education brutal enough to destroy half the students, but (oddly enough) not without humor: 'The more miserable the conditions, the more convulsing the jokes became, or at least that's how it seems,' Xeo recalls. His companions in arms are Alexandros, a gentle boy who turns out to be the most courageous of all, and Rooster, an angry, half-Messenian youth.
Pressfield's descriptions of war are breathtaking in their immediacy. They are also meticulously assembled out of physical detail and crisp, uncluttered metaphor: The forerank of the enemy collapsed immediately as the very first shock hit it; the body-length shields seemed to implode rearward, their anchoring spikes rooted slinging from the earth like tent pins in a gale. The forerank archers were literally bowled off their feet, their wall-like shields caving in upon them like fortress redoubts under the assault of the ram.... The valour of the individual Medes was beyond question, but their light hacking blades were harmless as toys; against the massed wall of Spartan armor, they might as well have been defending themselves with reeds or fennel stalks.
Alas, even this human barrier was bound to collapse, as we knew all along it would. 'War is work, not mystery,' Xeo laments. But Pressfield's epic seems to make the opposite argument: courage on this scale is not merely inspiring but ultimately mysterious. --Marianne Painter
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Rated by buyers 
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This is a top notch historical novel, among the best. I usually have some nits about the writing, plotting, emphasis, pacing and/or accuracy. But I have nothing negative to say about this fascinating, often lyrical, work.
The narrative is a flashback from the only Greek survivor of the battle, Xeones, a refugee adopted (as a semi-slave) by the Spartans while still a boy. He relates the story of his time with the Spartans to Xerxes, the Persian King who defeated the 300 at Thermopylae and was intensely interested in what made the Spartans tick. You learn about Spartan culture, values, discipline, sense of honor, weapons and war strategy. Pressfield weaves all of that into absorbing character studies marked by sparkling dialogue and surprising plot twists. His descriptions of the battles (there are several besides Thermopylae) are vivid and frightening.
I prefer nonfiction, mostly Western history, biography and current events. A few years ago, I was captivated by Patrick O'Brian's Royal Navy novels from the Napoleonic Era. Since then have been searching, mostly unsuccessfully, for an author of historical fiction approaching O'Brian. Pressfield is the closest I have found to date. I immediately purchased two of his other Greek novels to see whether he can replicate Gates of Fire. I doubt it.
Rated by buyers -
I love this book, I've read it a dozen times or so and I enjoy it more every time I read it.
Rated by buyers -
At very first i thought it was going to be an average book but as i kept reading i found myself mesmerized. One of the best books i have ever read. I was captivated by the different characters and the relationships between them, not to mention the amazing war scenes!!! Grab a sandwich, a drink and a comfortable seat because you won't want to put this book down.
Rated by buyers -
Any fan of ancient history will soak this exciting novel up.
Pressfield draws you in with intriguing well developed characters and a great blend of fiction woven into historical facts and events.
Heartily recommended!
Rated by buyers -
This book is simply beautiful. Numerous times I had to remind myself that this book was fiction. The attention to detail Mr. Pressfield put into this story is simply amazing. The prose was as rich and wonderful as any author out there, living or dead. This book is why we readers read! A great, great retelling of a classic story.
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