- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Atria; 1 edition (Nov 4 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743475429
- ISBN-13: 978-0743475426
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 2.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 467 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #677,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Manfredi, author of a trilogy about the life of Alexander the Great (Alexander), here tells an epic tale of Sparta and its rivalry with other Greek city-states in the face of repeated Persian invasions in the fifth century B.C. Two Spartan brothers, sons of a famous Spartan warrior, are separated as babies. One boy, Brithos, is healthy and strong, destined to become a soldier like his father. The other baby boy, Kleidemos, has a crippled foot and is left on a mountainside to die, in accordance with Spartan law. However, Kleidemos is found by an old man, a Helot (serf), and is raised as a Helot shepherd. As years pass, both boys grow into men, neither knowing of the other. Brithos becomes a Spartan warrior, and Kleidemos the shepherd (renamed Talos by his Helot family) learns a powerful and mysterious secret from his Helot grandfather. The paths of the two brothers cross in several unexpected ways as wars with Persia and conflicts and intrigues between Sparta and Athens inflame all of Greece. As master and slave, the two brothers fight alongside King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae, and they develop a bond neither can explain or understand. Brithos's fate is tied to Kleidemos, but the cripple's future is determined by the disturbing secret revealed by his grandfather. When Kleidemos finally learns that he is both a Spartan and a Helot, he is tormented by his divided loyalties. Manfredi is a masterful storyteller, carefully weaving in political and military history, realistically describing the brutality of hoplite warfare and vividly depicting the treachery and betrayal of kings.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Capitalizing on the success of his hugely popular Alexander trilogy, Italian archaeologist and novelist Manfredi has crafted another compelling saga set in ancient Greece. Born with a crippled foot, a baby is reluctantly abandoned by his aristocratic parents in accordance with Spartan law. Rescued by a Helot shepherd, young Talos grows to manhood, unaware of his noble roots. When destiny intervenes and Talos is brought face to face with his brother Brithos, a brutal Spartan warrior, the two engage in a puzzling contest of strength and wills. Eventually discovering the truth of his birth, Talos is torn between the Spartan blood coursing through his veins and the Helot pride instilled in him by his adoptive father. Plenty of action, passion, and drama underscore this authentically detailed historical adventure. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
HIS HEART FULL OF BITTERNESS, the great Aristarkhos sat watching his son Kleidemos sleep quietly within the paternal shield that served as his cradle. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
HIS HEART FULL OF BITTERNESS, the great Aristarkhos sat watching his son Kleidemos sleep quietly within the paternal shield that served as his cradle. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Spartan,
By Yung, Godwin (Taiwan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Spartan: A Novel (Hardcover)
> 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.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Slow down a bit,
This review is from: Spartan: A Novel (Hardcover)
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.
3.0 out of 5 stars
I must be missing something....,
By J Jones (New York USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Spartan: A Novel (Hardcover)
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!
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