In Ancient Sparta, twin boys are born into a powerful family. One is strong and healthy, but the other has been struck with the most terrible malady a Spartan can have - he is crippled, which means he will never be able to fight a battle. Thus, he is abandoned in the mountains and left to die. The baby, Talos, is found by a Helot shepherd and raised ignorant of his identity, while his brother Brithos is raised as a warrior. Eventually, Talos participates in the Battle of Thermopylae.I have to say, I didn't like anything about this book and was glad to finish it. Despite all the action and battles, I felt bored.Perhaps in the original Italian, this book was better, but the writing style seemed stiff and removed. Conversation was stilted and awkward, besides the characters employing a lot of modern words mixed in with old fashioned ones.The entire premise of the story seemed unlikely and not at all believable. Talos just so happens to be abandoned and found by a Helot, who also just so happens to be an ancient, revered former warrior. Then, Talos just so happens to become involved with his twin brother without knowing that they are related. And yes, Talos is a cripple, but that doesn't stop him from becoming a mighty, legendary warrior.It all sounds perfect for a story - but never once did I believe any of it, which I always view as a bad point in books.The way that Manfredi presented everything only made me roll my eyes at how very unlikely it was.Talos is obviously supposed to be someone special, a sort of prodigy, someone different and unbelievably talented, and the author is forever singing his praises. At one point, Talos is described as "like no other man on earth." Personally, I could never see where all of this reverence came from. I couldn't bring myself to like Talos - he was stupid and self-important.Another character, his brother Brithos, was made into the literal "evil twin" (lol), and Manfredi floods us with information about just how "bad" Brithos is in comparison to angelic Talos. With every scene Brithos is featured, he does something dramatically villainous. It struck me as a shortcut for the author - he wanted a bad guy but couldn't be bothered with building any sort of character for him.So why not have the guy dabble in rape, murder, and other such cruelties the moment he's introduced?(view spoiler)[Manfredi also seems very fond of killing off major characters. Throughout the book, there is always Talos as the main character, along with another very present major character. At first, it is his Helot guardian, Kritolaos. Later it is his brother Brithos, later another soldier that he befriends.And very, suspiciously neatly, they are all killed just in time for the next one. I especially saw Brithos' death as a bad decision, and it was pretty early in the book. He seemed such a big part of the plot, I didn't see how it made sense to have him die.Then again, I suppose that he had already done all he could - he marched in being bad, soon afterward Talos finds out that his worst enemy is also his brother, they kind of make up and work out their differences, the end.Except, this happened in only the first third of the book. (hide spoiler)]
I absolutely loved this book! I picked it up at the library on a whim; I enjoy watching films like Troy, Prompeii and the likes, but it's been a very long time since I actually read a book set in ancient times. The style of writting is a little like Homer's Iliad, in the way that there's not one set narrator and it outlines events without seeming to judge the characters, of course, it's easy to know who to root for, but I loved the way that the author managed to portray a redeeming side to the Spartans through the portayal of certain characters, though as a whole the Spartans are still 'the enemy' at the end of the book. Talos/Kleidemos - I always thought of him as Talos, even when he began using his other name - was a great character and since the books is written over his lifetime, from when he was a baby to adulthood, you see him grow up, experience the struggles he goes through alongside him and understand his confusion when forced to choose which path he'll take. I liked the fact that, though he did things he wasn't proud of, things that haunted him, when it counted he was an honourable man. Also, I liked the fact that he made deep attachments; his love wasn't fleeting, or shallow, he committed himself to his family - be that blood or adoptive - his friends and his lover, Antinea.As for his brother Brithos, he was the perfect Spartan soldier and was hard to like for reasons that are quiet obvious once you start reading the book, but I was just beginning to like him - or at least not hate him - when he died. I did enjoy his dog, Melas, though; he was a mean beast and I almost cried when he attacked Talos' little dog Krios, but still the imagery of this humungous black dog with gleaming teeth emerging from the shadows is very cool, if a little scary! I enjoyed the glimpse into spartan life, culture and laws, thought I did find the political bits confusing at times, especially when they were talking about countries I've never heard of - it would have been helpful to have a map of Ancient Greece in the bacck of the book! - however, I got the general drift and it didn't hinder my understanding or enjoyment of the story. Also, as has been mentioned in other reviews, there were a few strange phrases - maybe due to the translation? - but in my opinion, that didn't effect the story; I knew what the author meant and didn't feel like it effected the story. However, the ending of this book... I loved and hated it in equal measure! In keeping with the rest of the book the end was filled with mystery and suspence... but I want to know what happened to him! Seriously! Did he go to find Antinea and his son? Did he die? Was Karas' prediction that 'Talas the Wolf would wear it again' an indication that Talos was alive, or was it just a prophecy that, in the future, someone like Talos would once more be the saviour of the Helot people? Maybe there's a sequel - I don't thinks so, but I'll have to look into it! Either way, I'll definitely be putting more of this authors work onto my must-read list. For more reviews check out my blog at http://mlsparrow.wix.com/mlsparrow
Do You like book Spartan (2006)?
Bellissimo! Molto emozionante. Valerio Massimo Manfredi scrive da dio, sembrava di leggere un poema epico greco, ovviamente l'autore è un archeologo, infatti mi sembrava di essere tornata al liceo a leggere le tragedie greche. C'è così tanto patos in questo libro. C'è avventura, amore, fedeltà, la ricerca dell'identità, la libertà, l'onore, la storia...! Un libro molto bello.Mi è dispiaciuto un sacco per le varie morti nel libro, c'è un sacco di dolore. Per non parlare della politica, dei complotti, dei tradimenti, che arricchiscono non di poco la trama. Il finale è misterioso, come nelle migliori tragedie greche.Interessanti anche i riferimenti storici. Emozionante.
—Chiara Lilith
The book Spartan by Valerio Massimo Manfredi is impressive. The book is set back 2000 years ago during the great war between the Sparta and the Persia. The story starts when the two sons are born to a noble Spartan family. One of the boy, Talos, was with deformity and due to his deformity he got abandoned because by the Spartan law if the baby is born with the deformity so the baby must be kill or abandon. The boy is found and raised by the Spartan servant. He grew up as a slave of the Spartan with the hatred of Sparta.Later two brothers fate bonded together in the great Sparta war. This book is great for history lover because this story is full of ancient Sparta culture, politic , and history. But some part of this book can be boring to somebody especially the politics part other than that it is great book.
—Earl-isb
I finished reading "Spartan" by Valerio Manfredi. This is my first exposure to his work as I have but have not yet read his best-selling Alexander trilogy. I'm afraid I was not overly impressed, although the story was definitely readable. Most of the characters, with the exception of Talos, were not well developed, which in turn served to diminish the impact of some of the climactic moments in the book. The battle of Thermopylae was passed over so quickly, it did not create sufficient pathos when the two young Spartan warriors, ordered by Leonidas to deliver a message to the ephors, are ostracized by the Spartan community and labeled with the scornful title of "he who trembles". Likewise, the battle of Plataea was not portrayed in enough detail to grant the sacrifice of Brithos the emotional impact it should have had on Talos or the reader.Afterward, as Talos traipsed around after Pausanias as a mercenary, the plot seemed to wander almost aimlessly for a time before Talos finally returned to Sparta and took up the mantle of his destiny.The "love" scenes (if you can call them that) were right out of the fifties. Antinea steps out of her tunic and the scene changes and it’s the next morning. They seemed especially vacant after having just read Jennifer Macaire’s colorful Alexander time-travel novel, Children In The Morning.However, The Spartan was far more interesting to me than Thornton Wilder’s Ides of March (I know that’s probably sacrilegious but that book just dragged for me) and stimulated my interest in further study of the helot conflict with the Spartans. I found one of Paul Cartledge’s definitive books on Sparta, The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse, at a bargain price on Half.com so I ordered it to continue my exploration of this culture.
—Mary
