May 10, 2007

Bookmooch page: http://bookmooch.com/m/detail/0553813...
Amazon page: http://amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/...

What is this book about (back cover text):
"I too was numbered among them on the day when the Amazons came. Women the equal of men."

In or around 1250 BC, so Plutarch tells us, Theseus, king of Athens and slayer of the Minotaur, set sail on a journey that brought him to the land of tal Kyrte, the 'Free People', a nation of fiercely proud and passionate warrior women whom the Greeks called 'Amazons'. Owing allegiance to no man, the Amazons distrusted these newcomers with their boastful talk of cities and civilisation. And when their illustrious war queen Antiope fell in love with Theseus and fled to Athens with him, they were outraged. Raising a vast army, the Amazon tribes marched on Athens. History tells us they could not win, but for a brief and glorious moment the Amazons held the Attic world in thrall before vanishing into the immortal realms of myth and legend.

Echoing to the sound of brutal battles fought hand-to-hand and peopled with wonderfully realized flesh and blood characters, this moving tale of love and war, honour and revenge brings the ancient world to brilliant life as it recounts the extraordinary, near-forgotten story of the last of the Amazons...
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I mooched this book because I saw that the main character was named "Selene". Reading the book, she is not exactly the main character, just one of the important characters (Selene's doings influences other characters and events, though). Others are Damon (Athenian), and historical/mythological people like Theseus (Athenian) and Eleuthera and Antiope (Amazonian). Though the Amazons do not call themselves that - they call their own people "tal Kyrte", "the Free". There are some interesting passages about what 'free' is; what is 'savage' and what is 'civilised'.

It took the first few chapters for me to get used to the writing style and the English. It reminded me of a prozaic translation from the Iliad or another Greek story text, and I have never read English translations (just the original Greek and Dutch translations). After that the story really started and it was easier to read. Most of the book is 'flashback', telling of the Amazons and their country and their war on Athens, and the story in the chapters at the beginning is continued at the end of the book. Every few chapters the narrator changes, but because there are only a few narrators and they each tell mostly about their own experiences, this is not confusing (and it is written at the beginning of a chapter if the narrator changes).
The descriptions of the battles are rather detailed, describing the weapons used, how people and horses are killed, reactions of the people and horses, etc. Reading those descriptions, it's very easy to imagine being on the battlefield itself.

Immediately after finishing this book, I looked up 'Amazons' in my translation of Herodotos' "Histories". Not much - in book IV 110 and a mention in book IX 27. Interesting, though, when you've just read "Last of the Amazons".
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in other cultures, Greek or others. I found it to be an interesting book that makes you think.

His usual detail -- and gore -- but the ending cannot be in doubt from the first page. ( )

Pressfield's depiction of the culure of the Amazons, as well as life in ancient Athens, is worth reading, but character development is lacking. It was all interesting, but I was not able to emotionally connect with any of the characters. ( )

Though not quite as engaging as Gates of Fire, Pressfield's story of the legendary Amazons and Athenians in the time of Theseus is another page turner. ( )

Historical fiction ( )