A fictional account of the Peloponnesian War. This was slow going, with my main problem being the distance between me (as reader) and the protagonist.

This is the story of the conflict between Athens and Sparta in the 4th century BC. The main focus of the story is one fictional Athenian’s life, Polemides, from boyhood to his time in a prison cell awaiting trial for murder. It is also the story of Polemides' relationship with Alcibiades, one of the Athenian generals, as he falls in and out of favour with the Athenian people, in times of leadership and exile. The story is filtered through an old man (Jason) relating the story to his grandson. Jason does this as he is the man defending Polemides. In the same prison is Socrates in his last days before he drinks hemlock.

I sort of understand why Pressfield does this. It gives him an opportunity to tell the story where Polemides is not present and also have an additional storyline of Socrates last days. A chance to debate the philosophy of democracy and the purpose of Law.

So this book tries to be an account of the Peloponnesian war from Polemides' (and Jason's and snippets of other people's letters which Jason has somehow acquired) view; also Polemides' view of Alcibiades and how he survived as the ultimate chameleon (changing himself depending on where he found his life taking him) and also a tale of the fall of Athens.

But it is an attempt to pack in too much, which leaves it as a muddled and confused account. In places Jason just says Polemides didn't want to talk about this or that aspect of his life (mainly about family and relationships) which is frustrating and annoying; as though Pressfield doesn't want to fill in certain details of Athenian life and just wanted to concentrate on the battles and army life. A pity as I think if this had been a straight story of one Athenian's experience of life during the Peloponnesian war it might have been a better book.

Therefore, in my opinion, this is too dry an account, in some ways reading more like a much-expanded history book than a piece of historical fiction. ( )

Story of Alcibiades, Athenian noble, who changed sides during the Peloponnesian war one time too many, making enemies in almost every nation he ever served.
Narrative is somewhat confusing and this may repel readers - I advise them to persevere, it's worth it. ( )

Tides of War is a good historical novel. However, it's for readers that can tolerate a complex narrative that describes events over the 27 year span of the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BCE). The story is told through three narrators; a man interviewing his grandfather Jason who in turn was a lawyer who many years earlier represented Polymides who was a close confidant of Alcibiades. In other words, it's a description of an interview in which an older person is describing earlier conversations with still another person who told him about many still earlier conversations and events. These three narrators are fictional characters, however Alcaibiades was an actual historical soldier extraordinaire. Who was Alcibiades? Well, if you make it through this book you will never forget the name. The question I'm asking after this book is why is Alcibiades so relatively unknown?

I find that the book's format allows the various narrators as they pass along the story to ponder the meaning of life and history during a time of war. In doing this the book gives a look into the thinking of the era. But to understand the book the reader needs to keep reminding him/herself who's doing the talking and when the current conversation being described took place. But the reader who becomes immersed in the story will be rewarded with a description of a time and place (the end of the classical period of ancient Greek history) that has the ring of authenticity. Socrates makes a number of appearances in the book. As a matter of fact, the climax of the story occurs on the same day that Socrates takes the hemlock.

One can find many scary parallels with current international relations and domestic politics. In case you're not up on the details of the Peloponnesian War, the historic cradle of democracy, Athens, lost the war. ( )

Another captivating education of Ancient Greece. Pressfield tells the story of Alcibiades, along with some timely morals about the perils of public opinion in a democracy. ( )

Plot: I wish the book could decide on what the plot should be. The life of Alcibiades? The life of his assassin? It meanders back and forth between those two, connects them with some far too deus-ex-machina solutions, and generally fails to create any suspense or pacing. It's a collection of scenes, but they don't work together as a story.

Characters: Characterization. Please. Some of it. Only one figure in the entire book ever manages to gain some depth, and that's someone who appears on perhaps five pages. The rest, including the main narrator and Alcibiades himself, are flat as cardboard. You learn nothing whatsoever about them.

Style: A very odd narrative structure of a narrator (first person) telling what his grandfather (first person, again) told him about a prisoner he'd met a long time ago and the story that man told (in first person). Grandfather and grandson didn't serve any obvious purpose save to make page-long sections of the book be printed in italics. Other than that, horrid prose especially in dialogues, which are awfully stilted. Random Ancient Greek terms, which are completely pointless and never get picked up to turn into anything of importance.

Plus: Not much.

Minus: No characterization. Manages to fail at sticking to a plot that should have been foolproof. Annoying prose. Lack of historical accuracy. Far too many anachronisms.

Summary: It's not only boring, but actually badly written as well. ( )