Title: An Engrossing and Deeply Moving Book
Product review: Maybe the best book I've read since Cold Mountain. It is a thoroughly engrossing story, based on the battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartan soldiers, along with other Greek allies, held off an overwhelming force of invading Persians for several days. The narrator of the book is Xeno, a battle squier who is the sole survivor of the Spartan force. Pressfield convincingly sheds light on the nature of friendship, bravery, fear, freedom, honor, the differences between the sexes, and above all, love- love of country (and one's city) and the brotherly/fatherly love between the Spartans. The first few pages, explaining how Xeno comes to be brough before the Persian king Xerxes, to whom he relates his story, may seem boring or more likely confusing to some, but persevere and you will be richly rewarded.
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