Synopses & Reviews
These eyes...he'd seen them before, staring at him, but he didn't remember where, or when. He remembered, without knowing why.In this epic story filled with passion, courage, and adventure, the author of the internationally bestselling Alexander trilogy tells the tale of two warriors united by blood and torn apart by law.
This is the saga of a Spartan family, unraveled by a harsh custom of their people that causes them to abandon one of their own. The elder son, Brithos, strong and healthy, will live comfortably; but Talos, weak and feeble, must be sacrificed to the wolves of Mount Taygetus. Unbeknownst to his grieving parents, however, the child is miraculously found and saved by a Helot -- the once-proud people who now live in servitude to Sparta.
While his brother is raised in the mighty warrior caste, Talos, who is now a slave, is schooled in the history of the Helot people by his adoptive father. It is then that he learns of the legend of Aristodemus, the last King of the Helots, whose armor, it is prophesied, will be worn again by the liberator of his vanquished race. When the brothers meet for the first time since their separation, it is over crossed swords as Talos defends the woman he loves from the brutality of Brithos. But fate has a greater destiny in store for them -- and as war looms on the horizon, their lives become entwined in ways neither could have imagined. They live out their story in a world dominated by the clash between the Persian empire and the city-states of Greece until the voice of their blood and of human solidarity unites them in a thrilling, singular enterprise.
Review
Michael Curtis Ford
Author of The Ten Thousand, Gods and Legions, and The Last King
The Persian Wars, the Battle of Thermopylae, the revolt of the Helots -- history is replete with astonishing feats and riveting heroism, and Manfredi's novel does his material proud. With the vivid characterization and heart-stopping action he showed us in his Alexander trilogy, Manfredi brings us back once again to the beauty and brutality, the nobility and cruelty of ancient Greece, and in the process gives us a thought-provoking look at the roots of our own civilization.
Review
Dino DeLaurentiis
Producer of Red Dragon
Valerio Massimo Manfredi is a uniquely great writer who, like the celebrated masters of the past, can create important historical novels while still making them easy and exciting to read. Once you start reading books like Spartan or the Alexander trilogy, you simply can?t put them down.
About the Author
Dr. Valerio Massimo Manfredi is an Italian historian, journalist, and archaeologist. He is the Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Bocconi, and a familiar face on European television. He has published nine novels, including the bestselling Alexander trilogy. He is married, has two children, and lives in a small town near Bologna. He is currently at work on a screenplay for a major Hollywood studio.