Like 300? Please read this.

[RaceBannon42]

This book is at the top of my to be read pile.

 

[replicant2]

This book is at the top of my to be read pile.

I clicked the link for your blog reviews--what a great site.

I hope you like it! I'll check for a review once you've read it.

 

[Mistwell]

Ehh...

I finally read Gates of Fire a couple of months ago.

It was pretty good.

The idea of Spartans philosophizing in long passages about the nature of fear and courage quite frankly struck me as highly unlikely. The Spartans weren't actually laconic.

(Laconic... Laconia... Sparta.)

That word...I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[Kunimatyu]

I read Gates of Fire years ago -- my biggest complaint with 300 is that it wasn't Gates of Fire.

"Wake up to THIS!" -- best line in the book.

 

[Huw]

That word...I do not think it means what you think it means.

Since there are Lesbians who are not lesbians, Samaritans who are not samaritans, and Welsh who do not welsh, why can't there be Laconians who are not laconic? And don't get me started on all those Frankfurters who are not frankfurters.

 

[RaceBannon42]

I clicked the link for your blog reviews--what a great site.

I hope you like it! I'll check for a review once you've read it.

Thanks!
I finished up Brasyl yesterday. I should have a review up a bit closer to its May release.
It was mind blowing. I was lost about 75% of the time, but McDonald is amazing.

Got through the first chapter of Gates last night. Looks like it should be a relatively quick read.

 

[Ampolitor]

300

actually the movie is spurned off of actual events from the battle. It is based on history with the usual Hollywood flair. There are some differences, like in the movie they really don't mention the other Greek soldiers who fought that much like the arcadians and others. All in all there were like 7,000 defending the "Hot Gates" which means thermopylae. There is also the addition of monsters and such but as events goes its pretty accurate as to what happened strategy wise.

 

[RatPunk]

I may have to read it again, but the one doing the philosophizing was the narrator, who was not Spartan.

Having just finished the book a couple of weeks ago, Dienekes (who is Spartan) does a fair amount of the philosophizing in the book. It is then relayed (and expanded on) by the narrator, since he's obviously the one telling the story.

 

[Pbartender]

actually the movie is spurned off of actual events from the battle. It is based on history with the usual Hollywood flair. There are some differences, like in the movie they really don't mention the other Greek soldiers who fought that much like the arcadians and others.

Actually, they went through several scenes where the other Greeks and the Arcadians in particular, led by Daxos (Andrew Pleavin), show up to help the Spartans. Daxos makes a big deal about how he's brought more soldiers to the battle than Leonides, and Leonides begins asking the various Arcadians what their occupations are -- "potter", "farmer", "blacksmith", etc. To which Leonides says something like, "See? I have brought more soldiers than you."

Daxos and his men spend most of the movie guarding the goat-trail pass to the rear of the Spartans, but there is also a later scene where the Arcadians, Thespians and others charge into battle against the Persians.

Granted, the movie focues on the Spartans and their role in the battle, but it does not completely ignore the other Greeks.

The Arcadians and other Greeks join the Spartans.

All in all there were like 7,000 defending the "Hot Gates" which means thermopylae. There is also the addition of monsters and such but as events goes its pretty accurate as to what happened strategy wise.

The "monsters" are simply the sort of embellished descriptions of the enemy you would expect from a storyteller who wants to glorify the role of his heroes... Fighting a giant ogre with corded, bulging muscles and filed fangs for teeth and who had to be restrained with chains before the battle is a lot more impressive than fighting against a common soldier who happened to be six and half feet tall and very strong.

Plus, the variety of men and beasts brought to the battle by the Persian army only exemplifies the vastness of the Persian empire and the immense resources they had available to bring such exotic weapons and soldiers to bear in war.



Anyway, I've become rather fond of historical fiction lately... I'll look for Gates of Fire the next time I stop by the library.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I read it years ago, and by the end, when the Spartans knew the last battle was coming and they were trading their weapons and shields to each other as a means of honoring their comrades, I was ready to sign up to fight Persians myself!