Last of the Amazons - Softcover

Pressfield, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553382047 ISBN 13: 9780553382044

Publisher: Bantam, 2003

Synopsis

The author of the international bestsellers Gates of Fire and Tides of War delivers his most gripping and imaginative novel of the ancient world-a stunning epic of love and war that breathes life into the grand myth of the ferocious female warrior culture of the Amazons.

Steven Pressfield has gained a passionate worldwide following for his magnificent novels of ancient Greece, Gates of Fire and Tides of War. In Last of the Amazons, Pressfield has surpassed himself, re-creating a vanished world in a brilliant novel that will delight his loyal readers and bring legions more to his singular and powerful restoration of the past.

In the time before Homer, the legendary Theseus, King of Athens (an actual historical figure), set sail on a journey that brought him into the land of tal Kyrte, the "free people," a nation of proud female warriors whom the Greeks called "Amazons." The Amazons, bound to each other as lovers as well as fighters, distrusted the Greeks, with their boastful talk of "civilization." So when the great war queen Antiope fell in love with Theseus and fled with the Greeks, the mighty Amazon nation rose up in rage.

Last of the Amazons is not merely a masterful tale of war and revenge. Pressfield has created a cast of extraordinarily vivid characters, from the unforgettable Selene, whose surrender to the Greeks does nothing to tame her; to her lover, Damon, an Athenian warrior who grows to cherish the wild Amazon ways; to the narrator, Bones, a young girl from a noble family who was nursed by Selene from birth and secretly taught the Amazon way; to the great Theseus, the tragic king; and to Antiope, the noble queen who betrayed tal Kyrte for the love of Theseus.

With astounding immediacy and extraordinary attention to military detail, Pressfield transports readers into the heat and terror of war. Equally impressive is his creation of the Amazon nation, its people, its rituals and myths, its greatness and savagery. Last of the Amazons is thrilling on every page, an epic tale of the clash between wildness and civilization, patriotism and love, man and woman.

About this title

Review:

In historical fiction, the stakes are becoming ever higher. More and more first-rate novels in the genre appear monthly and aficionados can afford to pick and choose. Steven Pressfield has established some copper-bottomed credentials with the vigorously written epics Gates of Fire and Tides of War, and his new novel, Last of the Amazons continues this winning streak. Pressfield's colourful, operatic style may not have the nuance of such progenitors of the genre as Robert Graves, but his populist approach really pays dividends--and without any sacrifice of quality writing. Popular does not have to mean crass, and Pressfield’s prose is lively and intelligent, always conjuring for the reader a brilliantly realised picture of the ancient world with maximum vividness.

Theseus is Pressfield's protagonist, and the year is 1250 BC; setting out on his dangerous odysseys, the celebrated Athenian monarch (best known for his combat with the monstrous Minotaur) has many close calls with death before taking a fateful decision: he marries the fierce Amazon queen Antiope. His action has disastrous consequences: the fearsome tribe of warrior women who spurn contact with men form a massive army and march to Athens to exact a bloody revenge. Their defeat, of course, was written in the stars, but for a remarkable period, their actions transfixed the Attic world before catastrophe overtook them.

Last of the Amazons has a whole slew of virtues, and it’s hard to know where to begin in detailing them. The characterisation, for instance: Theseus is realised with imagination and authority, and his mindset is a clever synthesis of modern and ancient consciousness. The politics, too, are cannily realised, as is the minutiae of everyday life in a much-mythologised era. But it’s the bloody action that, perhaps, most compels--this is not a book for the squeamish. Stick with the slightly artificial opening chapters, and you will find yourself swept up in a tale of truly epic proportions.--Barry Forshaw

Review:

"Writing historical fiction that transports you to another time and place is no easy feat, but in Last of the Amazons, Steven Pressfield does just that. He makes the distant past seem real and immediate. This is historical fiction elevated to the status of myth."
-Daniel Silva, author of The English Assassin

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0553382047
• ISBN 13: 9780553382044
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400