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Title: The Ten Thousand : A Novel Of Ancient Greece by Michael Curtis Ford ISBN: 0-312-26946-3 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 13 July, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.9 (61 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Well written but very boring.
Comment: The plot of Ford's first novel is little more than an adaptation of Xenophon's actual account of the same event. After Sparta defeats Athens in the Peloponnesian War, the Persian prince Cyrus hires 13,000 Greeks as mercenaries to help him take the throne from his brother. In the ensuing battle, Cyrus is killed and his army destroyed, though the Greeks came through with hardly a man lost. It is up to Xenophon to lead the Greeks back home in a hostile land, thousands of miles from safety.
I had very mixed feelings about this novel. Granted - there is almost nothing cooler than Greek hoplites and pissy Spartans. The novel is very, very well written, with truly haunting descriptions of what happens to frostbitten flesh when stuck in boiling water. That said, I found it very hard to care for the main focus of the story - Xenophon. Basically he has to possess grit enough to get these soldiers to safety. Wow. The depth of his character development consists of growing from a sweet-natured boy into a hardbitten soldier.
On whole, a very well written book about a heroic journey home that is, ultimately, too boring to really turn into a novel. Perhaps I am merely too taken with so many of the other great works of historical fiction that deal with the ancient world - Gates of Fire, Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series, or even Lindsay Davis' series of comedy/mysteries starring Falco. Whatever the case, I did not once feel pulled into the story. I could not ever come to care about the characters, or enthralled by the situations.
It should have been called "Greeks Walking...". I look forward to reading Mr. Ford's second book, which seems to sport a far livlier story as its backbone.
Rating: 4
Summary: A prelude to the Alexander (Valerio Massimo) series
Comment: I read this because Alexander was inspired by Xenophon. So I would read this first, and follow on to the Alexander trilogy which is also very well done.
Rating: 1
Summary: Themeless Story; Shallow Plot; No Character Development
Comment: Michael Curtis Ford's narrative on the Greek mercenary army led by Xenophon into the regal struggle between Persian monarchs after the Peloponesian war. The narrative is recited by Themistogenes (Theo), Xenophon's slave from boyhood. Although the historical context offers potential for a great narrative if handled by a talented writer, Ford's rendition delivers nothing but shallow characters, and a disjointed plot that supports absolutely no theme except for a crude romantic tale.
In terms of plot, the story starts in an unrelated Athenian campaign led by Xenophon that offers no insight into the story and confuses the reader. Although the story follows the preparation, execution, and ultimate failure of the mercenary expedition into Persia, the focus is primarily on Theo's perspective which is unimpressive and dull. All of the characters are minimally developed throughout the story which keeps the plot very stale. Xenophon is placed as the heroic leader of the doomed expedition and should have the most development but is relegated to a marginal role. Instead, the story focuses on Theo who is more preoccupied with a rather unbelievable romantic sub-plot that drains all the force from the narrative. Half the story focuses primarily on Theo's affection for Asteria, a Persian woman of the court who, for rather nebulous reasons, decides to attach herself to a lowly slave with no personality or any bright future.
The emphasis on a romantic sub-plot really destroys the legitimacy of the narrative because no person of antiquity would write in this manner. Although romantic novels were written in ancient Greece, such narrative styles became prevalent over 2 centuries later during the Hellenic period and not the classical period in which Ford's story takes place. Furthermore, such romantic novels were drastically different than the crude and lifeless sub-plot Ford drags on throughout his narrative: Greeks did not mix historiography and romance together which is exactly what Ford unsuccessfully attempts here.
The crude plot and minimal character development results in a story that is completely devoid of theme. What conflict and resolution is reflected here? How was it manifested by the characters? Again, other than a crudely executed romantic sub-plot, those questions are really left unexplored and unresolved throughout the narrative.
In sum, this work is altogether unimaginative. The characters do not evolve in the story. The only change in the characters occurs in the context of a sub-plot that is completely out of place for such a narrative and thus the credibility and legitimacy of the narrative is progressively eroded to the point of being themeless.
Ford's work slightly improves in his second novel "Gods and Legions" but that work has critical flaws of its own. Being rather unimpressed with two of Ford's novels so far, I'm not about to waste my money on his third: there are simply too many writers out there with actual talent for me to waste money on these uncreative works. I would recommend Gore Vidal's "Julian", Robert Graves' "I Claudius", or Stephen Pressfield's "Tides of War" and "Gates of Fire" instead of anything written by Ford.
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Title: Gods and Legions: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Michael Curtis Ford ISBN: 0312275382 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Gates of Fire : An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield ISBN: 0553580531 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 31 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Tides of War by STEVEN PRESSFIELD ISBN: 0553381393 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 28 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Last of the Amazons by Steven Pressfield ISBN: 0553382047 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem ISBN: 1590710118 Publisher: Rugged Land Pub. Date: 23 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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