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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553382044
ISBN number: 0553382047
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 416
Printing Date: July 01, 2003
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: July 01, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 35140
Studio: Bantam
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com:
With an epic scope and keen sense of detail, Steven Pressfield has created an entertaining and vital reimagining of the Amazon legend with his historical novel, Last of the Amazons. Combining myth with history, Pressfield offers a conjectural account of the legendary female warrior tribe as it may have existed in the years leading up to its extinction. Following the Athenian-Amazon war in the fifth century B.C., Amazon warrior Selene is taken captive and placed as an unlikely governess to the two daughters of a high-ranking Greek. The three form a lasting bond, and when Selene eventually escapes to return to Amazonia, eldest daughter Europa follows her. The Athenians, including King Theseus, assemble a group to find them, eventually traveling to Amazonia. Here, those involved relate the story of the Amazon war to the men, and the book's action really begins. Narrators tell of Theseus's earlier voyage to Amazonia, where his weakened crew was given shelter by the Amazons; the love affair between Theseus and Amazon queen Antiope; and the terrible consequences of the queen's defection and the Amazonian invasion of Athens that it inspired.
Throughout, Pressfield instills Amazons with a grandiose sensibility, firmly modeling it after the Homeric epics of its time. Pressfield relishes in describing these events and their heroes with a divinely consequential spirit:
Antiope advanced…Clearly no few of the foe took her for a goddess, with such splendor did her armour gleam and by such brilliance did her aspect exceed the common measure of humanity. The hour was still early, the west-facing slope deep in shadow, so that the Amazon, seen from the besiegers' lines, advanced from gloom into flares of blinding dazzle.
Some clumsy dialogue and clichéd interactions hamper the book's emotional resonance, but the level of intricacy and constant action on display here keep the pages moving along. Amazon is ultimately an impressive, fun read that renders history spectacular in its speculation. --Ross Doll
Product Description:
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description:
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.
'Brutal, bloody, and thoroughly gripping—Pressfield has an amazing grasp of the savage mind, and the precarious nature of civilization.'
DIANA GABALDON
'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
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Rated by buyers -
What drew me to love Steven Pressfield was Gates of Fire, Tides of War, The Virtues of War, and The Afghan Campaign. On its own, Last of the Amazons is a deeply engrossing, enriching read, with some slight flaws. I am not judging the book harshly because it is a different tone for Pressfield; I'm simply amazed that this same novel was written by the master of s___y-gritty so much on display in his prior novels.
The beginning of the novel gets dull, dry, and boring, with the Amazon Selene's listless explaining of her culture, and the main character (called only Mother Bones, or just 'Bones' as a child, most of the time) explaining life before Selene ran away.
Once the story gets into telling of Theseus's coming to the Amazons, it takes off in an epic fashion, and perfectly attracts to the reader with its phases from Theseus in the Wild Lands, to the defection of Antiope, and the Amazon invasion of Athens.
The battle scenes don't come close to the scale of gore and grit as Gates of Fire, and Pressfield doesn't seem to give clear numbers on the Athenian fighting force, leaving you wonder how they seem to get so many last-ditch soldiers with hundreds of them being killed with each skirmish. But Pressfield does treat them with a liberal dose of violence and vivid battlefield descriptions.
To the last few chapters, the book constantly keeps you on adventure.
Then comes the flaws. Aside from the beginning sluggishness, some reviewers complain of cliche'd interaction and clumsy dialogue. I'd like to see what they considered cliche', because I must not have read or seen enough to discern this. Nothing seemed cliche' enough to stand out as predictable, and the dialogue was rarely, if ever, clumsy. Perhaps in comparison to Gates of Fire or The Afghan Campaign, it could be considered "clumsy", but it fits in very well for the semi-mythical time period being written of here.
Rated by buyers 
-
While packed with fun historic detail, unusual words and dramatic gore, ultimately this book is overcome by its excessive shifts in point of view, unappealing protagonists and drastic overuse of pseudo-archaic language.
Rated by buyers 
-
Pressfield's Gates of Fire and Tides of War show an excellent combination of good storytelling, good writing and as much historical accuracy as fiction allows. With Last of the Amazons, he expands from history to mythology, even fantasy, all with the skill, imagination, and eye for detail that makes the fantasy utterly believable. Like his other books, the battle scenes here are brutal and gory, yet do not overpower the story. For pure enjoyment, I found this the best read of the three.
Rated by buyers -
I really wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I know a little bit about the whole Amazon mythology but I didn't know where their lands were supposed to have been, I just knew they were on some island you see occaisonally in a movie. After reading this book you could believe that they had been a real people. I recommend this book to anyone in general but I think history buffs will really enjoy this. A must read!
Rated by buyers -
I confess that I was highly skeptical of Pressfield's ability to write from the point of view of a young woman, but "the Last of the Amazons" turned out to be little different than his other works (I mean in tone and style--it is not at all repetitious). The gender of the characters matters little--they are no more than vehicles of their cultures and the campagins they participate in. The romances between Greek and Amazon warriors should be viewed as such.
"Last of the Amazons" is set in the time before the Trojan war--early mythical Greece. Pressfield makes a fine endeavor at depicting what such a time would be like, not out of myth, but in true history. The Amazon culture he creates seems plausible, though a little over the top. His gritty and realistic battle scenes, as always, bring period warfare to life. Character development, as always, plays a very minor role. The four or so narrators, from teenage girl to seasoned warrior, are pretty much interchangeable. The most dynamic character is the tragic Amazon queen Antiope, who elopes with Theseus, and even she is a symbol of her culture--a proud race, soon to fall.
I would recommend "Last of the Amazons" for anyone who has enjoyed other novels by Pressfield, is interested in alternate perspectives on Greek Mythology, or who likes bloody battle scenes.
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