Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Trilogy

[Martok]

re: Steven Pressfield, I've read Tides of War, Gates of Fire, and The Last Amazon. Gates of Fire is by far the best of the lot, with The Last Amazon coming in second due to some really nice detail and interesting theory in the Athens connections. Tides of War is, to me, a Gates of Fire without the drive and power to it. I got about 200 pages in and just gave up -- didn't find it dragged me onward like the other two.

I *love* Tides of War; even Gates of Fire comes in second for me (albeit a very close second). While it probably helps that it was the first Pressfield book I read, I think its main attraction for me is that Tides has a more tragic ending, which appeals to me in a slightly macabre sort of way. In truth, though, I was really sucked in by both novels, and they occupy a permanent spot on my bookshelf.

Pressfield's follow-up effort, Virtues of War (the fictional autobiography of Alexander the Great), is....decent. It's not bad, but it just doesn't grip me the same way the other two novels do. I probably would've been extremely impressed with it had I never read any of his books prior. I think Gates and Tides spoiled me, however.