A Man at Arms

Pressfield at his finest. No one writes about ancient history and the warriors that lived during that time in quite the same way. Combining a thorough knowledge of battle strategies, the historical background of the time and the  brutal (and short lives) of the people who inhabited the region Pressfield never fails to deliver.

Pressfield has once again gifted us with a fantastic historical novel! This book didn't have a single boring moment, and as always Pressfield has provided fantastically accurate information and incredibly interesting details on the strategy and warfare of the time. The characters are well written and easy to become attached to. Vivid descriptions through out will have you feeling like you've stepped back in time.

Steven Pressfield has never disappointed for me, or fans of military historical fiction, and this book is another fantastic example of his skill and talent.

Pressfield again marches into ancient history with a tale set in an underserved time and an overserved subject.  Yet, the story describes the intricacies of intrigue, conflict, fear, and determination of an empire fighting a faith movement with what it knows - warfare.  And a faith movement fighting an empire in what is revealed - love and belief.   Our hero, Telemon of Arcadia, a solitary bellator, is conflicted within himself by his unaware conversion from his own internal code and revelation of faith presented by his companions.  A would-be teen warrior, a wild mute girl and her proselyte guardian, and an avowed witch, stir in Telemon considerations he has comfortably avoided throughout his life.  First tasked with tracking and recovering emissaries of the Apostle Paul carrying the Epistle to the Corinthians, Telemon holds true to his own beliefs but evolves to become the carrier of the message.  From Jerusalem to the Sinai to Greece, the band is sought by Romans, Arabs, and Jews each with a reason to deny the message reaching the Christian community.  As in his other novels, Pressfield ably portrays the landscape, culture and conflict of the time and area.  Telamon passes on the way of the warrior to his companions and receives lessons in return.  The characters are vivid and real, each garnering interest of the reader.  While delivery of the Epistle is expected, method and acceptance form a tale of their own.  A sequel is expected and anxiously anticipated!

Ancient history is a novelistic sub-genre I shy away from but Steven Pressfield is a master of dramatic storytelling and something about "A Man at Arms," its grand theme, drew me in. And I am so glad I opened its cover, for I read it in two evenings of transfixion. In the first century A.D., a new religion's disciple's letter on its way from Jerusalem to Corinthian rebels becomes an empire-shifting hunt. The Romans hire an amoral man-at-arms, our hero, who winds up with a ragtag team pursuing the letter. Then the moral balance shifts and his journey becomes an utterly compelling ordeal amidst savagery and corruption, a quest against odds almost impossible to contemplate, a quest only he might contemplate. Pressfield is justly famous for his nonfiction advice series to writers about how to pen compelling fiction, and in A Man at Arms, he provides a bloodthirsty yet noble case study. In a sense the ancient Roman and Jewish setting is artificial, for the novel reeks of a classic Western or a Star Wars epic, but at the same time, of course, the setting imbues the entire quest with significance. Written in a semi-formal voice of gravity, this novel startled me with its universal relevance and dramatic tension. Magnificent.

Terrific historical novel.   I'd not read Pressfield before and this time period isn't really my favorite for fiction (my knowledge is a little hazy) but he brought it to life for me.  The characters are wonderful and equally importantly, I learned something about the real people portrayed within (I found myself googling).  It's atmospheric with intricate details about so many things.   Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.  I might not have been a Pressfield fan before but I'm going to look for him in the future.  Great read,