Steven Pressfield - Last of the Amazons - 2002 1st pb

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