Brilliant Read!

This is the 2nd book by Steven Pressfield i have read, and after this one I'll definitely be reading more.
I read his book "Gates of Fire", and it's the best book I've read all year.
So i bought this one and it didn't disappoint.
Artfully written with great character development, it paints a harrowing picture of war and all the casualties and effects it brings to people.
Well written and interesting, i would highly recommend this book and "Gates of Fire" as well!

Many armies over the millennia have tried and failed to conquer the Afghans. Pressfield (author of Gates of Fire which the movie 300 is based) delivers a tale dating to 330 BC, though it feels familiar and modern, in which a western invading army led by Alexander the Great attempts to subdue the Afghans. Rich and brutal in detail, one might think the narrative is occurring in the modern day. Narrated through the eyes of a soldier, Pressfield tackles both the brutality and morality that have come to be his war writing trademarks.

I loved Gates of Fire, and started buying everything Pressfield wrote as a result. I was disappointed with his subsequent works, but with The Afghan Campaign he seems to be back on track. The descriptions aren't quite as vivid as Gates of Fire, but the voice of the main character sounds authentic (whatever that means - believable, I guess), and Alexander's struggle (as advertised) is eerily familiar 2300 years later.

Decent HF novel about a soldier in Alexander's army in Afghanistan. Fortunately, there was enough realism to make it very plausible. Rarely do military books from ancient times mention things like training or the day-to-day grind of the average troop. The story, however, was a tad dull I thought. It was focused on the pursuit of rebel warlord Spitamenes, and did not spend much time on the overall conquest of Central Asia. It was an OK book, and fortunately, it was not too long.

Pressfield writes well, vividly bringing to life the awful horrors of war in Afghanistan, the utter futility and hopelessness that pervades the daily life of Soldiers. Not that h different from our own experiences. Sadly an illustration of how little we learn from history - are we always doomed to repeat the mistakes of our forebears?

It’s like Pressfiels used Hemingway’s a Farewell To Arms as a template for the Afghan Campaign. I could go through all the similarities- and differences- but I won’t.

Here’s a few:

Both main characters fought in wars far from home, suffered major injury, and fell in love.

The main differences center mainly around where the wars were fought.

And without saying more, I was slightly appalled that the ending was what it was.

Intense and believable story of ancient war with modern ramifications

Not for squeamish readers, this book about an ordinary soldier in Alexander the Great’s Afghan war grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go until the last.

This is a historic novel but it seem more truthful than a non fiction book about Afghanistan. Although it is about Alexander the Great, it seemed more about modern-day Afghanistan. The book implies that your best allies are really your enemies. I wish these citizens my best but I'm not planning to visit this country.

The graveyard of empires comes alive.

The terrain and people born of it have been near impossible for anyone to tame.
It took the greatest military mind in history.
And then only by the skin of his teeth.

A peak inside the elite Macedonian military machine that conquered the world.

An easy read and interesting. Pressfield does such a good job of telling history through the eyes of one soldier that it feels alive.
Alexander needs to march across a land that refuses to come to heel as he heads to India. Afghanistan in all its brutality is uncovered. The culture, the landscape, the deprivation, and the people all refuse to bend or break in front of him. Alexander must break them anyways.
Predictable at times with a few too many one dimensional characters, but a worthwhile read.

Upřímně nejsem zrovna fanoušek válečné literatury a při čtení té hisotrické jsem se už mnohkrát spálila. Na druhou stranu tahle knížka je perfektní. Nedisponuje sice letopočty, na druhou stranu je plná dobový relálií, které vám autor nenápadně podsouvá v prběhu děje. Málokdy je historik zároveŇ dobrý vypravečem, toto je ovšem ten případ.

Fascinating insight into the daily life of a soldier in Alexander's Afghan campaign, with tremendous practical detail about warfare in the era. The "story" itself is a bit of a yawn, but it doesn't overly detract from the historical context.