Reviewed by our Editorial team. An excellent reading.

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Product Description

Shades of Artemis recounts the life of Brasidas, Sparta’s most audacious commander, from his upbringing in the Spartan military school called the Agoge to his induction into the ranks of the ancient world’s finest warriors. Overcoming petty jealousies and the politics of his own country, he finally rises to the rank of general and embarks on a daring mission to bring Athens to its knees and an end to the Peloponnesian War. With the death of Pericles, the politician Kleon becomes the architect of war policy in Athens, directing the strategy against Sparta. Thucydides, the Athenian general and chronicler of the conflict, bears witness to the brutality of ancient combat, the devastating plague that strikes his city, and the ambition of fellow Athenians that rely on war to sustain them. In the last quarter of the fifth century BC, these three men would meet in battle on the plains of northern Greece and determine the course of Western Civilization’s first world war.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #407363 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Historical Novel Society Online Reviews Spring 2005
...[Shades of Artemis] is well constructed... the drama ongoing and exciting.

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Customer Reviews

Shades of Artemis
Shades of Artemis was a gripping well written novel. It is set during the Peloponnesian war in the pseudo Golden Age of Greek history. It touches on the culture, terminology and immerses you in the details of what life may have been like whilst weaving a tale of two imaginary characters on the Spartan and Athenian side; embroidering a classic classical account of honour, duty and the cultural souls of what the Athenian and the Spartans may have been like.

I found it well researched, and almost akin to a well thought through but imaginative Archaeological Trieste. Well it would be nice to think so anyway!

Definitely well worth reading, kept me occupied till the end, my only critique though, is that it was a touch Holywoodesque at times, but that was in line with the style and genre.

Well worth a read.

A Tale of War from the Ancient World
Novels about Ancient Greece are not exactly falling off the bookshelves into the laps of prospective reader's, so whenever I find one I usually snap it up as Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt are among my favourite reading material. The author Jon Martin is the advisory editor of the magazine Sparta. This is a journal of Ancient Spartan and Greek history. Such a position leaves little doubt of his love and knowledge of the subject he writes about. He has travelled to many areas of Greece with the sole intent of adding as much authenticity to his novels as possible.

The author's books are not what I would class as light reading, but they are well worth taking the time to read properly. By that I mean that they require the reader's full attention. Not the sort of book to be read while watching the television and almost impossible to speed read but they are none the worse for this fact.

This book relates the life of Brasidas probably the most famous of Sparta's commanders. It takes us from his early life in military college, the equivalent of Sparta's Sandhurst to the time when he enlists into what was probably the hardest fighting unit in the ancient world, certainly at that time. Onwards through the ranks until he attains the rank of general.

War in the fifth century BC was a brutal and bloody event fought at close quarters where you could see the whites of your opponents eyes and smell the fear in his sweat and blood. The author captures all of this and more. Artemis was one of the men who would meet in battle on the plains of northern Greece and determine the course of Western Civilization's first world war and the author sets the scene beautifully.