Sons of Zeus; A Novel

By Noble Smith

In 431 B.C., Ancient Greece experienced its own “Pearl Harbor”—a treacherous sneak attack that would mark the start of the bloody war between the democracy of Athens and the tyranny of Sparta. Caught between these superpowers, the independent city-state of Plataea became the arena where their battle for control of all of Greece would begin.In Plataea, the young Greek warrior Nikias dreams of glory in the Olympic games as he trains for the pankration—the no-holds-barred ultimate fighting of the era—until an act of violence in defense of his beloved threatens to send him into exile. But before his trial can take place, a traitor opens the city gates to a surprise attack force.Suddenly trapped inside their own fortress, the Plataeans are fighting for their lives. As Nikias seeks to discover the identity of the man who betrayed the city, he makes a daring escape, gathers an army, and leads this ragtag band into a suicidal battle at the gates of the citadel—a battle that will decide the fates of his family, his friends, and the woman he loves.In the vein of Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden, and Steven Pressfield, Sons of Zeus marks the beginning of a richly detailed new action-adventure series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jun 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781250025579

Noble Smith

NOBLE SMITH is an award-winning playwright who has worked as a video-game writer, a documentary-film executive producer, and the media director of an international human rights foundation. He is also the author of the novella Stolen from Gypsies, the nonfiction book The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life, and the novel Sons of Zeus. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.

Reviews for Sons of Zeus; A Novel

[janerawoof · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

More like 3.5. From only an excerpt from Thucydides the author has fashioned an exciting action/adventure novel. The novel tells of the "sneak attack" on the city of Plataea by Thebans, the latter an ally of Sparta. From without, a spy, called here a whisperer, and from within, one of the townspeople, the city is betrayed into Theban hands. Much of the book is taken up with the people's fight for survival and efforts to save their city from both Thebes and Sparta. The last two city states named are allies. Nikias, the protagonist and main character, is a young man who lives with his family on an outlying farm. The likeable Nikias is very courageous through the story and his actions drive much of the action, although the townspeople rally to the town's defense despite their initial shock, confusion. and turning on each other. ..."just at the beginning of spring [ca. March 6, 431 B.C.], a Theban force a little over 300 strong ... about the first watch of the night, made an armed entry into Plataea, a town of Boeotia in alliance with Athens. The gates were opened to them by a Plataean ..., who, with his party, had invited them in, meaning to put to death the citizens of the opposite party, bring over the city to Thebes, and thus obtain power for themselves. This was arranged through a Theban spy." The History of the Peloponnesian War I found a few implausibilities and inconsistencies, also some odd word choices: Nikias characterizes himself as a "hick" at one point. "Heirs" was used at another where I think the author meant "hairs." I did not like this transliteration system from the Greek where it seemed like c's or ch's were transliterated as k's, e.g., Hektor, Syrakuse. [Since I'm from Upstate New York, the name of the city surprised me.] Spelling of these proper names was jarring until I got used to it.] I wondered if mentioning a crow with one white tail feather so many times [4 or 5, as I remember] was supposed to have some significance. Zeno's wife Xanthippus I believe should have been Xanthippe, the feminine form of the name. A glaring error which I'm surprised the proofreader didn't catch was Games in honor of Lysander, the hero of Thermopylae. There was a famous Spartan admiral in history named Lysander, but the soldier at Thermopylae was Leonidas. There were some interesting characters, e.g., Chusor, the blacksmith-inventor of a type of Molotov cocktail and of a type of caltrop; Kolax, the Skythian boy; Saeed and Mula, Nikias's family's Persian slaves; General Menesarkos, the grandfather of Nikias. The women were all strong characters. I liked the description of the pottery factory and the steps in making pottery. I regretted not being able to rate the novel any higher. I was disappointed there was no "Author's Note"; I would have liked to see how much was fact, how much was from the author's imagination. My guess is maybe 90% fiction, 10% fact. This was a very readable novel, with good story and interesting "cast."