Customer Reviews

Men of Bronze

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mr. Oden has penned a very good historical fiction read. Although a little slow to start it eventually pulled this reader in with his vivid descriptions and details that place me directly into the time period. Mr. Oden has set his book Egypt borderlands in 520 B.C. It goes without say that this is not a time period, or location many choose to set their stories. As a result the fans of historical fiction have something new and fresh to pick up!

Barca the Phonenician he is the leader of the Medjay who are the guardians of the Egyptian Frontier. Barca is a product of his past. Years earlier he caught his wife being unfaithful. His rage was such that in one moment he managed to kill both his wife and her lover. He is still gripped by this tragic event. As a result he is an unstoppable force on the battlefield. Will this hold him in good stead and offer Egypt the warrior that she needs, or will the love of a good woman tame that beast that rages within?

Mr. Oden is a talented author and is a shining jewel in the Medallion Press crown. This book touched on all my emotions. Mr. Oden has a gift for storytelling and I truly felt transported back in time. I look forward to reading Mr. Oden in the future and I highly recommend "Men of Bronze." You won't look at historical fiction the same at the end of the read.

Scott Oden has done a fantastic job describing the climax of the ancient Egyptian civilization writing about the last couple of years of the last independent Pharaohs. Egypt in 6th century BCE was just free from Assyrians while keeping powerful enemies inside and outside using mercenaries, Greeks and so called Medjay (Phoenicians, Libyans and Canaanites). The peace cannot last long. First meddling regiments of Greeks are trying to usurp the power, and then the onset of the powerful Persian Empire endangers the existence of Nile civilization. Oden paints a ruthless picture of changing loyalties, honor and bravery. He intervenes into military story human feeling, rage, love, and betrayal. The book is very fast paced and it is true to its historical destiny. Egypt loses its antique identity and its heroes have to sacrifice everything they adore to complete the honorable death.

I thought this one was great. Read it inside of 3 days, and that's with a lot of distractions. I even got up early one day so I could read more. Barca was excellent as a dark hero who comes to terms with his past through the affection of an intelligent woman named Jauharah, who also has her own demons to face. I wish the author would write another story about him, maybe something earlier in the guys life. I wouldnt call this a romance though, its more Sword & Sandal as another reviewer said, but the romance is a fitting means to further develop the characters and drama. Im not going to write another plot summary, Amazon already provides one that is good enough for those wanting to know what the book is about. Lots of action, betrayals, and plot twists to keep you reading just one page more no matter how late it is. This book isnt dull and isnt written in a dull, dry manner, and because of this it reads quickly which it should since its a story not a textbook. This may not be the kind of ultra-serious and dry historical fiction that the snobs say they like, but it was a great tale and the atmosphere and history came through well.

All great cultures eventually fail: Egypt, some historians say, was around as a great unified culture, religion,& united people, by far the longest: over 4000 years. Eventually it too had to end & by then the top was rotten; there was a lack of what would be called patriotism or love of the nation; at all levels of the nation were non-Egyptians, not that thats bad in itself but many immigrants had brought in other religions which had watered down the traditional religions---you don't have to be religious yourself to see that this weakened a nation where only 2% of the people were literate. There was corruption; they had lost most of their empire; the pharaohs were less considered to be god-kings than before, again, that may seem a good or forward-looking move to us, but it wasn't as far as keeping together a society that for nearly 5 millenia had believed the king was a god and spoke to the gods for the people. At any rate, everything had changed, and Egypt was a rotten fruit, and all the surrounding Empires were waiting to conqueror it.

Of course, quite soon Alexander the Great would conquer it for good and put his relatives on the throne--- his relatives' descendent who was there when the Romans came to conquer it again a few hundered years later, was a woman named Cleopatra--- not an Egyptian at all but the descendent of a Macedonian general and kin of Alexander!

Anyway, this book is interesting, I do read a lot, both fiction and non fiction, about ancient Egypt and this is the first I've read where Egypt is at this point of total decay and there are hardly any Egyptians in the main story line, there are Greeks, Phoenicians, Libyans, Jews, Arabs, and others, all peoples who have moved into Egypt for a better life over the past generations and thrived there. So, that was new and different as a book for me.

Some reviewers didn't like the main character Barka, I think as a great warrior he was believable enough. He managed to survive great battles but as he is described as a battle hardened veteren, this would mean, to me, the more he survived, the more chance he has to keep on surviving. At that time, the skills to win in war were ones where a man who was gifted by nature with certain genetic abilities, like an athlete, would be able to have a great head start surviving over others, as long as simple bad luck, like an infected wound, didn't kill him.

An interesting read, and one more thing, about the Medjay----I don't know about the Medjay at the time the book is set at: but originally they were a Nubian (African) tribe that had fought as warriors and allies of the last descendents of the pharaohs and helped them regain their throne and free Egypt in the years when the Hyksos tribes had conquered Egypt, hundreds of years earlier. (about 2135BC) That alliance can be read about in Pauline Gedge's excellent historical fiction trilogy: "The Lord of the two Lands". Eventually the Medjay, by then completely assimilated into Egyptian culture and religion, became the hereditary policemen of Egypt, many fiction and non fiction books mention them in this regard, Lauren Haney has a good series of detective/mystery books where the Medjay who guard the frontier in Queen Hatshepsut's time are the main characters, under their leader LT Bak. In the triogy about Pharaoh Akenaten and King Tutankhamun by Paul C. Doherty, "The Evil Spirit out of the West/ The Season of the Hyeanas/ The Year of the Cobra" the Medjays are also referred to in their role as police. A recent book by Nick Drake, "Nefertiti: the Book of the Dead", a mystery, has a Medjay detective as its lead character. So, my question is: by this late date in Egypt, 535 BC, were the Medjay made up of just anyone who wanted to join? Because my understanding is that for much of their existance they were a tribe/ ethnic group as well as the word for policeman or a type of warrior tribe. Or did the author not do research on this? Anyone know?

This was a great story about blood, brutality, honor, fighting, Egypt, Greeks, Persians, loyalty, friends, enemy, back-stabbing, FRONT-stabbing, death, life, and the afterlife. This is EXACTLY the type of book I love reading!!

I picked up "Men of Bronze" at my local library, intrigued by the cover and the jacket synopsis. I've been in love with ancient Egypt and Greece since I was a kid, so I was happy to give Oden's book a try.

I loved the attention to detail, i.e. the names of the lesser-known gods and descriptions of the places. There are three or four sex scenes in the book, but they're done tastefully and for the most part they enhance the plot. Barca is a likeable character and Phanes is a decent adversary for him.

The glossary in the back of the book is extremely helpful, but some description in the story itself could've been helpful. There was little context to help guess some of the terms, so I had to stop where I was in the story, mark my place on the page, and search for the definition in the back. That process severely hampers the flow of the story.

My biggest problem with the book is Barca's relationship with Jauharah. Both Barca and Jauharah are fleshed-out characters with histories, motivations and distinct personalities. I find them believable. However, I cannot believe that they were as deeply in love as Oden wants us to believe. The synopsis on the jacket points to Jauharah as Barca's love interest, and 3/4 of the way through the book, the consumate that relationship. However, there was very little chemistry between them until that point. Then suddenly, instant love.

Read this book for the history, the detail and the intrigue. Don't read it for any illusions of a love story.

Scott Oden has managed to capture what surely must be one of the most interesting depictions of ancient Egypt since Mika Waltari published his novel The Egyptian. Both deal with critical periods in Egyptian history and both are credits to their authors.

Oden's Men of Bronze is more earthy than The Egyptian and certainly more graphic. The premise of internal decay within Egypt and external pressure from Persia is a common theme. I thought the primary character of Hasdrabal Barca, a commited and driven soldier dedicated to the Pharoah and his dynasty was captivating. Phanes, the Greek traitor was equally memorable but for different reasons. Even given the slow start, as pointed out by another reviewer, isn't enough to prevent me from highly recommending this book.

Men of Bronze is a rapidly paced story that will leave you with memorable images in your head. I highly recommend this book.

Scott Oden is a talented young author in love with the ancient world. That much is clear after reading his first novel, "Men of Bronze," a fictional take on the Persian invasion of Egypt in the later 6th century B.C. Oden has a gift both for research and for imagining plausible events to flesh out the ancient narrative.

Unfortunately, "Men of Bronze" does not ascend the heights of great historical fiction, for all its promise. The characters are shallow, the dialogue is jarringly ordinary, and virtually all disputes are solved by bloodshed. "Men of Bronze" has one of the highest body-counts of any novel I've ever read!

The story focuses on Hasdrubal Barca, the Phoenician, commander of the Egyptian frontier forces, the Medjay. Barca discovers that the Persians mean to launch a massive invasion of Egypt with the collusion of Phanes of Hallicarnasus, trusted Greek commander of the Pharoah's Greek forces. It is an interesting twist on the usual pro-Western attitudes of historical fiction that the Greeks play the bad guys. However, this twist is not explored to its fullest degree, and most of the Greeks have the same character development as anonymous Stormtroopers in the Star Wars movies.

The lone exception to this is the dastardly Phanes, a villain so tritely evil that all he lacks is an oiled mustache to twirl. Phanes, an "evil Achilles," is an a-moral narcissist with a very post-modern take on honor and virtue. It is only natural that he and Barca play foil to each other, as Barca is the stereotypical killer with a good heart, seeking death on the battlefield to extinguish the pain of his distant past. It is also only natural that Phanes use the typical villain arrogance to fail to kill Barca when he has the chance . . . such cliches abound in "Men of Bronze."

A love story that is more declaimed than felt somewhat elevates the novel's closing chapters, and the final titanic battle of Pelusium has several nice scenes of carnage. However, there is little in the way of humor, style or wit that would place Oden's novel into the pantheon of the works of Bernard Cornwell or Patrick O'Brian, much less Mary Renault of even Cecelia Holland.

What was also surprising in this novel was the lack of attention to basic detail. I'm hardly a linguistic prude, but on two separate occasions the novel uses "it's" when the possessive "its" was required. Also, the novel switches from referring to Ahuramazda with one word or two. Oden's editors failed him on numerous such occasions. That's just not acceptable for a serious work.

Here's to hoping that Oden's work will continue to improve - based on the merits of "Men of Bronze," he deserves several more chances. Shakespeare, after all, started with "Titus Andronicus"! I'd gladly see some deeper characters at the expense of a few buckets of blood.

"Men of Bronze" is a story of betrayal, vengeance and finally love and redemption set during the fall of Egypt.

One reviewer used the description of the writing as "Comic Book-like"; in the sense that the characters were larger than life, I would have to agree. But the story of Barca the Phoenician (Scott Oden's anti-hero/hero) is an archetypal story. Oden uses the metaphor of the "Beast" to describe the katoleptic, killing rage that Barca uses to defeat his enemies. There is no other way to write a piece like this without making it somewhat larger than life. Most people have experienced and been shocked by their own "beast" within and readers can relate to the feelings that well up from some seemingly otherworldy source during times of extreme stress(hopefully we don't hack people to pieces with a bronze scimitar...but you get my meaning).

The message that we can change; that our lives are not out of control is an imporant one for our times. Barca has been damaged by love betrayed and paradoxically saved by love as well. Although this is an extremely violent book that pulls no punches in its descriptions of personal combat and brutal battles, ultimately the story is about the peace that can be found within.

I loved this book and will be sure to read Memnon by Scott Oden. Hopefully this writer will continue to turn out exciting historical fiction for many more years.

This sensational action tale of the Persian conquest of Egypt, told from the viewpoint of a Phoenician mercenary serving Pharoh, is a most welcome adjunct to the established Greek historicasls of Steven Pressfield and the late Mary Renault. The characters are vividly portrayed, and the near continuous combat scenes are grasphic and realistic, with virtually palpable blood lust full of the taste and smell of deadly hand to hand combat. An effort was made to convey the flavors of the times and the strengths and weaknesses of each of the protagonists, especially the near Homeric hero Hasdrabal Barca. His Arabian slave girl companion is a bit too virtuous to believe, but the wily and venal priests of Egypt are right on. Well deserving of entry to the Lord Osiris" Garden of Amentis - the Egyptian Walhalla.