The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield

2,300 years ago an unbeaten army of the West invaded the homeland of a fierce Eastern tribal foe. This is one soldier's story . . .The bestselling novelist of ancient warfare returns with a riveting historical novel that re-creates Alexander the Great's invasion of the Afghan kingdoms in 330 b.c.In a story that might have been ripped from today's combat dispatches, Steven Pressfield brings to life the confrontation between an invading Western army and fierce Eastern warriors determined at all costs to defend their homeland. Narrated by an infantryman in Alexander's army, The Afghan Campaign explores the challenges, both military and moral, that Alexander and his soldiers face as they embark on a new type of war and are forced to adapt to the methods of a ruthless foe that employs terror and insurgent tactics. An edge-of-your-seat adventure, The Afghan Campaign once again demonstrates Pressfield's profound understanding of the hopes and desperation of men in battle and of the historical realities that continue to influence our world.

I've been studying modern Afghanistan in one of my classes, and so for the College Students spring/summer challenge I decided to pick a book taking place in the same area, thousands of years ago.

This book is well-written, interesting, and full of plot and war. However, I definitely think the writing style is not one that would interest most women. I'm not sure why this is the case, but it definitely has a masculine vibe to it. (Perhaps that's an effect of a man writing it, told from a man's perspective, in a masculine-oriented war.)

However, I would recommend it to anyone interested in this time period, and specifically about the lives of an everyday cavalryman.

I tried for over roughly two weeks to get into this book. It kept frustrating me and I would put it down. It gets one star from me only because I could only make it 73 pages in before I gave up; it is entirely possible It could have gotten better/I could have gotten used to it with more time.

But there's a lot to read, and if something is this hard for me to give a chance, it shouldn't deserve my attention.

The main thing that irritates me about this book, I guess, is that unlike most historical fiction, it doesn't transport you to the place and time it's supposed to. It doesn't FEEL like you're in the mind of an Ancient Greek, it doesn't FEEL like you are in ancient Afghanistan. It feels modern. I think that this is intentional, a theme by the writer to say something akin to “war is the same no matter when it takes place” but for me it falls flat. The nicknames of the soldiers grates on me too- I realize soldiers probably had nicknames, but these ones feel so modern that it is almost as if the author used them so he didn't have to use any Greek names (he uses “Macks” instead of Macedonians as well).

The use of the words “dames” at all, let alone during serious moments, is jarring and takes you out of the time and place. I also don't think some of the cultural aspects of the Afghans that they are describing would have been around yet, I believe he is describing parts of Islam, nearly a thousand years before it crops up.

And there are no historical characters in this, just mentioned. At least so far. That is not inherently a bad thing, but having familiar characters even in supporting roles help put the story in perspective and make it easier to invest.

This might not be a bad book. I'm not sure. But it's not for me.