Hace 2300 años el ejército invicto de Alejandro Magno invadió la tierra natal de las fieras y orgullosas tribus afganas. Esta campaña, que debía durar tres meses, se prolongó por tres largos años. Ésta es la historia de uno de esos soldados...
Matías, el más joven de tres hermanos y el más ansioso por probarse a sí mismo, se presenta voluntario para unirse a la ambiciosa expedición al indómito país que ahora conocemos como Afganistán. Pero tan pronto como cruza la frontera, Matías empieza a darse cuenta de que los macedonios se enfrentan a un tipo de enemigo al que no están acostumbrados. Para sobrevivir, los hombres de Alejandro tendrán que adaptarse a los métodos de un despiadado adversario que hace uso de tácticas basadas en el terror y en la insurgencia pero, ¿a qué precio? Matías y sus compañeros sufrirán un rito de iniciación marcado por el miedo, la euforia, el horror y la vergüenza.

226/8-Δεν ξέρω αν η γραφή θεωρείται αντικειμενική , αλλά η εντύπωση που σχημάτισα για τον Αλέξανδρο δεν είναι και η καλύτερη. ΄Ενα ματαιόδοξο σχολιαρόπαιδο που σπέρνει το τρόμο σε χώρες που δεν τον έχουν ενοχλήσει καν. Σεβαστό το ενδεχόμενο πολέμου, αλλά όταν πρόκειται να υπερασπίσεις τα εδάφη σου. Δεν συμφωνώ αν κάνεις πόλεμο μόνο για γίνεις μεγάλος κατακτητής. Ειλικρινά απορώ τι τρομερό βρήκε η ιστορία και τον ονόμασε Μέγα. ΄Οσον αφορά τον ήρωα , σε όλες τις εποχές θα υπάρχουν άνθρωποι που πάντα θα είναι
" χεσμένοι" από το Θεό κι αυτή η ανασφάλεια θα τους κάνει να παίρνουν πάντα τις λάθος αποφάσεις. ( )

Pressfield's form in this book is great. I like his style and his pacing. But the one thing all of his books seems to suffer from is the modern form of dialogue his characters use. This takes away the one element that would put The Afghan Campaign completely over the "would be" hurdle to make it epic. This is no slouch of a story. A young man enlist in Alexander's army and quickly becomes a man, father and friend. Pressfield uses very little filler, as in all his books, But I would have like to seen about three hundred more pages. The book is visceral, as it should be. The in and out appearances of Alexander and his proposed commitment to his men is well done. Highly recommended. ( )

Pressfield is certainly brilliant, and I must admit to liking the way he has worked hard to overcome his own demons. He gives me hope that I can do the same.

I also like that Pressfield is a bit of an underdog. His work is brilliant - I enjoy his work more than Wilbur Smith's (who has also written the odd historical novel or two). But there is something more philosophical about Pressfield that grabs my attention. On his website, he has this to say:

We can’t control the level of talent we’ve been given. We have no control over the nature of our gift. What we can control is our self-motivation, our self-discipline, our self-validation, and our self-reinforcement.

In 2012, Pressfield started his own publishing house, Black Irish Books, with his agent, Shawn Coyne. I have been critical of literary entrepreneurs in the past, but Pressfield is no "spring chicken", and claims to have written for 27 years before anything he wrote was published. This counters Einstein's view that:

A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so.

Anything that goes against Einstein's view  is a winner for me. Although some suggest Einstein didn't quite mean it this way, I have heard so many others use Einstein's words (without acknowledging him) and even judgements about people based on their age, that Pressfield's example gives me some comfort. (Some studies suggest that the age peak is now much older because one couldn't even catch up with the existing literature by age 30, let alone discover new knowledge.)

So this book has it all: a gripping story from an author with a back story that defies the odds. And it is based on historical research that provides an increase in historical knowledge as a side effect. What more could one want in a novel? ( )

How would one try to explain what it would be like to be a warrior for Alexander when he campaigned in Asia? This novel tries to look at ancient history from a young man's point of view but it felt too tricky to me. ( )