La verdad es que no tengo ni idea de qué calificación colocar a esta cosa. Primero rondaba entre las tres, hasta que la historia se fue desarrollando y cayó a un rotundo dos. Pero, cuando empezaba a alzarse la recta final del libro, aumentó hasta llegar a un cuatro y, justo ahora, no sé si darle esa o un tres.

Esta cosa es básicamente una montaña rusa. Al principio es medio cansino por las descripciones, y no conoces absolutamente nada. Presentan al protagonista y te cae bien..., hasta que la trama agarra un rumbo y lo único que quieres es desearle la muerte, para que al final te compadezcas (casi nada, pero algo es algo) de su pobre alma en solo SEIS CAPÍTULOS, eso debería ser un récord.

I found the style of this quite hard at times. Great detail. Lots of history involved. I'd never heard of Dionysuis before this book!

2.5 stars

read

Manfredi ha la capacità di riportare in vita i personaggi dei suoi romanzi e farceli sentire "vicini", portandoli fuori dalla storia, rendendoli quasi reali.
Ne "Il tiranno" ci sentiamo infatti immersi in una storia di amori, inganni,tradimenti, politica e guerra; ci troviamo catapultati nell'epoca descritta e quasi fatichiamo a staccarci dalle pagine per tornare alla vita reale.
Un ennesimo capolavoro di un grande scrittore storico.

Meine Rezension: https://amerdale.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/gelesen-valerio-m-manfredi-der-tyrann-von-syrakus/

4

I knew nothing about the real history before going into Manfredi's historical novel about Ancient Sicily, and that made the twist and turns of the story all the more enjoyable. Some of the characters feel pretty flat in their characterisation (the female characters, aside from Arete, in particular) though one could argue that the lack of detail in the historical sources regarding female characters could be a cause of this (but given the leeway in fleshing them out, I do think they could be more than just jealous objects of desire for the primary characters).

Nevertheless, a highly accessible and enjoyable romp through the rise of an autocrat in pre-Roman Sicily, and his abrupt fall.

It was a decent book, but totally not for me. Anyone who loves ancient history and wars and strategies and battles, will enjoy it - for the most part.
Picking this book up each time and continuing with it was tough (not a page turner type of book).

To me it's important to mention that I read the polish TRANSLATION (couldn't find it here on goodreads though) and it did sound a bit "ancient" at times, and not in a good way. Sometimes the wording and phrasing was awkward, closer to Polish traditions than Greek, in my mind.

The writing itself... I struggle with books with NO sense of humor, whatsoever (That is why I Bernard Cornwell was much of an easier read than this!)
The love-making descriptions felt passive, distant and "androidal". The dialogues were stiff, and yet tried to be grandiose which, combined, sounded cringe-worthy.

The characters, including the protagonist, were quite dry and boring. I never felt I knew them well, or what they were up to in their minds.

The best part of this book were all the "lifestyle"(of the era) details (although not always smoothly meshed with the story); from food, to clothing, to architecture to religion and beliefs.
So I would definately have a look at Mr. Manfredi 's NONFICTION efforts, if he has any...?