GATES OF FIRE

Guidall’s voice has an antiquated quality, a timeless weightiness that gives gravity to his readings. All of this makes the historic novel one of his strongest formats, a point amply made in this performance. Pressfield’s novel follows Spartan warriors to the climactic battle at Thermopylae, where their hundreds sacrifice themselves to ward off the Persians’ superior numbers. Guidall’s narration is full of yearning and loss. He makes the sense of tragedy palpable throughout. That the novel sometimes feels inert--because of both the passivity of the narrator and Pressfield’s penchant for speechifying--is a deficiency Guidall cannot fully overcome. But he does make it more palatable. M.O. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]