While reading Steven Pressfield's latest novel, "The Profession," I kept thinking of a photo posted on his website of several American soldiers serving in the Middle East, all stretched out on their bedrolls, each of them with their noses buried in Pressfield's magnificent "Gates of Fire." The message was pretty clear - soldiers, guys who fight, recognize Pressfield as an author who gets it.I imagine that "The Profession" is Pressfield's homage to those soldiers.Set in the near future, Pressfield's latest novel is a complex, violent tale of a young man, Gent, who has an ancient warrior's spirit. Sure, he may live and fight in the early-mid 21st century, but his spirit has fought battles across the centuries. "The Profession" is about that warrior spirit - what it means to give yourself over to a commander, to a squad, and to a battle.Pressfield writes with his usual power and economy. In these spare 320 pages you'll find battle scenes that will have you holding your breath, but not for long as Pressfield never lingers. He imagines the battlefield - the Middle East in the 2010s-30s - basically as it is now, but with American mercenaries leading the fight. America, a tired, sagging windbag of a republic, has outsourced its military. The politicians are inept and the world is spinning out of control. One General Salter, Gent's commanding officer and father figure, may be teeing himself up to play Caesar and restore order to the republic. He is willing to burn this village in order to save it.Pressfield has a wickedly clever imagination and it's fun to see how he imagines our world to be in the twenty years. His characters come across as a little "stock" every now and then, but he's really writing the story of Gent rather than weaving a complex tapestry where each character gets his or her own story arc. So that's just fine. Gent probably takes enough of a beating to kill a brigade and somehow keeps on ticking through the story, but part of the story is the Herculean endurance of the true warrior, so that can be forgiven, too.All in all, I prefer Pressfield's novels of the ancient world, but if he wants to write about the near future, I say let him - "The Profession" is a fine tale of the timeless soldier's spirit. There is little doubt that Pressfield is a proficient writer, or that he does a great deal of research for his stories. However, I found that I much prefer his historicals to this one. I found it depressing. Perhaps because it appears so feasible.One good thing about this book is that it was broken up into chunks. Listed as books one through seven, each is a nice little read, with a perfect stopping point if the reader is feeling overwhelmed, as was I.Finally, I was a little surprised by the ending. It was not what I expected and I am not often surprised, so that was nice. No I am not saying what the ending was because I want to leave it for those others who read it.If Pressfield writes more historicals, I will probably buy them. But, I may be hesitant to purchase any more futuristic militaristic novels.
What do You think about Profesyonel (2013)?
Very well done. Deeply thought, well researched. Pressfield continues to produce high quality work.
—AndroidGnome
Too political, not enough warrior ethos. Would make a great Matt Damon special ops thriller.
—Hat
