I've never been much interested by the Classic studies, other than a brief period when I was fascinated by the Romans as a teenager, and when we studied Greek legends in elementary school. This book came really, really close to changing my mind. Although I found the large cast of characters to be a bit confusing, I was still drawn in to the story. Even though I found the artwork to be well done, and I'm curious about the actual battle tactics used during the war and would be interested in seeing the author's interpretation of it, I don't know that I'd have the patience to sit through a lot more character exposition, but that's my "failing", if you will, and does not reflect on the book. I'm giving this 4 stars for the author's effort and for the quality of the research.