Historical
A historical novel leaning into Alexander the Great can tip into pageantry very quickly. This one at least has enough heat and atmosphere to keep things moving through Persia and Babylon, which matters more than another round of men in helmets talking as if they’ve read their own legend.
I finished it, and what stayed with me was less the big historical sweep than the sense of place. That, and the fact that a book can be sensuous without becoming ridiculous. A rarer skill than it should be.
I finished it, and what stayed with me was less the big historical sweep than the sense of place. That, and the fact that a book can be sensuous without becoming ridiculous. A rarer skill than it should be.
Alexander-adjacent historical fiction lives or dies on whether it remembers people are not statues. The Babylon/Persia setting sounds like the useful part here, not the medals and speeches.
I’m more interested in whether the book lets the geography do some of the work. Heat, dust, scale, pressure. That can carry a story farther than another polished version of the same conqueror myth.
I’m more interested in whether the book lets the geography do some of the work. Heat, dust, scale, pressure. That can carry a story farther than another polished version of the same conqueror myth.