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Loading... Fire from Heaven (original 1969; edition 1973)by Mary Renault (Author)
Work InformationFire from Heaven by Mary Renault (1969)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I found the writing in the book too awkward and ugly for me to finish it. The dialogue is awful, and although the action is fairly well described, I couldn't follow what was happening because I couldn't keep track of the characters. Also, I suspect that maybe nothing happened in the fifty or so pages I read. It's a shame, because this is in the gay canon, but I just didn't enjoy it. Halfway through this masterpiece and nothing of value has happened, I wish the author could've cut the story short but clearly she's got a real gift when it comes to driving her readers to skim her books. To my dismay, dwelling on tiresome jive doesn't make a good novel, and if I wanted to become versed on every nook and cranny in Alexander the Greats's room I'd pick up an encyclopedia. In the trash it goes. no reviews | add a review
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Alexander's beauty, strength, and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fueled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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It's a beautifully imagined retelling of the youth of Alexander the Great, and the ancient world it describes is gorgeously alien and yet psychologically authentic.
Apparently there are another two books of this, so know what I'll be reading in the run-up to Christmas. ( )