Memnon
by Scott Oden
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Description
He lived in the shadow of kings. One trusted him with his empire; the other feared his every move...Memnon of Rhodes (375-333 BCE) walked in the footsteps of giants. As a soldier, sailor, statesman, and general, he was, in the words of Diodorus of Sicily, "outstanding in courage and strategic grasp." A contemporary of Demosthenes and Aristotle, Memnon rose from humble origins to command the whole of western Asia in a time of strife and slaughter. To his own people, he was a traitor, to his show more rivals, a mercenary. But, to the King of Kings, his majesty Darius III of Persia, Memnon was one man capable of defending Asia Minor from the rising power of the barbaric Macedonians. In a war pitting Greek against Greek, Memnon proved his quality beyond measure. His enemies fought for glory and gold; Memnon fought for something more, for loyalty, for honor, and for duty. He fought for the love of Barsine, a woman of remarkable beauty and grace. Most of all, he fought for the promise of peace. Through the deathbed recollections of a mysterious woman, the life of Memnon unfolds with brilliant clarity. It is a record of his triumphs and tragedies, his loves and lossess, and of the determination that drove him to stand against the most renowned figure of the ancient world-the ambitious young conqueror called Alexander the Great. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I was really impressed with Scott Oden's "Memnon." First, his combat scenes are incredible. I felt like I was there. I have never said this about another author before, and it feels weird writing it, but it's true: Scott Oden writes mass battle scenes better than Robert E. Howard. He engages all the senses in his writing in a magnificent and realistic manner. I didn't so much as read this novel as experience it. I really felt like I was there, side-by-side with Memnon.
It was written with an epic scope, spanning much of Memnon's life, with left the reader with large gaps in his history, but that only added to the realism - as though Memnon and I had seperated for a while to do other things, then got back together later. I have only had show more a couple of writers able to create that kind of experience for me, so Scott Oden is rare company as far as I am concerned.
That the author was able to do so much with so little historical information is a testament to his skill at both history and fiction. show less
It was written with an epic scope, spanning much of Memnon's life, with left the reader with large gaps in his history, but that only added to the realism - as though Memnon and I had seperated for a while to do other things, then got back together later. I have only had show more a couple of writers able to create that kind of experience for me, so Scott Oden is rare company as far as I am concerned.
That the author was able to do so much with so little historical information is a testament to his skill at both history and fiction. show less
This was much better than Lion of Cairo. Interesting and well-written.
I couldn't finish it. It wasn't really all that interesting.
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Author Information
18+ Works 588 Members
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Memnon
- People/Characters
- Alexander the Great; Memnon
- Important places
- Ancient Greece; Egypt
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 100
- Popularity
- 321,336
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.53)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 3
