Customer Reviews

Alexander and Alestria: A Novel (P.S.)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(4)

 

 

First, I have to say that I loved Shan Sa's other two books, "The Girl Who Played Go" and "Empress". So, with that said, it was really disappointing that this one wasn't up to par. I actually regret buying it. I know that the hope of sex scenes can drive a reader to turn pages (a trick Ms. Sa employed quite well for "Empress"), but to only rely on that one trick for the entire first half of the book-- meaning that the only "meat" sorry to say for the first half of the book is one sexual encounter after another-- was just too low for me. Following that, the remainder of the book is washed out by grandiose talking up of oneself by not one, but three separate narrators.

I'd like to write something nicer about this book but it was honestly hard to stay interested in the thin plot line weighted down with cheap tricks. For the reader that desires more substance in their books, I heartily recommend "The Girl Who Played Go" or "Empress".

I received this book free from HarperCollins after becoming a friend of their MySpace page. It is awful. It took me days to get through it because I was dreading it so bad. I hate how Ms. Sa writes. It is like she is trying to write lyrically or poetically, but also stay in the story format. The chapters jump back and forth between Alexander The Great and Alestria the Amazon queen. Obviously this is a fiction book since this event never happened. I wish this book hadn't happened. It is actually one of the worst books I've spent time on in a long time. I felt no interaction with any of the characters and did not find the story realistic in any manner. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone at all.

I'm not sure why this book has received so many bad reviews, except to say that if you're not a fan of Shan Sa's poetic writing style, you probably won't enjoy her novels. She has a beautiful, artistic style very similar to prose, but I find that it only heightens the feelings of intense passion and agony, love and hate, that the characters themselves are feeling. It is Sa's prose that gives voice to Alexander's internal struggles after a childhood of abuse and identity crisis, and it is her descriptive, imaginative choice words that brings out both the fierceness and playfulness of the Amazon tribe.

In the end, the novel is both a love story and a study of masculinity and femininity as they exist in their extremes within both women and men. She does not portray Alexander as a monster or a weakling, instead she delves into why he feels he is sometimes both, and in fact, especially in the end, neither. The Queen of Amazons, Alestria, appears to be a victim of patriarchy and feminine weakness, until love conquers all and restores her to her rightful place as leader of the wild, independent tribe of woman warriors.

I enjoyed Shan Sa's 'Empress' very much, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved 'Alexander and Alexia' even more! I'm glad I didn't listen to the other negative reviews on this site, this is now on my list of all time favorite novels. If in doubt, just read the first few pages of the novel to get a feel for her writing, and go from there.

I am a huge fan of Alexander the Great fiction. My wishlist on the subject is huge, and a whole bookshelf in my library is dedicated to the subject. Obsessed? Maybe. But the truth is that I find Alexander the Great fascinating, and I love reading about his travels, battles, discoveries, and friends. When I saw this at a bookstore, I had to have it.

And wow was it bad. The blurb says that Alexander's father, Philip of Macedon, abused him. I can believe that, and many of the stories out there depict such instances. But the weird part of this book was that Philip wants to have sex with Alexander. Very strange and off putting. If you can swallow that (as many books do feature a Philip who is willing to have sex with anything that moves), the main problem is Alexander himself. This Alexander wants to wear dresses and makeup, and basically be a girl. Alexander the Great had a feminine side? Okay author, make me believe it.

The problem with this, and perhaps the problem with much of the "historical fiction" out there in general, is that it isn't historical. Much of Alexander's history is still debated. What his final words actually meant, why he chose one route over another, why he married who he did, whether or not he was bisexual... but there is no evidence that he wanted to be a girl. And he was such a charismatic leader-- a brilliant strategist who conquered most of the known world-- that if he honestly wanted to be a girl, I think he WOULD HAVE made it happen. And if there was a story about it, I'd read it! But the way Alexander's life unfolded in this book... just didn't make me believe it.

I still remain a huge fan of Alexander the Great fiction, and I am encouraged to see more and more of it being written, but this story was not for me.

Try some of the other Alexander the Great fiction:
Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven and The Persian Boy and Funeral Games, Melissa Scott's A Choice of Destinies, Judith Tarr's Lord of the Two Lands, Anna Apostolou's aka P.C. Doherty's A Murder in Macedon and A Murder in Thebes, P.C. Doherty's The House of Death and The Godless Man and The Gates of Hell.

Macedonian King Philip abuses his heir Alexander though he rationalizes that a monarch must be tough. Queen Olympias offers no protection for her offspring from his dad; instead makes demands on him. Angry Alexander turns abusive towards those weaker than him. However, he widens his outlook to include poetry entirely due to his tutor Aristotle.

When an assassin kills Philip, Alexander is glad not just because he is the king. He feels this is his chance to take out his revenge on his nasty father and showing his superiority to his imperious mother by conquering the world, not just Macedonia. He quickly wins in Greece, Persia and Egypt. However, he finally meets an opponent who matches him in cunning strategy when it comes to war and surpasses him when it comes to love, Queen Alestria of the Amazons; who admires his strength as almost her equal and decides to make Alexander her "wife".

This refreshing look at Alexander rotates viewpoints between the titled couple and her loyal servant Ania. The story line focuses on the romance between the lead couple although there is wonderful look at the world of the amazons as Shan Sa makes the myths seem like hard core history. Fans of ancient historical romances starring real persona will enjoy ALEXANDER AND ALESTRIA as the great conqueror and the amazon queen meet their perfect opponent to cherish and fight for who is on top.

Harriet Klausner

It is a awful book that I do not recommend at all. I was disappointed.. her style is terrible and in French too!! she is losing her ground, and it was political that she was able to be a writer in France. now we see how she writes terrible novels.. she is not regarded as a great writer as we thought. I di not like the story, and made up a lot.. I was disappointed and the characters were not well described. Since I have read the conspiracies, I have been disappointed with her novels and her style. I do not recommend her novel as it was with the conspiracy. save money, it is only marketing.