Customer Reviews

Bring Down the Sun (Alexander the Great)

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The book cover got my attention and the write-up about this story sounded like it would be a great read. I was really disappointed.

Ok, I have to admit I just finished reading the final book in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiels Legacy trilogy (awesome!), and I was hoping to find a similar caliber of story and quality of writing style in Bring Down The Sun. That didn't happen. Didn't even come close.

The story had moments of good momentum which I kept hoping it would maintain. But often I would get lost in the much too detailed thoughts of the main character or in descriptions of what was going on during a magical event and the story lost steam. I just had to work too hard to get through this book.

Disappointed .... Loved Lord of the Lands and was looking forward to reading the "prequel" ... But it didn't have the characters or story line of Lord of the two Lands ...too much magic, not enough action. Alexander is fascinating, his parents not so much.

The flirtatious Polyxena knows she is a beauty and acts accordingly though that is not normal behavior of an acolyte of the Mother goddess. When Philip of Macedon meets the enticing playful Polyxena, he is enchanted by her beauty and her sexual lure. He calls her Myrtale the "crowned one" and pledges to make her his queen when he becomes king.

No longer using the name Polyxena, Myrtale ruthlessly uses her sexual appeal and her connection to the Mother goddess to further the ambitions of her now husband Philip. Her plan is to do likewise when her unborn son the heir is old enough. No one will stand in the way of Myrtale as she plots power and greatness for her family.

The power behind the throne of Philip is his ambitious cunning wife; that is the essence of this engaging biographical fictional account of the mother of Alexander the Great. The story line actually ends with the birth of Alexander; so expect a sequel when her son becomes the ruler and her ambition is as strong as ever. Although the opening sequence when she is still Polyxena pales next to her as Myrtale, fans will appreciate this deep look at a woman the history texts ignore, but proves as powerful in her way as her more famous husband and son.

Harriet Klausner