Empire of Ashes: A Novel of Alexander the Great [Paperback]

Nicholas Nicastro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2004

323 B.C. The great Alexander is dead. Machon-the late emperor's renowned friend and ally-is being scapegoated for his downfall. An outsider on trial for his life, Machon will tell his Greek accusers the stunning, tragic truth behind the meteoric rise and fall of a peerless military leader who proclaimed himself a god-and lost his humanity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...fascinating...gripping...characters were carefully and convincingly created...Grim and gritty and vividly brought to life...a great achievement." -- Simon Scarrow, author of THE EAGLE AND THE WOLVES

"...gives the reader a true feel for the time...fast-paced and scholarly, a difficult combination...but Nicastro succeeds beautifully." -- James L. Nelson, author of THE ONLY LIFE THAT MATTERED

"[A] grand historical epic combined with court-room drama and political intrigue. Believable characters...clear, evocative language...a captivating, compelling page-turner." -- Pamela Goddard, Ithaca Times

About the Author

Nicholas Nicastro has taught history, anthropology and psychology at Cornell University and Hobart-William Smith Colleges. He has published six novels as well as short fiction, travel, and science articles for "The New York Times", "The New York Observer", "Film Comment", "The International Herald Tribune", and "Archaeology", among other publications. His books have been translated into seven languages. He lives in northern California. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Signet (December 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451213661
• ISBN-13: 978-0451213662
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,550,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

From Wikipedia:

Nicholas Nicastro is an American scholar and historical novelist.

Born in Astoria, New York in 1963, he received a BA in English from Cornell University (1985), an MFA in filmmaking from New York University (1991), an M.A. in archaeology and a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell (1996 and 2003). He has also worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist, and an advertising salesman. His Cornell dissertation research on how humans respond to the vocalizations of domestic cats got some attention from the news media, especially in publications aimed at "cat people".

His writings include short fiction, travel and science articles in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Observer, Film Comment, and the International Herald Tribune.

In 1996, he wrote and directed the documentary video "Science or Sacrilege: Native Americans, Archaeology & the Law", an examination of the conflict between scientists and native people for control of ancient remains. The video is currently distributed by Berkeley Media LLC, and is often shown in college courses on this subject.

Nicastro's ancient fiction, including "Empire of Ashes" and "The Isle of Stone", is characterized by a willingness to explore the dark underside of popular historical exploits. In Ashes, he presents the career of Alexander the Great from the perspective of a skeptical Athenian soldier/historian who must debunk Alexander's official divinity to save himself from a charge of sacrilege. In "Isle of Stone", Nicastro presents a portrait of ancient Sparta during the Peloponnesian War that departs from what classical historian Paul Cartledge calls "the Spartan mirage". Instead, he reveals both the roots and the consequences of practices that, some say, made Sparta the Western world's prototype of a totalitarian society.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Alexander the Not So Hot, April 5, 2005

By 

Paul McGrath (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Empire of Ashes: A Novel of Alexander the Great (Paperback)

After being disenchanted with Steven Pressfield's recent fictional foray into the Alexander legend, the temptation to take another plunge was irresistible. Although Empire of Ashes is a far better story, and quite a bit more imaginative than the Pressfield thing, it still fails to fully capture the essence of this truly remarkable historical figure.

From an historical standpoint, it is undisputed that Alexander had all of the qualities that made one a superb leader. First, he was a brilliant battlefield tactician, with a superior understanding of his weapons, from cavalry to infantry to siege capabilities; and he had an uncanny ability to come up with plans that utilized these strengths and exploited his enemy's weaknesses. Secondly, he was as fierce a warrior as anyone in his army, and was often in the vanguard of his forces at the critical, make-or-break moment of the battle. Lastly he was great motivator. Whether by speech or example, he was able to get his army to accomplish more than any military force in history to that time.

Nicastro's narrator, an Athenian who tagged along, deconstructs the Alexander legend in every way. To begin with, he wasn't a tactician at all. Instead, it was his half-wit, half-brother Arrideaus--whose presence has been wiped clean from history by Alexander's lieutenants-- who came up with his brilliant battle plans. Alexander's fierce demeanor on the battlefield is acknowledged, but it was a ferocity based on recklessness--a life-long, all-consuming death-wish--rather than leadership or bravery. And although he is given some credit for his motivational skills, we are told that his generals, particularly Parmenion, deserved at least as much credit. All of this is interesting conjecture and makes sense within the confines of the story, but it is certainly dispiriting to the reader, who, while not necessarily expecting to see Alexander portrayed as a god, was not expecting him to be portrayed as such an ineffectual boob either.

This is a shame because the novel otherwise contains some very nice moments. Here is the narrator's description of the eighteen-year old Alexander when he first meets him, after the battle of Chaeronea. He had, "fine, long hair," but with a, "stringy, oily quality of it which gave the impression of being perpetually wet . . . It fell in unrestrained sweeps around his face--a face that was not without a certain dignity, but coarse, big-boned, and full of pimples." This is the kind of thing that historical fiction aficionados love; a vivid bit of detail with the solid ring of truth, and something which is not ordinarily found in the history books.

He also comes up with plausible explanations for some of the legend and controversy which surrounds Alexander. For example, Alexander truly made an effort to untie the Gordian knot, but his slashing of it was not an act of genius, but instead of angry frustration in front of embarrassed onlookers, and he had to hack at it twenty times before severing it. His decision to burn Persepolis, the most splendid city in Persia, was made for no other reason than that it was suggested by a Greek strumpet during yet another drunken binge. There are dozens of other examples, all of which are clever and within the realm of credibility individually, but all of which, alas, cast Alexander in a less-than-favorable if not unsavory light. Taken as a whole, the picture they paint of him doesn't quite pass the smell test.

It's a good story, though, detailed and engrossing. It is not, however, the definitive fictional portrait of Alexander. For that we must continue to wait.

32 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Let's Trash Alexander The Great!, March 18, 2005

By 

James Carpenter (Pennsville, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Empire of Ashes: A Novel of Alexander the Great (Paperback)

Wow, I get it - you don't like Alexander the Great! According to the author, Alexander was physically ugly, had a repulsive personality, and owed all his battlefield successes to his half-wit sibling. Not quite the same picture of Alexander that history has painted for us. Part of me wonders why anyone would write a book like this (you even had to attack his looks, for goodness sake??!!); another part wonders how these books get published. Reader beware - if you're looking for a good piece of historical fiction featuring Alexander the Great, look elsewhere.

27 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NiCastro is no Plutarch or Arrian, August 3, 2007

By 

PermaFrost "PermaFrost" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire of Ashes: A Novel of Alexander the Great (Paperback)

If you want to read about Alexander you start with Plutarch's The Age of Alexander or Arrian's Penguin Classics Campaigns Of Alexander where one can learn real history and not some fictuous non sense found in this book from Nicastro's pathetic attempt to write history.