Conspiracies and action combine to make an excellent read.
This is the first of a new series of books by Robert Fabbri and as such it is a great foundation on which to build the series.
Alexander has died without naming a successor and so amongst his power is distributed by his bodyguards amongst three potential regencies – one of Alexander’s soon to be born son, one in respect of his brother the newly named King Philip and one to the existing regent Antipatros. Whilst in principle this appeared to be a good and fair decision by Alexander’s ring holder Perdikkas the Half Chosen, it is not long before his ambition and those of his colleagues leads to intrigues and murder. As some become less enamoured of Perdikkas it is not long before alliances are broken and remade and the Empire looks as if it is going to tear itself apart through civil war as Macedon faces Macedon.
This book would have been impossible to follow without the list of characters contained at the back of the book and I would recommend reading this more than a few times alongside the map at the start of the book in order to understand what is happening and how some events impact on others.
Fabbri manages to maintain a brisk pace throughout the story which takes place over the 2 years after Alexander dies. It moves between characters and events mostly adhering to history with a few embellishments as set out in the acknowledgements section. The end of this book sets the scene for the following book in the series quite well as the Empire is imperilled from all directions.
Alexander has died without naming a successor and so amongst his power is distributed by his bodyguards amongst three potential regencies – one of Alexander’s soon to be born son, one in respect of his brother the newly named King Philip and one to the existing regent Antipatros. Whilst in principle this appeared to be a good and fair decision by Alexander’s ring holder Perdikkas the Half Chosen, it is not long before his ambition and those of his colleagues leads to intrigues and murder. As some become less enamoured of Perdikkas it is not long before alliances are broken and remade and the Empire looks as if it is going to tear itself apart through civil war as Macedon faces Macedon.
This book would have been impossible to follow without the list of characters contained at the back of the book and I would recommend reading this more than a few times alongside the map at the start of the book in order to understand what is happening and how some events impact on others.
Fabbri manages to maintain a brisk pace throughout the story which takes place over the 2 years after Alexander dies. It moves between characters and events mostly adhering to history with a few embellishments as set out in the acknowledgements section. The end of this book sets the scene for the following book in the series quite well as the Empire is imperilled from all directions.