41 hours of pure audiobook joy

I loved Cameron's Killer of Men series, set in ~500BC and had read a few others by him. I pre-ordered this and when it was released I saw it was 41 hours. My reaction was simply "thank the gods!". I knew I had a long period of happy book times ahead. Cameron uses the same formula as in Killer of Men series: an old man, telling a youngster about his life and the great events and people he witnessed. This time it's Ptolemy, old now and king Egypt, telling about growing up and campaigning with Alexander of Macedon (A. the Great) and his epic conquests. This is up there w Cameron's best, maybe is the best? Hard to say but it's great.

I really like doing ancients in historical fiction because the fiction writer can fill in so much that is left out of our limited source material. I listened to the excellent Phillip and Alexander by Goldsworthy but always wished I could fill in the blanks, even if imagined. This does that.

9 people found this helpful

Closer to Nero than Alexander

If you've read Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield, this is basically the opposite in terms of Alexander the character. I've read every Greek oriented series by Christian Cameron and have loved them all. The Long War and Philopoemen series were excellent, bringing to life people and events in a way that only good historical fiction can. Cameron does pay close attention to historical details and relative accuracy, but he is certainly developing a narrative based off his opinions. Which to be fair is what any storyteller is going to do, but he takes the more negative slant in my opinion. He paints him as a sociopathic dictator that slowly devolves as his campaigns continue. And in all honesty and having read Arrian, this is more accurate than Pressfield and many other stories painting a romanticized view of Alexander. Albeit I feel Pressfield captured Alexander's military mind much better. Regardless, Alexander was a human and wore many faces, with this novel you're going to see mostly the negative ones.

I really think the scope of this project was too grand for a single novel and Cameron struggled with pushing his narrative while developing the multitude of characters to some degree. By the end I think he was just wanting to wrap it up. With all due respect, Cameron is a fantastic author and this novel was a massively impressive undertaking that was still entertaining, it just wasn't my cup of tea in the stories of Alexander.

Also, Noble was as fantastic as ever.

3 people found this helpful

He was a God

It was MAGNIFICENT! He was a God. The whole story of Ptolemy not Alexander.

1 person found this helpful

Alexander told through Ptolemy's early life.

A great author and fantastic narrator together. It is the life of Alexander woven with the thread of Ptolemy's early life. Once again the author uses his in depth historical knowledge, married with his amazing character treatment to make this very long book fly by. The narrator, who was done almost all the author's audiobooks, intimately understands his pacing and humor. Excellent all round.

1 person found this helpful

Splendid Retelling of a Life and Legend

Alexander was a remarkable warrior and master tactician. He was also a megalomaniac. Christian Cameron retells his story wonderfully. Peter Noble is the perfect narrator for this epic.

1 person found this helpful

A Noble Cameron

Great connection with Christian Cameron & Peter Noble. The story was so well performed, it gave visual clarity to the story line. Every exciting moment, sigh, grunt, etc. Peter delivered Christian's story with grace and elegance. Historical fiction or not, this was a very detailed story with great moments on and off the battlefield. The best 40+ hours spent with an audiobook. The length caused me to be hesitant in the beginning, but once it all started, it was hard to hit the stop button. As a fan of history and war, this was an epic listen for me. Thank you both for your efforts.

Boring tale, no dialogue, no character development, Nonstop blah, blah, blah.

This is a boring tale told/read by the voice of Ptolemy of Egypt apparently reading some scrolls to a young royal. There is no real dialogue or interaction between characters except as described by a reading by Ptolemy… it just goes on and on, with no real back and forth conversation by the Alexander and other characters - no dialogue - minimal (if any) spoken character development - it put me to sleep. I can’t imagine anyone listening to it for 45 hours. I really wanted to listen to an exciting historical novel about a great historical figure involved in world-shaking events, something like “Spartan Falcon”, a grab-you-by-the-throat adventure that would suck you right in to those events and personalities - but no such luck. “Alexander” is just blah, blah, blah.

A Story of Conquest and Tragedy

A nice long and thorough story of Alexander, told by Ptolemy. I enjoyed a lot of it, the beginning is kinda slow because you're listening to Ptolemy and Alexander's upbringing in the court of his father Phillip. But after Phillip dies, and Alexander becomes king, the story really picks up. My favorite part of the book is the all the battles in Greece, and in western Anatolia, because this was when you get to see Alexander's prowess as a commander for the first time, and how the army starts to see him as a god. This is also when you meet a lot of great characters, specifically Kineas, and all the people you hear about in Tyrant. I loved the battles against the Persians, Cameron does a fantastic job of telling the battles how they actually went down from the perspective of a soldier, while not being dragged out too long, which is good for a audiobook 40 hours long.
I think what kinda set me off from the story was after Kineas' part of Tyrant ends (if you've listened to it, you know what I mean). I point this out because it's where Alexander turns from benevolent king to insane tyrant. You start to think "when is he gonna die or get killed," but it drags on for the last 5-15 hours of the book, so by the 35 hour mark when the India campaign starts to die down, you're just waiting for it to happen.
One big thing I don't like with Cameron's first person writing is that he has to remind you from time to time that you're listening to someone retell his story to someone else. So, you'll hear Ptolemy point out something in the "present" to make a point about something that happened in the story. To me, its unnecessary, and a bit annoying, but can be comical sometimes. That's why I like when he writes stories in third person perspective, like in Tyrant and Tom Swan.
Overall, it's a great story, and the 40 hour long listening was definitely the credit, it can get drag on out by the end, but the story throughout was consistently great to listen to. And as always, Peter Noble does a fantastic job telling the story.

Terrible

Ramblin
I like historical novels but this is total bore.
Wish I had never bought it!
Want my credit back.

Too much blood and gore

Could the author be biased? If not, those who followed Alexander were simpletons.
The names of men, women military terms and locations sometimes made it difficult to follow.