Mary Renault casts a spell in "The Persian Boy", the pivot of her 2nd installment of her Alexander Great triad. "Fire From Heaven," being the first, and "The Funeral Games," being the third.
The Persian Boy tells the story of Bagoas, who is born into an aristocratic family. In the first few pages Bagoas is subjected to the turmoil resulting from the death of King Ochos. His father, mother, and sisters, are killed and he himself is castrated and sold at the age of 10. Another tragedy follows in time: Bagoas is sold by his master to other men as a prostitute. Procured for King Darius, Bagoas's luck changes only slightly; instead of being sold to many men, he is kept by one man, a King he holds in awe for his station, and not out of personal admiration.
Darius has made the mistake of underestimating the young Macedonian King Alexander, who at 20 undertakes the conquest of Greek cities in Asia Minor. But Alexander closes in on the Persian Empire, and Darius suffers one defeat after another until his own warlords lose faith in him. When a coup sees Darius taken prisoner, Bagoas escapes with only his life. In time, he is rescued by one of those warlords, and as fate has it, he is to beg Alexander for clemency. Bagoas is used to sweeten the deal--as a gift.
Alexander is presented by Renault as a man capable of more than mortal feats who is still reassuringly human--more than that, he needs love desperately, from the hero-worship of the soldiers who follow him to the intimate devotion of his lover Hephaistion. Bagoas has never known love at all, only use. When Macedonian King and Persian courtesan meet, the inevitable happens--and this is where the enchantment begins.
Renault's mastery is impeccable. With a few well-chosen words, she conjures the images of the great Persian palaces--the ruins at Persepolis, Susa, Ekbatana, and Babylon; she recreates the travels of the Macedonian army so well that any reader who picks up her companion book "The Nature of Alexander" will look at the pictures and recognize the structures. Renault is a master characters builder. Bagoas is keenly intelligent, charming, courtly, sarcastic, prey to jealousy and possessiveness when it comes to his lover; his growing maturity merely adds to the pain he experiences as the affair and Alexander's conquests progress. And Alexander is much more accessible here than in "Fire From Heaven," which is a wonderful book but presents Alexander as all light and no fire. Here we get to see Alexander as preening boy, heroic warrior, pragmatic king, and devoted lover. It is a marvelous love story whether or not it actually happened.
The book is narrated from a first person point of view, and it's Bagoas perspective that is used to frame the events that go from Alexander's 20th birthday to his death. A wonderful read.
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more
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