Books 2016 - The Persian Boy & Funeral Games by Mary Renault

[byslantedlight]

I'm so sorry to have finished Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy - I loved them! My favourite was definitely the first one, even though most people seem to go for/the most renowned book of the trilogy is, I think, The Persian Boy. I liked The Persian Boy, but to be honest what I kept looking for was glimpses of Alexander/Hephaistion who'd been the focus of the first book.

In The Persian Boy, instead of continuing the story of Alexander/Hephaistion from their own perspective, we're instead given a story about Bagoas, a Persian boy from a noble family who is sold into slavery following treachery, and eventually becomes Alexander's lover. This is his story, told from his perspective, all the way through. I couldn't quite empathise with Bagoas as much as I had Alexander and Hephaistion, and I'm not entirely sure why - he seemed to be at a slightly greater distance somehow, and of course he kept the Alexander/Hephaistion story at a greater distance too, although it spanned their entire lives and Bagoas was effectively a side-event in Alexander's. It's also a less joyous book than Fire from Heaven - Alexander is in the middle of his life, his promise has come to be, and where do you go from there? - and I really felt that, too.

Funeral Games is different again - it's not spoilers, I hope, to say that Hephaistion died in 324BC, nor that Alexander died just eight months later, and that's where we end the second and begin the third book. Funeral Games takes in the various characters we met in passing in the other books, and introduces the other people who fought to rule the lands, and as such it feels much more fragmented, though I was still interested to read, and Renault's writing kept it readable. As a result, though, I was mostly interested in connecting dots between the characters in the other books, and unjumbling some of my sense of history. For instance, Alexander's boyhood friend Ptolemy was the very Ptolemy who went on to found the Egyptian dynasty, going and settling there after Alexander's death. He was my favourite character in this book, but like everyone else in it we only saw things briefly through his eyes.

So - if you don't read any of the others, read Fire from Heaven, but if you do read the others don't be too disappointed at the way they're so different (I confess that I was) - they're still very much worth reading in their own right.

These books don't fit any of the reading challenges I joined this year - Mount TBR (reading unread books you already own as opposed to ones you buy new this year!) and The Once Upon a Time X Challenge - they were purely for pleasure, and they were. *g*

Comments

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

How brilliant that you liked these so much, even if there was a slight disappointment that the second and third weren't quite as good, or went in the direction you would have liked. I shall definitely try to read at least that first one now after your recommendation.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sorry - I thought I'd replied here ages ago, and was zooming past and thought hang on...

I think you might like the first one - and probably the second one too. I shall bring them both when next we meet up!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I feel the same, in that Fire From Heaven is my favorite of the three. I've never cared for Bagoas, though on a second reading I did get the impression that we're not supposed to believe that everything he says is true, the maybe it's colored by what he wanted to be true.

Ghost of the Throne by James Romm is an excellent nonfiction book about what happened after Alexander died, so a great tie-in to Funeral Games (and also inspiration for a fic I wrote. *g*)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I felt sympathy for Bagoas sometimes, but mostly I wanted him to keep out of the way and stop interfering! *g* And yeah, it was very tightly his pov, I think you're right that some of what he described was what he wanted to be true - and he did at least acknowledge that it was Hephaistion who had Alexander's heart... *g*

I like the title of the Romm book - Ghost of the Throne! I'm not as good at non-fiction as you are, but I'll keep an eye out for it. (What was the fic you wrote? Based on Funeral Games?

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I suppose you could say it was based on Funeral Games, too, but it was really inspired by the book of the same name. I've got an idea for another A/H story, but, so far, this has been the only one.

Ghost On the Throne.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Finally had a moment to catch up on lj and all, and read your story - very nice! I feel much better now... *g*

I had a wander around the Alexander/Hephaistion tag too, and found a vid by Shirasade, based on a film, "Alexander", 2004? Have you seen it at all? I'm torn - unless it's well done, I'm not sure I want to watch it, but of course I do want to watch it!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I have several A/H vids, but have most just by name, not by vidder. The name doesn't sound familiar, though. There is a really good A/H vidder on YouTube, who goes by xbreathofmadness. Bang Bang, and Blue Blood are my favorites.