Alexander at the Worlds End

On a huge, crowded, canvas Holt paints with a sure and steady hand, and a profusion of radiant colours, a story of ancient times which is part fact, part history, part myth, about a man, near super-human, who conquered the world, built an empire - and died remantically young. Alexander the Great's dazzling exploits sometimes blur the edges of the man himself, but the author's affectionate regard, and his astonishing ability to inhabit a world so distant in time, bring the young Alexander almost into the room where the reader sits. The miracle is performed by Euxenus (grandson of the great comic poet Eupolis of Pallene), apprentice to Diogenes, student of philosophy and military history. When King Philip of Macedon (Alexander's father) threatens Athens, Euxenus is sent as one of a delegation on a diplomatic mission to meet Philip. At Philip's Court he meets Alexander - a quick, intelligent but impatient boy of ten. Perspicaciously Euxenus sums up the boy who is to become his pupil as having 'no interest in anything that wasn't needed for the work in hand; he selected the qualities that made him up like a man packing for a long journey, taking with him only the things he knew he'd need... ' a single-mindedness which perhaps made Alexander Great - but not a well rounded character. Nevertheless the boy made an impression on Euxenus - as Euxenus did on Alexander and his father - a mutual regard that was to keep Euxenus by Alexander's side as a tutor during his early, formative years. But Euxenus had adventures of his own; this is more his story than Alexander's. A good, meaty, scholarly novel, written with the lightest of touches, an enormous amount not only of scholarly expertise but of sheer enjoyment, which the author transfers effortlessly to the reader; to be read leisurely - there are too many good jokes, too much good writing, and too much illuminating historical background to skim, or skip. (Kirkus UK)