(18) VALERIO MANFREDI –

ALEXANDER TRILOGY (1998)

 

Italian historian, writer, essayist, archaeologist and journalist – but he’s here for his pulp fiction novels of the classical world, particularly his Alexander Trilogy, not to be confused with Mary Renault’s Alexander Trilogy.

The three books of the trilogy are Child of a Dream, The Sands of Ammon, and The Ends of the Earth.

Yes – it’s about Alexander the Great.

And yes – it does kind of gloss over some of the more sordid details, but they were all Persian lies anyway.

Child of the Dream takes Alexander from his birth and childhood through to his ascension to the throne after his father’s assassination.

The Sands of Ammon – well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? It takes Alexander through his conquest of the Persian Empire to the Oracle of Ammon.

The Ends of the Earth – well, that’s obvious too, taking Alexander through to the end of his conquest (and the titular ends of the earth).

I have seen the film The Last Legion based on his book but have not read the latter – the film at least is a fun spin on the fall of the western Roman Empire, the last emperor and the titular last legion, and the misty origins of Arthurian legend.