Fire From Heaven

The Alexander Trilogy stands as one of the most important works of fiction in the 20th century... it represents the pinnacle of [Renault's] career... Renault's skill is in immersing us in their world, drawing us into its strangeness, its violence and beauty. It's a literary conjuring trick like all historical fiction - it can only ever be an approximation of the truth. But in Renault's hands, the trick is so convincing and passionately conjured. Nowhere is this more evident than in The Persian Boy... Bagoas is a brilliant narrator. Rendered unreliable by his passion, he is always believable and sympathetic... His Persian background allows him to see the king and his Macedonians through the questioning eyes of an alien.

The Alexandriad is one of the twentieth century's most unexpectedly original works of art.

This is not just a novel. It's also the best imagining we are ever likely to have of a man who tore up history... this is wonderful, scholarly, top-flight stuff.