Fire from Heaven by Mary RenaultMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It has been a number of decades since I studied classical history at university and my memory of those lessons is pretty dim. However, looking at Mary Renault's source materials, I think she did a fabulous job of incorporating the facts of Alexander's life into her fictional account. As Tom Holland notes in his introduction, ancient historians weren't too concerned with the childhood years. That is a modern interest.
It is this interpretation of what details are available, combined with knowledge of human nature which makes the early chapters of the novel spellbinding. Renault makes it feel so real, and yet she also allows for the numinous. Alexander clearly believes that gods influence his life (as do many people today) and he sees signs of answered petitions. As a reader, I became aware in the first few pages that Alexander was already exceptional, making it almost inevitable that he would earn his epithet “the Great.”
There are prodigies in this world, some talented at music or mathematics. It seems sure that Alexander was a military prodigy. He had a natural feel for the conduct of battle and for the treatment of his army to get the best effort from them. This is a rare talent, thankfully, or we would be studying even more wars than we already have.
Once past childhood, Alexander's life is more documented and the tale for me lost a bit of its luster, at least until Alexander and Philip have their falling out. Although I think I enjoyed The King Must Die slightly more than this novel, there is no question that I will read the next two Alexander books. Renault's lovely writing guarantees that they will be worthwhile.
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