"وأنت أيها الإسكندر المستيقظ في بهيم الليلإلى أين تحوم بك عيناك؟وأين يجول بك قلبك؟تريد قهر البلاد البعيدةحيث تغيب المجرات.وحيث تتلاشي اخر أمواج المحيط"فاليريو ماسيمو مانفريدى يحكى ملحمة تاريخية عن فيليب المقدونى و ابنه الاسكندر بحبكة روائية و حقائق تاريخية بطريقة مشوقة و سهلة الفهم ..رواية ممتعة جدا مناول صفحة لاخر كلمة بالكتاب فهى مزيج من الحقائق و الوقائع التاريخية من استاذ التاريخ الاغريقى و هويحكى باسلوب سهل ممتنع ليوصل حقائق و يسرد التاريخ لغير المتخصصين ..الرواية تتكون من ثلاث اجزاء غاية فى الضخامة لتحكى امجاد الاسكندر و تحكى تاريخ امبراطورية الملك فيليب المقدونى و تأثيره فى الاسكندر ابنه لينشأ قائد عسكرى محنك و سياسى ماهر و حكيم فى نفس الوقت ..حكاية متشابكة الخيوط تتناول جوانب حياة الاسكندر كلها العاطفية و السياسية و الاجتماعية ..فالحكاية تبدأ بمولد الاسكندر و تصف تعليمه و اهتمام والده على استثمار التعليم فى ابنه من خلال توظيف فيلسوف عظيم مثل ارسطو تلميذ افلاطون ليعلم الاسكندر الفلسفة و مبادىء التفكير العلمى ليكون الاسكندر قائد حربى عظيم وسياسى محنك و مواطن مقدونى يملك صفات اليونانيين فى الحكمة و الفلسفة و العلم ليحكم العالم كما كان يطمح والده ..فاليريو ماسيمو مانفريدى حكاء قدير حيث استطاع وصف العلاقات الانسانية المضطربة للاسكندر مع والده بمهارة و استطاع وصف علاقته بأمه و اصدقاؤه و حتى بكلبه ..فى انتظار قراءة الجزء التانى بشدة لاعرف باقى الحكاية
In Italy, Valerio Massimo Manfredi is a well-known and respected historian, writer and tv personality. He's also considered an archaeologist, although in reality he's a specialist in the topography of the ancient world and never studied archaeology in its own right. These days, most of his work involves writing novels and adapting books set in classical antiquity for film and television. The strong point of his books is his detailed topographic knowledge of the ancient world, which usually makes for very interesting settings. In the case of this book though, the landscape is a minor concern and all of Manfredi's attention is focussed on the figure of Alexander the Great. Alexander is definitely Manfredi's historical man-crush: although this first chapter of the trilogy deals mainly with his childhood and early adolescence Manfredi does everything in his power to emphasize his extraordinary character, intelligence, strength and (why not) beauty, so that this book reads as a sort of secular hagiography. The exceptional nature of Alexander is dealt with with so little tact and flair that by the middle portion of the book it becomes irritating, to say the least. The writing is also poor and clichèd, the descriptions are extremely concise, the dialogues are dull, with very few exceptions. Long journeys are described in a few lines while the emotions and feelings of the characters are explained in too much detail, as if the narrator was afraid his readers would not understand them by themselves. The historical sources Manfredi drew upon are obviously many, varied and accurately selected, but the historical and political background is not well integrated with the main core of the novel. For the whole book it seems as if Manfredi is unsure whether he's telling a story or giving a history lecture. I was really surprised to learn that this book was not the writer's first work of fiction: I have read some of his earlier works and enjoyed those a lot more. If anyone is interested in approaching Manfredi for the first time, I would definitely suggest avoiding this trilogy in favour of Spartan or the later The Ides of March.
Non sono obiettiva con questa trilogia, meglio metterlo subito in chiaro.Non è perfetta, anche se la ritengo senza dubbio il miglior lavoro di Manfredi, le "libertà storiche" che l'autore s'è preso non sono poche e non sono nemmeno tutte secondarie, ma è una trilogia che adoro.Per motivi "affettivi", è stata il mio portale su Alessandro, quella che mi ha spinto a conoscere sempre più questa figura fenomenale, troppo spesso usata a motivi propagandisitci nel corso della storia, troppo spesso distorta e valutata secondo parametri fuori tempo e fuori luogo.Perché è una trilogia affascinante, che si legge tutta d'un fiato e che mi ha fatto sognare, come probabilmente nessun altro romanzo storico è mai riuscito.
—Lys
I am might be biased with my review being GReek, and a devoted lover of Alexander the GReat. This Trilogy was am interesting presentation of Alexanders life, they were points int he all of the three book that I gor bored but they were also amazing stories and story telling. I read these book purely from an academic poitn of view, like research, I didn;t read them waiting to get a buzz. Overall its a nice effort from the writer to present the life and accomplishemnts and also the character of one of the greatest GReek men of all time.
—Andreas Michaelides
I know that so many people love this book, which is my this is hard for me to say: it was okay - just. I have read many fantasy books, many books with epic scenes and fantastic characters, but this wasn't one of them for me. I felt the characters were under-developed, and quite predictable. The story itself failed to sweep me away. And probably one of the most disappointing things about this book, is the pace of the writing. As I was reading it I hoped desperately that the sense of urgency in some scenes was just lost on the translation, but nonetheless, the battle scenes failed to excite and tragedies failed to inspire feelings of sympathy or sadness. The writing just seems to stay at one arduous and constant pace, regardless of whether its a simply friendly dialogue between Hephaiston and Alexander, or an epic battle scene in a monolithic war. It just stayed where it was. By all means read the book if you are interested in the subject matter, as it is hugely historically accurate and quite enlightening. But personally, and don't hate me for it, it just didn't get to me as others have.
—Ruby
