Alexander and Alestria
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“A dramatically imagined tale. . . . Written with the unironic portentousness of an ancient myth, the novel nonetheless has modern and moving insights into such hot-button topics as violence and gender.” —Washington Post
The imaginative and dramatic love affair between Alexander the Great and Alestria, queen of the Amazons, when both are at the height of their powers.
A brilliant yet ruthless savage conqueror and poet exhilarated by the world's wonders, Alexander first meets Alestria on the battlefield—shocked to discover his adversary is female and mesmerized by her fierce, dazzling loveliness. At last, the legendary king has found his equal in this indomitable Amazon queen who has been taught since childhood to abhor men and repel all invaders. Alestria, in turn, cannot resist Alexander's strength and beauty, and they unite in deeply passionate, intensely problematic love—pursuing a remarkable destiny against a vast backdrop of warfare and political turmoil that stretches from Greece to Egypt, and across Persia, deep into the mysterious kingdoms of India.
Acclaimed author Shan Sa brings Alexander the Great to richly imagined new life, entwining his historical legacy with a fantastic love affair set in a time of war between Western and Eastern civilizations.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An epic fictional romance between Alexander the Great and an Amazon queen drives the latest from Shan Sa (Empress). As a boy, Sa's Alexander is abused by his father, King Philip of Macedonia. Alexander grows into a cruel and narcissistic youth with an unquenchable thirst for revenge. His political ambitions blossom under the tutelage of Aristotle, and after his father's assassination, Alexander sets off to conquer Greece, Persia and Egypt. When he meets Alestria, the young queen of the Amazons (a mythical tribe of nomadic, male-spurning female warriors from the eastern steppes), he has perhaps met his match in love and war. Told in the extravagant voices of Alexander and Alestria, and of Alestria's protector and confidante, Ania, there's little subtlety in this sweeping, heroic romance. But strewn amid the pageantry and clamor are fascinating details about Alexander's world and about the legendary Amazons, who, if they existed at all, might have been his contemporaries and equals.
