Legacy of Kings

 By Eleanor Herman

Rating

3- stars

Date Read

23/5/16 - 1/6/16

Age Group

13+

General Thoughts

Fantasy indeed.

A new take on the story of Macedon's pivotal king, Alexander the Great, who conquered all of the known world back when the date was followed by BC. Follow a sixteen year old prince, Alex, as he begins to uncover his destiny, his half sister as she tries to make his best friend betray him, a couple of newcomers to his palace trying to navigate life in court and succeed in their respective goals and his unmet betrothed overseas as she fights to change her destiny.


It was quite bold from the author's part, choosing to tell a story in third person narrating that alternates between that many main characters.

The background research she did on religion, clothing, lighting, warfare etc showed, with accurate descriptions of ancient Greek and Persian lifestyle.

It was or felt like a long book. But it was "original" enough to be worth it.

Alex

Philip and Olympias' son, heir to the throne of Macedon. Alex is intelligent, a student of Aristotle himself, a cunning prince with a keen eye and a knack for bold strategy fearless in combat and a good judge of character if there was ever one (his otherworldly gift to look into people's eyes and see their life helps with that of course). He reminded me a little of Penelope Delta's prince, disgusted by the greed and laziness swarming the palace and eager to change it, make his home an impenetrable kingdom so that no foreign powers will think to doubt its might.

He is also hard working, a nice combination with intelligence since it make his goals that much more doable. He practises extra hard to mask (overcompensate for) his limp, which is the result of being born with a hideously scarred leg (deformity, back then, was considered divine punishment and heavily frowned upon).

The prince regent is indeed ambitious but not as much so as you'd think the man who conquered the whole known world back in his time would be, modest and grounded but determined, he's impatient to prove himself to the council and solidify his power. It's curious how he starts out as a young prince, not so much self centered as self conscious, dead set on finding a magical fountain to cure his leg and, in the process, starts to care about his country and his kingdom, realise he's responsible for it and try to defend it.

Alexander the Great

Hephasteon

The Prince's best friend, and a boy Alex picked up the street at that, knows what it's like to rely on royal whimsies for your future. Good thing Alex is a good friend and doesn't act like he owns him for that. Hephasteon is a murderer prideful arrogant hormonal. But he's also a loyal and protective friend and a good warrior.

Kat

For a peasant girl who had her sole parent murdered in front of her eyes she grew up alright. In fact, vindictive nature aside, she's easily the most relatable and likeable girl in the book. Kat can communicate with animals (just throwing her otherworldly ability out there and see if you can make the connection), is polite and kind and smart and intuitive and caring. If anyone can navigate the dark secrets and intrigues of the royal court, survive the experience and not come out changed for the worse (like getting crazy paranoid from the murders and the games or, even worse, becoming arrogant and snobbish from catching the attention of the prince regent) it's her. Killing the queen, though?

Jacob

Kat's foster brother and best friend, the son of a potter. Loyal and caring and determined and brave, eager to prove himself to Kat, whom he wants as a wife, and doing everything in his power to win her over (like leaving his home in Erissa, competing against a murdere, winning the Blood Tournament, getting entangled in the mess that is the Aesarian Lords, getting a title for himself etc). If he weren't so good at improvising and able to sell the calm facade that well, the peasant born boy, no matter how brave, wouldn't have managed to survive so long, let along to ascend in position like so.

Cyn

A princess in her own right, from Philip's deceased ex wife. Insecure and a bit slutty, with no obvious higher ideals or ethics whatsoever, forming no meaningful attachments after her mother's murder. She is very conscious of danger (ie. euphemism for paranoid by, considering the circumstance, with every right to be so) and focused in her search for Smoke Blood, a kind of magic that will allow her to defend herself and make a life of her own. After all, her wild spirit doesn't bode well with the idea of being a trophy wife to some fat, old ambassador. And her determination to fight such a future and paint a different one is admirable. It's just her indifference for the carcasses she steps on to reach her goal that I find disturbing.

Zofia

The Persian princess, the unmet betrothed of prince Alexander. Sofia is naive and childish and, frankly, a lot like a modern snobbish teenager. She wears her heart on her sleeve, a byproduct of having grown up sheltered although she has known hurt: her mother did abandon her and then came back and her best friend did die, slowly perishing in front of Zo's eyes. Still, she was pampered and protected and she had a loving nurse, Mandana, to tell her bedtime stories and tuck her in, so she never came realised how cruel the world could be before she was thrown face first into a life as a runway, full of death and fighting and deciet.

Zofia's unconditional love for her baby half sister, Roxana, is the only thing about her that hints at a mature and caring character, all proper loving older sister, helping Roxana sew clothes for her dolls and singing nonsense songs to her up until the moment she gets her killed.

Thankfully for her, but not for Artaxerxes' great grandchild, she is manipulative and determined, focused on changing her destiny by finding the Spirit Eaters and thereby making a future where her and Cosmas, the handsome soldier, can be together. After all, she has nothing to lose. And she can't go back to the palace. Or else she'll be shipped of to Macedon.

Writing Narrating

Alternating between half a dozen main characters? It's hard. Some kind of distinction between the main (Alex, Kat) and the secondary (Hephasteon, Cyn, Jacob) ones quickly becomes obvious, and because they all interact and mingle, except for Zo who is in another country and then Kat who - I'll stop here since this borders on spoiler material, the story does move forward (devastatingly slowly though). Still, it's a book that drags and, although the writing can hook you and the mystery's solution is almost not-so-obvious until about halfway through, there isn't much space for huge twists when you're taking time to talk through this many people. It's basically operating by giving up the information little by little, so that the reader himself is navigating the secrets of court as much as the characters and uncovering them one at a time.

The plot

Alex slowly realises he is to play a bigger part in global history than simply being a crippled prince searching for a Healing Fountain and taking his first decisions as a regent, uncovering conspiracies and returning the palace to its former impenetrable glory, slowly showing his Council that he's more than capable of ruling. Plus lots of subplots.

All in All

Nice fantasy with istorically accurate settings. A different read. Definitely worthwhile but way too many POVS. So not reading the sequel.

XOXO

Aggie Pearson