Overview

When his father dies, and he is reduced at a stroke from prosperity to penury, Euxenus decides to leave Athens and seek his fortune elsewhere. As a philosopher and intellectual of some note, he has no difficulty getting a job as tutor to a young prince in the wealthy but utterly provincial court of King Philip of Macedon. The young prince is called Alexander, and the rest is history. Or is it Alexander conquered Greece, Egypt and the Persian Empire in the course of eight years, amassing a huge army along the way, and leaving behind him the foundations of countless new cities named after him. He proclaimed himself a deity, and died at the age of 33. In ALEXANDER AT THE WORLD'S END, Tom Holt tells the story of two remarkable men, one of whom conquered empires and one of whom struggled to overcome the drainage problems of a small village. It is a story of two men whose paths crossed only briefly, but whose encounter changed both their lives for ever. And it is a story which throws an extraordinary new light on the man who became Alexander the Great.

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Reviews

Witty, ironic ... and achieves a deeply felt authenticity NEW YORK TIMES A fascinating, gripping, moving story THE TIMES Wry and droll, fascinating and funny, by bringing us Alexander's nether parts this novel gives momentous matters unforgettable life ROSS LECKIE

Witty, ironic ... and achieves a deeply felt authenticity NEW YORK TIMES A fascinating, gripping, moving story THE TIMES Wry and droll, fascinating and funny, by bringing us Alexander's nether parts this novel gives momentous matters unforgettable life ROSS LECKIE Read The Walled Orchard, so you can tell your descendants, I was there when the historical novel started holding its head up with the rest of literature The Washington Post

'Witty, ironic ... and achieves a deeply felt authenticity' NEW YORK TIMES 'A fascinating, gripping, moving story' THE TIMES 'Wry and droll, fascinating and funny, by bringing us Alexander's nether parts this novel gives momentous matters unforgettable life' ROSS LECKIE

Witty, ironic ... and achieves a deeply felt authenticity - NEW YORK TIMES A fascinating, gripping, moving story - THE TIMES Wry and droll, fascinating and funny, by bringing us Alexander's nether parts this novel gives momentous matters unforgettable life - ROSS LECKIE Read The Walled Orchard, so you can tell your descendants, I was there when the historical novel started holding its head up with the rest of literature - The Washington Post

"Witty, ironic ... and achieves a deeply felt authenticity - NEW YORK TIMES A fascinating, gripping, moving story - THE TIMES Wry and droll, fascinating and funny, by bringing us Alexander's nether parts this novel gives momentous matters unforgettable life - ROSS LECKIE Read The Walled Orchard, so you can tell your descendants, ""I was there when the historical novel started holding its head up with the rest of literature"" - The Washington Post"

On a huge, crowded, canvas Holt paints with a sure and steady hand, and a profusion of radiant colours, a story of ancient times which is part fact, part history, part myth, about a man, near super-human, who conquered the world, built an empire - and died remantically young. Alexander the Great's dazzling exploits sometimes blur the edges of the man himself, but the author's affectionate regard, and his astonishing ability to inhabit a world so distant in time, bring the young Alexander almost into the room where the reader sits. The miracle is performed by Euxenus (grandson of the great comic poet Eupolis of Pallene), apprentice to Diogenes, student of philosophy and military history. When King Philip of Macedon (Alexander's father) threatens Athens, Euxenus is sent as one of a delegation on a diplomatic mission to meet Philip. At Philip's Court he meets Alexander - a quick, intelligent but impatient boy of ten. Perspicaciously Euxenus sums up the boy who is to become his pupil as having 'no interest in anything that wasn't needed for the work in hand; he selected the qualities that made him up like a man packing for a long journey, taking with him only the things he knew he'd need... ' a single-mindedness which perhaps made Alexander Great - but not a well rounded character. Nevertheless the boy made an impression on Euxenus - as Euxenus did on Alexander and his father - a mutual regard that was to keep Euxenus by Alexander's side as a tutor during his early, formative years. But Euxenus had adventures of his own; this is more his story than Alexander's. A good, meaty, scholarly novel, written with the lightest of touches, an enormous amount not only of scholarly expertise but of sheer enjoyment, which the author transfers effortlessly to the reader; to be read leisurely - there are too many good jokes, too much good writing, and too much illuminating historical background to skim, or skip. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Tom Holt is the author of comic fantasy classics such as WHO'S AFRAID OF BEOWULF , WISH YOU WERE HERE and ONLY HUMAN, and historical fiction including THE WALLED ORCHARD and OLYMPIAD.

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