Alexander Geiger

Third installment of the Ptolemaios Saga,just as good as the first two, just as blood thirsty, Brilliant. We are now in Persia, and Alexandros of Macedonia,along with his army and cohort of bodyguards/former school buddies are up against the upstart Darius. Both Darius and Alexandros are military men aware of the battle of Thermopylae, and each are determined to have a rerun. Geiger writes with clarity and enthusiasm depicting the events through the eyes of Ptolomaios with an occasional segue to the palaces where rulers are usually plotting the downfall/demise of Alexandros. Whilst Alexandros is busy taking over the cities of Babylon and Persepolis, the Persian king Darius is plotting how to fight him, and the regent Alexandros has left in charge of Macedonia (and the Grecian city states he has persuaded to send troops) has locked up Alexandros' mother and sister and is hoping Alexandros gets himself killed on very foreign soil.
The battles are once again bloody and graphic, but there is an awesomeness too, it's not for nothing that modern day soldiers study the battles of Alexander, the battle of Thermopylae, ancient sieges, and Punic Wars for these are battles of man on man, men hardened by marches of hundreds of miles/kilometres,assisted only by a comparatively small number of cavalry, where the fight on the battlefield was only the hiatus in the whole long campaign where life and death were just part of the greater adventure.
Roll on book 4.… (altro)

Brilliant second book in the Ptolemaios Saga series which started with Prime Directive. You will learn so much Ancient History whilst reading this. The writing is tight packed- much like the armies thronged upon the plains each determined to eliminate (not decimate for that means kill one in ten - ELIMINATE) the other. Geiger makes use of technology with links to stop motion maps of the battles. Depending upon your reading device you can click on the link and see it happen. I was reading on the basic kindle without internet access, but when I did get back to an internet connected laptop, I visited Geiger's pages to see how the battles ran - I don't know if it was my connection, but I could not load the interactive sections onto Firefox, but Chrome worked eventually.
I am really enjoying this series, and, having received the first book as a free review copy, have bought book 2 and 3 and am looking forward to all the rest however many there may be, because this series is not just about Alexander the Great,it is primarily about Ptolomaios and his fate.… (altro)

I received this e-book as review copy through a LibraryThing Member giveaway. In Prime Directive we meet Ptolemaios Metoikos,(Ptolemaios the Outsider, or The Wanderer) who for the most part is out narrator and guide throughout the book.

We learn very early on that Ptolemaios is not just a stranger to Macedonia, but a stranger to the time. he has been sent back in time in order to observe a ritual to Dionysis, it appears to be a task related to entering a profession, or leaving an educational institution, and he spends part of his time thinking about home, although the time frame and the place where home is is very vague. Most importantly, even more than getting the report on the Festival is the fact that he knows he cannot break the Prime Directive - do not interfere in the lives of the people around you as you may change history and whilst sometimes history sorts itself out, other times the results may be catastrophic for the future. After Ptolemaios (we never know his 'real' name) ends up falling out of the tree he is using as an observation post, he high-tails it back to where the time portal is to open. But it doesn't. He waits, and waits and there are great narratives of his trials and tribulations. Eventually, he acknowledges for some reason the portal will not open, but there are natural portals and all time-travellers learn of the location and times of these as a back-up plan. Now he has to get to one.
Well that takes up a very short part of the book, but it sets the tone for the rest and from now on, NO SPOILERS. Ptolemaios is found and persuaded (with the help of a few soldiers and some rope) to go to Pella - the capital of Macedonia and the location of the palace of Philippos (Phillip) of Macedonia. Here he eventually meets Philippos, Olympias (Phillipos' wife) and Alexandros - their young son. Gaining the trust of Pilippos, and having demonstrated skill in unarmed combat, Ptolemaios is eventually sent as an unarmed combat tutor to Mieza, the school Philippos has established for his son and the sons of noblemen to be taught by Aristoteles, and others who are the best in their field - think of it as an Eton in some 300BC.
There really was a Ptolemaios (known as Ptolemy I) and he lived in these times, writing about the life of both Philippos and Alexandros, their battles, life, travels, political interactions, and the life of those around them. The writings of the original Prolemaios have been lost to time, but thanks to the devotion of scribes who copied scrolls and then books of his work, and then when they were lost in fires and floods ancient historians who had read them or discussed them, used this information "as original source material by ancient historians writing during Roman imperial times, such as Lucius Flavius Arrianus (Arrian), Quintus Curtius Rufus (Curtius) and possibly Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch) whose works are still extant today." Alexander Geiger in his Author's Note.

Additionally, the author has taken the reader's enjoyment to a whole new level, there are links through to the author's web page where he has both static maps of most of the regions visited in the books, but also has interactive battle maps. I could not activate these on my Kindle, but have used my laptop and they are impressive and a great concept, but if you cannot access them, do not worry, the battles and cities are richly described and I do not believe you lose anything by not having seen them.

I enjoyed this first book so much, that I went and bought the other two in the series both of which maintain the same high standard. I really want to know what happens to Ptolemaios, what happens with the Prime Directive he so valiantly strives to maintain? Will he get to a time portal and return home and where else can Alexandros conquer when he appears to have conquered all the known world, although Greece keeps giving him grief as the independent city states fluctuate between apparent loyalty and obvious disloyalty to Philippos, Alexandros and each other.
Write on Alexander Geiger I for one want to follow your namesake to the end however bumpy the ride.… (altro)