Holt tells of Alexander from the point of view of characters on the sidelines--Euxenus, an Athenian who through a series of misunderstandings becomes one of the tutors to Alexander and his companions and his brother, Eudaemon, who becomes one of the many soldiers in Alexander's armies. Euxenus is dispatched to found a Greek colony city on the Black Sea, which is eventually wiped out by Scythian neighbors. Every well intentioned action by Euxenus goes bad while his outright frauds get him to positions of power. ( )

The memoirs of Euxenus son of Eutychides, who is apprenticed to Diogenes the founder of the Cynics and then briefly becomes tutor to the future Alexander the Great.

Not really laugh out loud humour but for the most part it did keep a smile on my face, except for the conflict between the Antolbians and the Scythians, which took up most of the third quarter of the book and which I found rather tedious. ( )

Don’t miss the last hundred pages, that trash Alexander, his person, his campaigns, in a sustained circus-performance piece of absurdism – from which you can’t tear your eyes away – that may be quite accurate. He knows his history – I feel a dill to say so – and it’s not that he distorts, he just gives a grotesquer interpretation of the facts. I thought this flight, this exhibition, because it is a bit exhibitionist – Alexander’s campaigns – was brilliant.

I have nothing against Alexander. But nothing’s sacred in here and nobody – not Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, not ancient Greece and not our species. Is it satirical historical? I can only liken it to Troilus & Cressida, what Shakespeare did to Homer; and we don’t know what to call that – tragi-comedy? It’s savage, as you know who’ve been there, as gruelling as it is funny. This one isn’t funny when a Greek colony and the local Scythians wipe each other out on the Black Sea. Another project that began in the name of politics.

Until we went on campaign with Alexander I thought the main target was politics – a little ahead of philosophy, or else Athens and its intellectual institutions, that we inherit (as he makes plain too – we can’t squirm out of target range). Every stripe of politics is cut to shreds; politics itself, I think, is a Bad, but man is a political animal, quote Aristotle (whose shade doesn’t want to read this book).

You can read this book either to have a laugh every fifth page – it’s that funny, and the writing’s witty – or to see what else a historical novel can do. ( )

A funny, witty, cynical page turner. You won't regret reading this one. ( )

This is set in Ancient Greece, and written in first person. I found it quite interesting, very witty in places. It's not actually about Alexander, but about Euxenus, who has a varied and interesting life. One of his many roles is being tutor to a young Alexander. I really enjoyed the first person perspective, it really made me feel involved in the world and as though I was there in Greece, sitting in a quiet room talking to him. It has quite a sad ending, though I thought that perhaps it could have been a little less abrupt - it felt rushed. ( )