Bagoas, a child of transcendent beauty, is spared death but becomes a spoil of war, sold to a slave dealer who has him gelded. Between these two lies "The Persian Boy," a first-person narrative by Bagoas, a young Persian of noble birth whose family is massacred in the wake of a palace coup. It is also a third-person narrative, and is weakened by a lack of focus-there are many players in these funeral games-and by being of necessity set in a time of great confusion. The final book, "Funeral Games," deals with the aftermath of Alexander's death and the partitioning of his empire. "Fire from Heaven," covering Alexander's life from early childhood to the death of his father Philip of Macedon, is a third-person narrative, sometimes dense but completely alive. The complete Alexander trilogy is now available on Audible. Of the eight, at least two are generally considered to be masterpieces: "The King Must Die," a realistic portrayal of archaic Greece and the legends of Theseus and "The Persian Boy," the second book of her trilogy centering on the personality and achievements of Alexander the Great. All eight are both brilliantly literary and deeply rooted in historical scholarship, and despite that are also just plain great reads. Mary Renault wrote eight historical novels set in ancient Greece.
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