I was pretty excited to read a book about an extraordinary character seen through Kazantzakis's eyes... What a failure! Is it bad fiction? Bad history? Well, the answer is: BOTH!!! The characters have the depth of teletubbies, and K's patronizing tone should insult anyone old enough to read. Kazantzakis is careful to underline that anyone the Greeks killed were barbarians, and that they were fighting for the noble cause of bringing civilization to "the savages" -- common old-school apologetics, but particularly disturbing considering he's a Greek, writing for Greek children. He presents a curiously chaste Alexander, which wouldn't be so glaring in a children's book were the silence not juxtaposed against a drawn-out, shallow, cheesy, *fictitious* love afair between a young boy and girl. If Kazantakis didn't have the guts to tell the truth about his character he should have presented it as the sheer fiction it is. In brief, I HATED IT!!!!

Cleverly written from the perspective of a boy in the Macedonian court, this book provides a gentle and reasonably accurate, if glossed over, introduction to Alexander for young readers. (Note: I read the translated version, since I am not familiar with modern Greek.)