Customer Reviews (1)

El Muchacho Persa
It is amazing book. Mary Renault knows perfectly how describe ancient time and wrap us a magical athmosphere. Great! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Entertaining But Not Renault's Best
My first suprise with this book was that it was Set in England in the thirties - I had only read Renault's novels set in ancient times and loved them and just picked this up b/c she wrote it.As it turns out this was her first novel - written in the 30s and given that-it is very good.She tells the story of Vivian and Mic both working in the rigid hospital life of that era - but living a life outside the hospital that was a lot more passionate.Abortion, unfaithfulness,emotional angst and sexual themes in the book kept me reading and I would probably read it again.The grim and dark feeling that the book left me with is probably what is influencing my lower rating. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Amazing History!
I read this book when I was in middle school and I just read it again as an adult. It is truly, truly wonderful, taking you right back to this incredible epic struggle of the Greeks against the Persian invaders. There's so much history, so much culture, so much atmosphere in this book. Mary Renault brings these great people to life, in a direct and accessible way. And best of all, she shows us why this story is important, how our own culture, our own ideas of freedom, reason, and democracy came from that flowering of Greece so long ago, and how these ideas were forged and hardened in the battles against the Persians.

An Excellent Book and Author
SOMEONE, PLEASE REPRINT THIS BOOK!!!!

This is a wonderful retelling of a fascinating period in history.The writer was immersed in the study of this time period, as evidenced by her works.The writing is engaging and this is the best account of the Persian Wars for children, grades 4-9 or so.It surpasses Alfred Church's book, The Story of the Persian War.

A Lion's View
The book is difficult to find, but this vendor had it and delivered it sooner than expected.I will buy from them again.

Persian Invasion of Greece
An enthralling story, it tells of the crossing of the Hellespont by Xerxes' army and the battles fought against the invaders by the courageous Greeks; Pheidippides marathon run from Athens to Sparta and the heroic stand at Thermopylae by a handful of Spartans.The rich, detailed background of vengeful gods and venerable seers gives this brilliant version of the ancient myth a living realism. ... Read more

Product Description
Fire from Heaven is a historical Bildungsroman depicting the career of the boy who was to go down in history as Alexander the Great from the ages of five to twenty, when he succeeded his father, Philip, as king of Macedon. As the novel opens, the child Alexander wakes to find a snake in his bed. Thinking that it is Glaucos, his mother Olympias' sacred snake, he slips out of bed to return it. It is not, however, Glaucos but a larger snake; they recall the legend of the young Hercules, the patron god of Achilles, one of Olympias' ancestors. Olympias tells Alexander... ... Read more