Alexander and Alestria: A Novel

By Shan Sa

re-creating the lives of two of the most intriguing rulers in history, Shan Sa brings us a novel filled with the sound of hooves, the whistle of arrows, blood, passion, and betrayal. The familiar figure of Alexander the Great comes to new life in this richly imagined tale, which entwines his historical legacy with a fantastic love affair set in a wartime between Western and Eastern civilizations.

Abused by his father, King Philip, who loved and hated his beauty; shadowed by his mother, the mystical and overbearing Queen Olympias; educated by Aristotle who wanted him to be a wise philosopher of Macedonia, Alexander develops a complex character. He becomes a brutal warrior, a pitiless strategist, and a poet longing for the world's wonders. Meanwhile, in the remote steppes of Siberia, an abandoned girl grows up among the wild mares, then adopted by the queen of the Amazons—the tribe of female warriors who dominates a wild world of snow and volcano. As a future queen, the young girl is trained to hate men and to fight against all invaders.

In the course of his great conquest of Asia, Alexander first meets the stunning Alestria on the battlefield. Surprised to find that his adversary is a woman, he is instantly smitten by the fierce queen. Dazzled by his strength, she decides to kidnap him and make him her "wife." At last, this legendary king—renowned for his beauty and love of men—has found his equal. And at last, this indomitable young woman has found a reason to leave her tribe. Their love, deeply passionate and problematic, evolves against an exotic backdrop of warfare and political turmoil, sweeps from antique Greece to Egypt, across the ancient Iraq and Iran, unto the mysterious kingdoms of India.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 6, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061983108

Shan Sa

Shan Sa was born in Beijing and had her first poems, essays, and stories published at the age of eight. In 2001 her novel The Girl Who Played Go won the Goncourt Prize. The author of Empress, she is also a celebrated artist who has had prominent exhibitions in Paris and New York.

Reviews for Alexander and Alestria

[zeborah · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This played so fast and loose with history I'm not sure why the author didn't just write a fantasy novel while she was at it. Of course then she wouldn't have had the resonances of Alexander the Great, but... Alestria was so very ahistorical as the Amazonian warrior queen whose tribe descended from the Siberian steppe and who falls in love with Alexander and consents to become (as "Roxana" for political purposes and a brittle veneer of historicity) his trophy wife.

There were some interesting parallels, and alliteration very almost as theme; but the story doesn't serve history well.

[joririchardson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book attempts to show the reader what Alexander the Great's life was like as a child, teenager, and young man, and the road that led him to "greatness." It also draws attention to Queen Alestria, the woman he married, and the complex, unusual relationship that they shared.I was very excited about checking this book out from my library, but only a few chapters in, my anticipation was no more.This is a book that is not worth your time.It is clumsily written, as if the author threw together a last minute draft and left it at that. The characters are horrible, lifeless little sketches that make no sense. I often got the feeling that Shan Sa was trying to impress upon the reader that Alexander and Alestria were not like us. They were gods, beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. No attempt was made to create likable, relateable characters.The text was dry, and somehow, nothing much ever seemed to happen. The author went on about the events of Alexander's life in an uninspired manner, and I imagined more than once listening to this book on audio and hearing a droning, monotone robot voice reading it to me.Also, the sexual side of the story seemed strange to me. Alexander has sex with his own mother, and she asks him to? This was not completely clear - but it is certainly very heavily hinted at. However, far more than hinted were the scenes with Alexander's father. His father desires him sexually, and Alexander actually feels the same. What? Although of course there could be deep, but plausible, psychological explanations for this (the abused forces himself to believe that it's what he wants, still common in victims today), the author has no intention of exploring them. As a result, Alexander comes across as a twisted, perverted man.Misunderstood? Probably. But not in the author's eyes.I was hoping for an intricate, well woven love triangle as Alexander struggles between his love for both a man and a woman. That story told from Alestria's side as well would have surely been a heartbreaking one.However, please do not expect to share in any sort of emotion or feeling from the characters here. Disappointingly, this book is not worth a read.

[abbie_g · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this book determined to understand where Shan Sa came from in her literary career. I think that this is less a work of historical fiction than it is a study of gender issues set within an historical, fantastical context. I believe that if you go into the book with the understanding that it is more about feminine and masculine forms of power and how those may have been used differently between the sexes throughout history, and if you keep an open mind, you will have a much better time with this book.

[kegsoccer · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I attempted to read this quite a bit ago. I'm a fan of virtually anything Alexander the Great, but I couldn't even finish this. The blurb says Alexander was abused by his father- well in this book it Phillip wants to have sex with him. If you aren't weirded out by that, Alexander grows up wanting to be a girl. In any case, I could not finish it. Maybe I'll attempt to sometime in the future. But for now, I would not recommend this to any looking for Alexander the Great historical ficiton. Look elsewhere.