![]() The middle novel of any trilogy tends to be the most unsatisfactory of the lot, and this seems to be the case with the Sands of Ammon; the 2nd novel in Manfredi's Alexander series. The pacing of the novel is at times very uneven where a considerable portion of the story is devoted to character development only to be resolved in a fairly brisk manner. On the other hand, an aspect where the novel handles particularly well is the descriptions of the battles and the battle tactics employed which feel very authentic. While the battles and sieges seems a bit detached as we mostly see things from Alexander and his companions perspective, this may have been the intention of the author to highlight the way the high command of Alexander's forces perceived things as going on a grand adventure, with frequent references to Xenophon's the March of the ten thousand, in contrast to the hardships at the level of the individual soldier. It also underlies the fact that the success of Alexander's troops depended a lot on his inexhaustible and boundless energy he seemed to display when faced with a problem as well as in the case of the Battle at Issus, a good dose of luck.Most of the story follows the journey of Alexander's troops through the Persian empire I would have liked to have seen more of a glimpse into the situation back in Macedonua with the only hint given by Aristotles continued investigation into Phillip's assassination. It was interesting to observe that Alexander's character is not swayed by the contact with the opulence and decadence of the Persian empire which foreshadows what is to come. Some of the emotional high-points of the novel such as the cutting of the Gordian knot and the fate of Memnon of Rhodes was handled very well. However I felt that the ending could have been handled better as the encounter at the a temple of Ammon in Egypt which is generally considered a turning point for Alexander character was not expressed as well. However, overall a entertaining read and I would like to see how the different subplots and the foreshadowing of the fate of Alexander that is setup in the first two novels gets resolved in the final book of the Trilogy : The ends of the Earth Book details https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62355.The_Sands_of_Ammon
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December 2023
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