Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book
Review: Not as good as The King Must Die or The Bull from the Sea, but none the less an excellent book. I am tempted to give it five stars, but will reserve that for the former
Rating:
Summary: War, glory, and the making of a king
Review: Renault's flowing historical epic chronicles the childhood and youth of Alexander the Great. Moving and beautiful, but stalling at times. An excellent eye for detail on the time period.
Rating: 
Summary: the emotional connection
Review: there are many reviews of ms. renault's work here already, so i will keep this very brief: the reason mary renault is my favorite author is that she can bring the emotional and human quality of her characters to the surface. she makes these long dead people with strange names come alive. she gives them a quotidian life. she makes them human, and humane. true, her knowledge of the ancient greeks is encyclopedic. true, her descriptions are wonderous, but her deep empathy for the people in her novels is what separates her from other historical writers. she also handles homoeroticism/homosocial behavior with a sweetness and sensitivity that demonstrates the value of the delicate bonds that men should be encouraged to explore and nurture. her compassion for the human experience is sometimes overwhelming.
Rating:
Summary: history springs into life
Review: This book is fantastic, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction, or has studied ancient history or classics. Actually I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a stirring read, but if you belong to either of those groups I know you'd love it. I'm a post graduate classics student, and I love this book (the whole trilogy actually) because it brings Alexander's whole world to life in a way nothing else can. Fire from Heaven tells the story of the boy, adolescent, and young man who would go on to become Alexander the Great, ending just at the death of his father, when he becomes king and leaves that earlier life behind. Ms Renault captures perfectly the unique influences and stresses that shape him into the adult he becomes, and she succeeds in making him a human and sympathetic character. She does the same for most of the other characters too, creating a cast of real people, all with genuine feelings, inescapably trapped by who they are: Alexander's warring parents for example, united only in their love of him, but failing totally to understand that their mutual hatred, and the way they use their son against each other, is driving him mad. Or Alexander's friends - some genuine, some attracted only by the wealth and position thet the future king might provide. I read this book for the first time when I was 12, and I've reread it countless times in the decade since. It never fails to transport me to another place and another time - one that could be harsh and unkind, but is nonetheless so very alive that I would love to have seen it.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! What a novel...
Review: This book left me dumbfounded. Mary Renault's elouqent writing truly brought out the personality of Alexander the Great, a man who once seemed a far and distant hero. This book brings you upclose to Alexander's life, starting when he was about four years old. Watching Alexander grow from a little boy to a young man was a new experience. I almost felt as if I was there, watching him grow up. At the end of the book after he had killed many men, I felt almost empty, looking back on the times when he was little, when he played with his dog and friends. I know what it is parents must feel when they see there children growing up and leaving them. This novel was one of the best I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: The young Alexander: A beatiful novel of a legendary icon.
Review: This is a beautiful and romantic depiction of the young Alexander. It is hard to figure what the young boy had in mind while growing up and preparing to become the greatest and most charismatic leader of antiquity. Alexander has inspired other great figures such as Octavianus Augustus, Louis XIV, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Ancient Greece does not have a clear division between real historical events and mythological accounts. Mythology is so well rooted in the Hellenic culture that it exists on a continuum. Alexander is part of history and yet he lives between Herakles and Achilleus. Alexander accomplished what the two mythical heroes pursued in the legend. Thus, Alexander is history and legend, humanness and myth, man and divinity. Alexander, if not the greatest, is certainly one of the most remarkable men and leaders ever existed. Lysippos is the artist who best captured the visionary essence of Alexander. The neck slightly bent on the right, looking somewhere he only knew (the legendary vision): Zeus, the mountains before the desert, the world, his unlimited courage and geniality, the heroics Herakles and Achilleus, the desire to bring together different civilizations in a unique Greek speaking empire. Alexander may well be the father of globalization. There are so many books that have been written about Alexander. Many are just redundant repetitions; others try to embellish the little information arrived to us from Arrian, Plutarch, Curtius Rufus, Diodorus, and few others. Ms Renault is an excellent writer. Her many historic novels are in part fiction and yet the crop of her very sharp intuition and realistic imagination. She has read everything there was to read; she masters the philosophical thought of Aristoteles, Alexander's tutor. While we do not know what Alexander and Hephaistion learned from the Stagirite, we may however imagine the influence that Aristoteles had on the formative, cognitive, and intellectual growth of genial Alexander. We speak now about the importance of emotional intelligence. I believe that the adolescent Alexander was already extremely gifted ant that his intelligence had strong emotional connotations. I have read many books about Alexander. However, I bought this book because I was looking for a book presenting Alexander in a different light. Somehow, a romanticized Alexander, albeit Renault depicts him in Aristotelian virtuosity. The historical events described in the book are quite accurate, at least according the available sources. Neither Dover in Greek Homosexuality nor Cantarella in Bisexuality in the ancient world give any account of Alexander's presumed bisexuality. Plutarch narrates about Alexander and Hephaistion paying homage to the burial stones of Achilleus and Patroklos out of Ilion. In Renault's book, she often mentions a parallel between the two mythical companions and the two historical friends. Somehow, Hephaistion has been the greatest and most loyal friend of Alexander. Hephaistion was probably the one who best understood the nature and needs of the prince. What is quite evident in the literature is that Alexander needed a great deal of pure love, affection, and warmth: things he had not received by his dysfunctional parents. I suggest this book to anyone who is looking for a nice and human portrayal of Alexander's boyhood in a laid-back interpretation. It does not shade the historical icon; it just adds some epic, legend, and mythology. Renault must have loved the persona of Alexander: such dedication and passion makes the book enjoyable and pleasant.
Rating:
Summary: Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault
Review: This is a great book and Mary Renault is one of the best writers of this century. Even if you don't like historical fiction (I love it) then you will still be drawn into the plot and come to love the characters. Mary Renaults writing style is very engaging and beautiful. If you are in a bad mood and feeling depressed just read the first chapter of Fire From Heaven and you will be drawn into another world and find that your troubles have been forgotton. It is very engrossing and exciting and I recommend it to anyone and everyone who loves to read.
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