Rating: 
Summary: Bleeecccch !
Review: Before buying consider your position on romance novels because my library has this appropriately categorized with other romance novels such as "kiss in the night". Awful, awful book.
Rating:
Summary: Bleeecccch !
Review: Before buying consider your position on romance novels because my library has this appropriately categorized with other romance novels such as "kiss in the night". Awful, awful book.
Rating:
Summary: Such a waste of time!!
Review: If a new author had been trying to get this book published they would not have succeeded. It's only because Judith Tarr is firmly established in the biz that "Queen of the Amazons" made it to print. It's quite dreadful and tedious, and not up to her usual quality. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. To fans of Alexander the Great, BEWARE! He is only a very minor character, and what Tarr does to his character just past mid-way is one of the silliest things I have read in fiction in many years. It had me rolling my eyes and groaning. I nearly didn't finish the book because of it, and I really wish I hadn't finished, as the ending was rushed and chopped off and not worth the journey there. I hate to think of all the talented new writers of Alexander fiction who just can't get a break from publishers because those publishers are content with churning out junk like this and unwilling to take a chance on someone untested.For much better Alexander the Great/historical fiction, check out Mary Renault's books. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Such a waste of time!!
Review: If a new author had been trying to get this book published they would not have succeeded. It's only because Judith Tarr is firmly established in the biz that "Queen of the Amazons" made it to print. It's quite dreadful and tedious, and not up to her usual quality. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. To fans of Alexander the Great, BEWARE! He is only a very minor character, and what Tarr does to his character just past mid-way is one of the silliest things I have read in fiction in many years. It had me rolling my eyes and groaning. I nearly didn't finish the book because of it, and I really wish I hadn't finished, as the ending was rushed and chopped off and not worth the journey there. I hate to think of all the talented new writers of Alexander fiction who just can't get a break from publishers because those publishers are content with churning out junk like this and unwilling to take a chance on someone untested. For much better Alexander the Great/historical fiction, check out Mary Renault's books. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Such a waste of time!!
Review: If a new author had been trying to get this book published they would not have succeeded. It's only because Judith Tarr is firmly established in the biz that "Queen of the Amazons" made it to print. It's quite dreadful and tedious, and not up to her usual quality. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. To fans of Alexander the Great, BEWARE! He is only a very minor character, and what Tarr does to his character just past mid-way is one of the silliest things I have read in fiction in many years. It had me rolling my eyes and groaning. I nearly didn't finish the book because of it, and I really wish I hadn't finished, as the ending was rushed and chopped off and not worth the journey there. I hate to think of all the talented new writers of Alexander fiction who just can't get a break from publishers because those publishers are content with churning out junk like this and unwilling to take a chance on someone untested. For much better Alexander the Great/historical fiction, check out Mary Renault's books. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Judith Tarr never disappoints me. I appreciate her writing style more than anything in so much as she has the ability to completely draw you in, paint a picture in your mind and hold you there until you've turned the last page without being overly descriptive, too flowery and causing your eyes to glaze over. This is a wonderfully imaginative story the blends fantasy with historical fact. Nothing grabs my attention like tales of the Amazons and throwing Alexander the Great in there is a complete bonus in my estimation. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and loves to become mentally transported to a magical time when anything is possible. I look forward to any of her next works with great anticipation.
Rating:
Summary: engaging historical fantasy
Review: Queen Hippolyta rules over the Amazon tribes. Though she is quite young and healthy, she is concerned over the succession to the throne as that has always come down through matriarchal lines. Her female progeny is born soulless causing fear among the toughest of these female warriors. Unable to name a creature without a soul many of the tribeswomen led by the queen's cousin Phaedra believe "that thing" dubbed Etta must die as even animals are named. She must never sit on the throne. Hippolyta differs and proclaims Etta as her successor as she expects the infant to one day gain a soul. Years later Etta still remains within herself as a soulless person is apt to be. However, word has arrived that a great army led by Alexander is coming. Shockingly Etta reacts and flees into t he night towards the camp of the great Macedonian with Hippolyte following. Neither mother nor daughter knows what awaits them when they reach Alexander's camp, but the Queen prays to the Goddess that her child's sudden obsession means a soul awaits her. QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS is an engaging historical fantasy that hooks the reader the moment the seer informs Hippolyte that her daughter has no soul. The somewhat simplistic story line never slows down gripping the audience who will keep reading to learn what happens when two amazons encounter Alexander. Will Etta obtain a soul at last, and how will Phaedra avenge her exile? With a few neat twists to the tale to add spice, sub-genre fans will appreciate Judith Tarr's latest tale that takes the reader back to an already successful Alexander conquering the world. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: engaging historical fantasy
Review: Queen Hippolyta rules over the Amazon tribes. Though she is quite young and healthy, she is concerned over the succession to the throne as that has always come down through matriarchal lines. Her female progeny is born soulless causing fear among the toughest of these female warriors. Unable to name a creature without a soul many of the tribeswomen led by the queen's cousin Phaedra believe "that thing" dubbed Etta must die as even animals are named. She must never sit on the throne. Hippolyta differs and proclaims Etta as her successor as she expects the infant to one day gain a soul. Years later Etta still remains within herself as a soulless person is apt to be. However, word has arrived that a great army led by Alexander is coming. Shockingly Etta reacts and flees into t he night towards the camp of the great Macedonian with Hippolyte following. Neither mother nor daughter knows what awaits them when they reach Alexander's camp, but the Queen prays to the Goddess that her child's sudden obsession means a soul awaits her. QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS is an engaging historical fantasy that hooks the reader the moment the seer informs Hippolyte that her daughter has no soul. The somewhat simplistic story line never slows down gripping the audience who will keep reading to learn what happens when two amazons encounter Alexander. Will Etta obtain a soul at last, and how will Phaedra avenge her exile? With a few neat twists to the tale to add spice, sub-genre fans will appreciate Judith Tarr's latest tale that takes the reader back to an already successful Alexander conquering the world. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Long-awaited sequel a disappointment
Review: Queen of the Amazons is a sequel to a very popular Judith Tarr novel about Alexander the Great written a decade earlier, Lord of the Two Lands. Unfortunately, this book is not nearly as successful as the first, being only glancingly about Alexander. Instead, Tarr is primarily concerned with the various characters involved with "the people," who are the Amazons of the title. They are not remotely as interesting as the characters in the earlier novel. Worse, the viewpoint character, Selene, is insipid and downright dull; she is both totally predictable and interchangeable with any of a dozen others Tarr fantasy heroines.
Lord of the Two Lands was a welcome rarity: a fresh look at the life of Alexander. On the other hand, Queen of the Amazons is not really about the life Alexander actually lived at all. Indeed, he has only a relatively minor role in this novel, existing mostly to povide the big plot "surprise" - it will be a dull reader who doesn't see it coming from at least the middle of the novel onward - in the last quarter of the book.
I am sorry to write a negative review, as I enjoy Tarr's work and have looked forward to this particular novel for years. Sad to say, however, it was a major disappointment. If the Amazon.com rating system permitted, I would give this novel two and a half stars as a competently written but basically run of the mill fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: Epic Mythology
Review: Queen of the Amazons is an incredible mythological journey that captures you and doesn't let go for 320 pages. The Amazons of legend are reborn here as a tribe of women in the time of Alexander the Great. These women live a nomadic, female dominated society. Queen Hippolyta, the current ruler has just given birth to a child. The story is told through the eyes of Selene, an Amazonian warrior and seer. Selene is bound to the current Queen's daughter called Etta. Etta is a soulless child. She does not have a spark of life in her. Her actions are instinctive and animal like. One morning, Etta slips away from the encampment on a journey. Selene, Queen Hippolyta, and a group of Amazons follow Etta on what they believe is a Goddess guided journey. Etta is drawn by an unseen force and eventually leads to Alexander the Great, the King of Asia. Selene, Queen Hippolyta, and Etta are forever changed by their exposure to Alexander and his male dominated world. This epic story has all the lyrical elements of a classic. Love, karma, fate, and political upheaval all come together in a climactic ending sure to be a surprise to the reader. The story transcends the male/female clash and instead focuses on the idea that our souls are genderless. Judith Tarr is the author of numerous historical fantasies. Lord of the Two Lands is her first book chronicling Alexander.
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