Reviewer Matthew Jenks: Matthew is a lifelong reader who grew up in Indiana but now currently lives in North Carolina where he enjoys the tempestuous moods of the weather whenever he can. He is an avid reader of multiple genres of fiction as well as scientific, historical and travel writing non-fiction books.
The
title of the book, an allusion to the time-traveling rules
constructed in Star Trek, immediately lets the reader know that this
is a time travel book, and that something will be changed during the
course of the plot of the story. The reader is immediately taken back
to the ancient world, as seen through the eyes of an unnamed time
traveler who has come back to the time of Philip II of Macedon's time
to observe the course of history. He, the time traveler, chooses to
observe a Dionysian Mystery as it was being celebrated. During the
course of the mystery, the time travelers saves a young man named
Kleitos from being killed by the celebrants of the Mystery. Fleeing
the scene, the time traveler then gets caught up in the ordeals
surrounding the throne of Macedonia; in order to try and fit in to
the correct time period, the time traveler adopts the name
"Ptolemaios" and then ingratiates himself with Philip II as
the Macedonian king prepares for to first subjugate the Greek city
states and then take on the mighty Persian Empire.
The most
impressive part of this book is the research that has gone into the
time period and the events that first shaped Alexander the Great as
he rose to power as well as the circumstances surrounding Philip
laying the groundwork for the Macedonian state to being the
preeminent superpower in the region. The political intrigue
surrounding the court of Philip was captured quite well and it was
interesting to watch the events play out that led to Alexander
ascending the throne as well as beginning the invasion of
Persia.
The strength of the story rests on the author's
familiarity with the subject material and the characters involved in
the book. This book is clearly well-researched, and the author does
not feel the need to show his knowledge. The events surrounding the
action of the book as well as those that shape the development of the
characters come naturally, without
While
the amount of research that went into the historical time period as
well as the characters is impressive, the language that evolves
through the course of the story fails to live up to the research
done. To his credit, the author tries to create a familiar, vulgar
form of the language that the characters use with one another to show
friendliness and trust between one another. This is a nice way to
show the interaction among the characters, but it gets clunky and
breaks the flow of the story. Instead of wondering what Ptolemaios
was implying, the reader is left wondering whether Willis has shown
up in the story when Philip II asks (paraphrasing) "Whatchoo
talkin' bout?" or whether we've fallen into a Jeff Foxworthy
routine, "Wanna get some lunch?" Though the language does
not necessarily need to be in stiffly formal, archaic Ancient Greek,
reading phrases involving American pidgin English is
distracting.
Overall, however, this is a well-researched book
with a predictable ending (the story is 2300
years in the making), but an entertaining read at the very least. For
any fan of Western Civilization as well as the legend of Alexander
the Great, this makes a very nice addition to the historical fiction
surrounding the greatest leader in Macedonian history. As a first
novel, this is a solid introduction to the Alexander mythos, and the
subsequent novels should help to solidly round out the legend as well
as cap the Ptolemaian adventure.
Follow Here To Purchase Prime Directive (The Ptolemaios Saga)