Dancing with the Lion: Rise by Dr. Jeanne Reames (ISBN:
978-1-62649-900-3) is Book Two of Dancing
with the Lion: Becoming by the same author - the historical fiction book about
the youth of Alexander the Great
described earlier (click
here to read my post on Book One).
This second part answers many questions that I was left
with after reading the first part. It seems that this book was split in two for
publishing reasons but this certainly does no justice to the story. Whatever
the reason for this separation, I don’t think that in this case, the end
justifies the means.
This being said, I now understand the title (which I
questioned after reading Book One) and it turns out that Philip is the Lion and Alexander
his cub. Why revealing this so late in the story, especially since it was cut in
two parts, is not the best idea. It feels familiar, however, to renew with the
main characters of Alexander, Hephaistion, and Philip which are – as I pointed
out in Book One - as close to reality as can be
expected.
It was nice to pick up the story again and
submerge into the action. We accompany Alexander
as his father’s Page during his Thracian campaign. Elected to be his father’s
Regent as Philip is besieging Byzantium , we witness the prince’s first command to
successfully crush the revolt on the northern border of Macedonia Chaironeia
Throughout the book, Alexander
is very much aware that his life at court with all its intrigues and
complications stands in sharp contrast with the warmth and charismatic life he
discovers at Hephaistion’s home. It
makes him realize that he has to pay a high price to live as a Royal Prince and
heir to the throne of Macedonia
In between, several chapters are treating the deep
affection and love that blossom between the young prince and Hephaistion, both mentally and
physically. I am not sure we need all the tiny spicy details for this phase of Alexander’s coming-of-age but there
seems to be a tendency to present this book as an LGBTQ Romance rather than a
Historical Romance. Well, maybe all readers will find something to their liking
but as an Alexander novel the
sexual approach is not a priority. After all, the Greeks in antiquity were
bisexual and that should suffice.
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