Rating: 
Summary: Captures you from the start
Review: Normally I don't recommend books online, but after re reading this and getting ready to do a research paper and book review on Alexander's empire, I had to add my two cents worth.Read it. Yeah, it has homosexual themes, but as others have said, its not primary, its an afterthought of the writer. Bagoas is simply a fantastically written character. Taking a few historical bylines from people like Arrian and Plutarch, Mary Renault has created a fascinating figure in history. It wistfully makes you wish you could actually meet this eunuch and find out what his life was truly like. Renault also covers the story of Alexander's campaign with clarity, compassion and with a marvelous sense of adventure for her readers. The information on life in an ancient army camp is well-written, not over explained, and the campaigns themselves are only as a non-soldier like a former palace concubine could see it. Renault has a fantastic grasp of Alexander that, while it might not be spot-dead on, it has to be close. Everyone clearly comes to life. I'm just so disappointed that something like "The Continuing Life of Bagoas" was not written following the sequel to "The Persian Boy". Hints of Bagoas' life following Alexander's death is mentioned throughout the book....but oh, what I wouldn't give for more. I also highly recommend the sequel to "The Persian Boy", "Funeral Games" for the follow-up of Bagoas, though he's mentioned sporadically, it does have him as a bit of a plot point.
Rating:
Summary: Woah!
Review: I had to read this book for a research project and I loved it! You will not be able to put it down at all, trust me. If you love Alexander The Great this book was made for you!
Rating:
Summary: Persian Boy
Review: While under normal circumstances I find myself asleep in almost every history class and thus was rather doubtful when first getting this book, it not only kept me awake during the evening, but well into the night as well. This is one of very few books that I've finished in one sitting and not felt tired after. I love the way Renault has shaped her characters; these are not the cookie-cutter protagonists and antagonists you normally see. They have depth, a personality of their own, and many (though there are probably more without than with) with their own set of moral standards and honor; and though you hear mostly of Alexander's actions, you also learn about the lil Persian boy's character through what he admires and despises. Rich with details not only about the surroundings and whatnot, but about the various cultures at the time. You learn about soldiers, you learn about nobles, you learn about what makes simple men's names immortal. Jane Austen's books, after Pride and Prejudice, bored me because they became redundant. I think, however, if you are like me-rather picky and easy to bore-you will find The Persian Boy a refreshing breath of long-sought clean air. If you hated even vaguely-historical novels before, give it another shot with this book. You won't regret it. Cheers!
Rating:
Summary: Renault's best historical novel
Review: The Persian Boy A wonderful historical novel
(5 stars) "The Persian Boy" is the second book in Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy and it's by far the best of the three, probably because Renault did a total shift in narrative and style and continued the story in the first person. When Renault writes in the first person, something magical happens; we're so totally caught up in the action that we're inside the book, not only watching but feeling it come alive. Renault realizes that Alexander underwent a fundamental transformation on becoming Great King after defeating Darius at Gaugamela; he was no longer the king of Macedon but king of most of the known world, most of whose inhabitants were considered by Macedonians to be "barbarians", and she chose to tell her story through the eyes of one of them, the Persian eunuch Bagoas, an actual historical character of whom next to nothing is known except that he had been sold to Darius in childhood as a slave and after Darius's final defeat at Gaugamela was passed on to Alexander. He must have made the most of his position as the historian Aristobulos wrote about Bagoas six years afterwards, when he was evidently still in Alexander's good graces, and had probably seen and heard a great deal. Renault had to fabricate almost all of Bagoas's own story; we see him as the beautiful child of a Persian nobleman who was betrayed and executed; sold into slavery and castrated to preserve his exquisite good looks, and then presented to Darius, standing by his king and seeing him betrayed and murdered by his own men after his defeat by Alexander, and then being passed on to this strange young Macedonian who looked more like a barbarian than the Persians looked to the Macedonians. Renault's choice of a Persian narrator was inspired; who else could have told from a sympathetic viewpoint about Alexander's growing identification with his conquered subjects, and his insistence in finding excellence in people of all races and nationalities, when most Macedonians considered Persians as little more than subhuman? Bagoas's love for Alexander doesn't blind him to Alexander's faults; he gives us Alexander warts and all; his overwhelming ego and conceit which must have driven his best friends up the wall; his hot temper and intemperance which led him to kill a trusted officer in a drunken rage, and the lack of moderation which made him a candle burning at both ends and ultimately burned him out. And although Bagoas must have hated Hephaistion in real life and the feeling was probably mutual, he can still realize that Hephaistion's death removed a vital prop in Alexander's life and left him not only bereft, but with a vital part of himself gone without which he could no longer live. "The Persian Boy" brings us the ancient world from Asia Minor to India and makes it so incredibly alive that we hate to close the book and return, reluctantly, to the ho-hum present. It's a glowing, vivid work of art.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare to shed tears
Review: I have not cried for 15 years. As I progessed with The Persian Boy, I could not stop crying. The perfect historical novel.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful wonderful part two...but don't skip part one!
Review: After having read so many glowing reviews of THE PERSIAN BOY and after being told that it could be read as a stand-alone book from Renault's Alexander Trilogy, I was anxious to jump right in. But at the last minute decided to read part one, FIRE FROM HEAVEN first. And I'm so glad I did. Not only does the first book give you a thorough grounding in the history of Alexander's youth and the conquests of his father Philip of Macedon, it also sets up the first leg of the romance triangle between Alexander, his boyhood soulmate Hephastion, and Bagoas, the "Persian Boy". While FIRE FROM HEAVEN is well written, fast-paced and thread through with betrayal, Oedipal intrigue, battlelust and romance, it really just lays the ground work for Renault's masterpiece, THE PERSIAN BOY. This book was an incredible read. Bagoas' narration makes this novel utterly engaging from the first sentence. (I DARE you to read the first paragraph of this book and put it aside!) Bagoas is, at turns heroic, petty, brave, self-preserving and selfless-- in sum: a fully fleshed out character with flaws and claws, and an absolute pleasure to know. This is a great read on its own, but you'll feel the joys and sorrows of the characters tenfold if you take the time to read Fire From Heaven first.
Rating: 
Summary: Depends on what you're looking for...
Review: I will come right out and say it: I am a dirty-minded brat. I love slash, and will read pretty much any book that focuses on a m/m relationship. So, I read "The Persian Boy," because it is the slasher's equivalent to fantasy's "The Lord of the Rings." (By the way, if you haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, what with the slasher-talk and all, just skip this review.) The horrible truth of the matter is that just as every fantasy fan will swear that LotR was what got them into fantasy, and that it changed their life, yadda yadda yadda, every slash fan out there will declare that "The Persian Boy" is lush, beautiful poetic, the definative work on a real-life m/m relationship...so on and so forth. And, like LotR, half of them are lying through their teeth. Oh, yes. You know who you are. You think that LotR's only redeeming feature is that Orlando Bloom was in it. You utterly failed to see the grand mythic beauty in it. Instead, you saw the grand mythic boredom. Well, "The Persian Boy" is a lot like that. You pick it up thinking, "Yay! Boysmut!" and instead find an endless tale of Alexander the Great's military conquests and daily life in an army camp. Oh, the book TOTALLY has its moments. Bagoas, our protagonist, is very smart and a little bitchy, which of course makes for a great narration. And if you are interested in the history behind Alexander, then this is a fine book for you. The writing is gorgeous, if a little purple for my personal taste. The author clearly knows her stuff, and, more importantly, knows how to tell a good story, so the book is most definately enjoyable on that level. Basically, before you run out and buy this book, know why you want to read it, and, if you have any doubts, check it out in your local library first. I wish I had. I'm not sorry I read it, but it really wasn't to my usual taste.
Rating:
Summary: One of My All Time Favorites
Review: It's hard to know how to express how much I have enjoyed just reading
this marvelous book. It will always be one of my all time favorites;
an experience I won't forget. The novel is highly educational, as it IS AN HISTORICAL one,
and learning about the ancient peoples and geography it covers
was a real learning experience for me. The character portrayals and developments in the book made me
feel like I was with real people in real life, and I will remember them. After just finishing this book along with Barbara Olson's
"The Final Days" (I highly recommend reading several books
concurrently; a habit I learned from my great cousin who was
head of a well known college's history department) I feel I have
been exposed to the heights and depts of character qualities.
Alexander was extraordinary in his leadership characteristics,
and the extreme inversion of those ideals are painfully elucidated
in Barbara Olson's book. Rating: 5/5 10/10
Rating:
Summary: an amazing and moving book
Review: When i first read The Persian Boy it was reccomended by a friend and without an idea about Alexanders life or that time in history i doubted that i would like it. Let me say though that this book is amazing!!! i can not say enough about how beautiful and real the story felt and how wonderful it was to read. I have read it 4 times in the last year and am currently reading Fire From Heaven because i hadn't known it was part of a series until a short while ago. Read this book and reccomend it to as many people as you can because it makes you LOVE these characters and has started for me a love affair with stories of Alexander the Great and his life. Mary Renault was an amazing writer who truely captured these characters whether they be real or imagined and kept the story alive even after all these years.
Rating:
Summary: superb love tale
Review: First of all, don't grab this book if you are against homosexuality. If you are not prejudiced, or, better, if you are gay, this is THE book on love. You are going to laugh and get your eyes mist as persian Bagoas meets Alexander and little by little becomes enchanted by him and in turn enchants the King and earns his heart. Though we know Hephastion was the main,greatest love in Alexander's life,Bagoas, the persian boy, manages to keep a good part of the king's heart to himself. It is a briliantly written book, never boring, the kind you can't-put-down. Page after page is filled with emotion, adventure, romance and action. And if you, like me, happen to fall in love with Alexander while reading this book, thank Mary Renault's superb sensibility and astonihing knowledge of the male heart and feelings. It is no wonder that for many years many believed Mary Renault was a man. So, DO buy this book. You will not regret, you'll just look forward to the rest of the trilogy: Fire from Heaven (part1) and Funeral Games (part3).
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