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Fire from Heaven
- A Novel of Alexander the Great
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins
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Publisher's summary
Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle.
His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
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- By Steven on 09-21-15
By: M. K. Hume
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Black Wolves
- By: Kate Elliott
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 28 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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He lost his honor long ago. Captain Kellas was lauded as the king's most faithful servant until the day he failed in his duty. Dismissed from service, his elite regiment disbanded, he left the royal palace and took up another life. Now a battle brews within the palace that threatens to reveal deadly secrets and spill over into open war. The king needs a loyal soldier to protect him. Can a disgraced man ever be trusted?"
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Very engaging. Can't wait for book 2
- By Claudia Alderman on 01-15-16
By: Kate Elliott
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The Mists of Avalon
- By: Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 50 hrs and 53 mins
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A posthumous recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Marion Zimmer Bradley reinvented - and rejuvenated - the King Arthur mythos with her extraordinary Mists of Avalon series. In this epic work, Bradley follows the arc of the timeless tale from the perspective of its previously marginalized female characters: Celtic priestess Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar, and High Priestess Viviane.
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Davina Porter brings an old favorite back to life!
- By Carolina on 07-13-12
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The Lions of Al-Rassan
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan - poet, diplomat, soldier - until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.
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Lots of drama
- By KH on 10-12-12
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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Transformation
- Rai-Kirah, Book 1
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
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Seyonne is a man waiting to die. He has been a slave for 16 years, almost half his life, and has lost everything of meaning to him: his dignity, the people and homeland he loves, and the Warden's power he used to defend an unsuspecting world from the ravages of demons. Seyonne has made peace with his fate. With strict self-discipline he forces himself to exist only in the present moment and to avoid the pain of hope or caring about anyone.
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Seriously Excellent
- By Sharon on 09-25-13
By: Carol Berg
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The Eagle of the Ninth
- By: Rosemary Sutcliff
- Narrated by: Charlie Simpson
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Abridged
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Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young centurion in Roman Britain, is forced into retirement after receiving a wound in his first major engagement against a rebel British tribe. It allows him the freedom to embark upon a dangerous mission to find out what happened to the Ninth Legion, which, years before, disappeared in the savage lands of the Picts. Will he find out what happened to the men, led by his father, who never returned? And will he recover the Eagle, the symbol of Roman dominance and power?
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Give it to us unabridged!
- By C. Liddiard on 01-12-11
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The Bloody Cup
- By: M. K. Hume
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
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Celtic Britain is on the brink of collapse, and the kingdom's bloodiest days are upon it. For many years, the people of Briton have enjoyed peace and prosperity under the reign of King Arthur. He has ruled with dignity, honor, and humility. Arthur is now weakening with age, however, and the seeds of discontent are being sown. Seeking to cleanse the land of Christian belief, dissenters need a symbol with which to legitimize their pagan claim and gather malcontents together into a cohesive weapon.
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Worth your time.
- By Helen on 07-01-22
By: M. K. Hume
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The Songs of the Kings
- By: Barry Unsworth
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A thoroughly modern tale of politics, spin-doctoring, and media manipulation. As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman - blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon's beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way.
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The politics of power haven't changed.
- By susan on 12-06-12
By: Barry Unsworth
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Orion
- Orion Series, Book 1
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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John O'Ryan is not a god...not exactly. He is an eternal warrior destined to combat the Dark Lord through all time for dominion of the Earth. Follow him, servant of a great race, as he battles his enemy down the halls of time, from the caves of our ancestors to the final confrontation under the hammer of nuclear annihilation.
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Cornucopia of Genre's
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-10-12
By: Ben Bova
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Deverry: Books 1-4
- By: Katharine Kerr
- Narrated by: Ruth Urquhart
- Length: 58 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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This boxed set includes books 1-4 in the the Deverry series: Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, and The Dragon Revenant.
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Masterpiece
- By Luke on 09-05-22
By: Katharine Kerr
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In South London, England, a serial killer appears to be on the loose. Victims have been cruelly slain, bodies are piling high and fear grips the community. But the victims aren’t humans - they’re domestic cats, cute little kitties! The killings spark a relentless investigation by animal rescue group SNARL, led by the formidable Boudicca Rising, her partner Tony and rock musician Rob. Acclaimed journalist Nancy Miller - who helped track down the infamous Golden State Killer - journeys from the US to help the amateur sleuths crack the case.
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Born in the Greek city of Miletus, Aspasia was destined for a life of tragedy. Her wealthy father vowed to abandon any female child, so Aspasia was secreted away, educated independently of her family, and raised as a courtesan. She discovered at an early age how to use her powers of intellect as ingeniously as those of the flesh. Ensconced in the Persian harems of Al Taliph, she meets the man who will change her fate: Pericles, the formidable political leader, statesman, ruler of Athens, and Aspasia’s most cherished lover.
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Here is one of the best historical novels ever written. Lame, stammering Claudius, once a major embarrassment to the imperial family and now emperor of Rome, writes an eyewitness account of the reign of the first four Caesars: the noble Augustus and his cunning wife, Livia; the reptilian Tiberius; the monstrous Caligula; and finally old Claudius himself. Filled with poisonings, betrayal, and shocking excesses, I Claudius is history that rivals the most exciting contemporary fiction.
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The Virtues of War
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I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. So begins Alexander’s extraordinary confession on the eve of his greatest crisis of leadership. By turns heroic and calculating, compassionate and utterly merciless, Alexander recounts with a warrior’s unflinching eye for detail the blood, the terror, and the tactics of his greatest battlefield victories.
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Pressfield the Prodigy
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Purposes of Love
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Vivian, a student nurse, chose her profession as a challenge, both to her spirit and to her permanently exhausted body; Mic immerses himself in his work at the hospital to ward off the emotional wounds of an unhappy childhood. Through Jan, Viv's beloved older brother, they meet, and their friendship turns into a secret romance. Secret because, if discovered, it would cost them their jobs.
By: Mary Renault
What listeners say about Fire from Heaven
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-10-16
Compelling story, but confusing scene transition.
Loved the story & character development; excellent period piece. However, abrupt transition between scenes makes for confusing casual listening. Didn't read the books though, so may be a criticism on narration spacing. Nonetheless, will buy part 2 & 3 audiobooks :)
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7 people found this helpful
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- J Pete
- 06-13-22
Great book, well read, inexpertly produced
This first of the Renault trilogy about Alexander the Great is an engrossing tale of the young man's life up to his father's death. Roger May reads it very well. But the story is told from many different perspectives and darts from that of one character to another without Renault necessarily attaching the names of the focus character. This is OK if reading the text, because there is a space left before the narrative begins again from the next perspective. This space signals the focal shift to the reader.
Such spacing is not uncommon in novels. Audiobooks usually represent that with a pause of a second or two, so that the listener gets a signal similar to what would be understood when reading text. This audiobook does not pause; Roger May's narration is launched into the new section without any discernable signal that this new paragraph might have a different focus than the preceding ones. This left me often confused, particularly in the last third of the book, when the shifts seem more frequent and new characters' perspectives are being introduced. I had to revert to the print book I had more often than I would have liked. So I cannot give Audible the 5 stars that I give Renault and May.
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- krolik
- 03-17-21
young alexander
family drama, palace intrigues, battles, and the irresistible unstoppable young Alexander. He glitters with glory and doom. great depiction of the details of 3rd century Macedonian life, the smells of horses,, unwashed men, and pristine meadows. read it to enter another world.
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- Denise Solu
- 02-16-23
Amazing book!
History comes alive through extraordinary writing and wonderful performance reading. Renault’s stories are extensively researched and infused with human emotions.
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- JoeB
- 06-09-18
Met expectations
Gets very good after the early portion. The story really comes to life. Definitely recommend to fans of genre
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mark Vennekotter
- 04-15-21
No chapter breaks
Good story and performance, however the tempo runs through the ends of one chapter to the next. This makes it confusing when characters and senses change.
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1 person found this helpful
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- James
- 01-28-15
Renewed Pleasure
Any additional comments?
In Fire from Heaven the author, Mary Renault, traces the life of Alexander the Great from childhood, age 4, to early adulthood and stops with the assassination of his father Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC. The novelists contrasts the natural virtues of Alexander against a backdrop of the conspiracies of Macedonian royal court and the flaws of both parents, and the historical facts of Philip’s II achievement of uniting the Greek city states in preparation of war against the Persian Empire. The characters are filled with understandable human feelings and passions mixed with the myths and belief systems of ancient Greece as well as the learning and philosophy of the time. All this is done in an entertaining fashion with the plots and pitfalls Alexander must navigate to reach adulthood. The sensuality of the characters is understated by current standards but clear in its intent to allow ones imagination to fill in the blanks. The speaker of the audio, Roger May, does an excellent job creating different voices for the various characters including an Athenian conspirator with a lisp. He is equally believable whether speaking as a youth or an old man. This book has not lost the appeal it had when I first read it 40 years ago. To be able to listen to it now, with Mr. May’s vocal flourishes, is a renewed pleasure.
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- Jefferson
- 11-30-21
Young Alexander, or A Dysfunctional Family Tragedy
In Mary Renault’s Fire from Heaven (1969), King Philip and Queen Olympias of Macedon have the mother of all toxic marriages, permanently scarring their young son Alexander with their scorched earth warfare: “a pain he had been born with.” While at first one’s sympathy is with Olympias, Philip appearing drunken, brutish, and ugly and flinging four-year-old Alexander out of her bedroom and down the stairs, in time one begins sympathizing with the King, who seems to act with ironic restraint in the face of his wife’s hatred and curses (invoking the gods) and witchcraft (piercing the penis of a doll figure of the king with a needle), not to mention her provocative exaggerations, treasonous intrigues, and emotional blackmailing of her son when Alexander tries to be independent. True, Philip marries a series of teenage girls and has affairs with his young male squires (“minions”), but one suspects that had Olympias been more loving, Philip might have been more faithful.
Another compelling thread through the novel is the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion--“Alexander’s shadow.” Although the novel demonstrates a general acceptance of homosexuality or bisexuality, Alexander is mostly beyond things like sex and mainly just wants to unburden himself to Hephaistion as they sleep together, while Hephaistion tries to convince himself that he’s blessed by the gods to be so close to Alexander and to refrain from wanting more than pillow talk. Renault depicts their love and friendship as natural and deep:
“Without you I should go mad.”
“I, too, without you.”
The story begins with four-year-old Alexander waking up with a snake wound round his waist and sneaking into his mother’s bedroom to return it, he thinks, to the Queen. Renault proceeds to depict landmark events from the future conqueror’s youth that reveal his personality, historical context, and destiny, including having his growth stunted by an overly zealous pedagogue admirer of Spartan severity, learning about Achilles and Patroclus, meeting Hephaistion for the first time, making Ptolemy his blood brother, killing his first man in his first violent action (at age twelve), meeting Demosthenes, winning and naming his beloved horse Bucephalus, receiving an education from Aristotle, successfully leading an army in battle for the first time, becoming regent at sixteen and cavalry general at eighteen, protecting his father during a mutiny, and so on. Renault renders such things suspenseful and compelling.
Interestingly, the book stops before Alexander is king of Macedon, before he’s set foot in Asia, and before he’s known as Alexander the Great--although at sixteen he does defeat a Thracian tribe, displace them from their land, and found a city in his name there, earning the nickname Basilicus, or Little King. The novel, then, is about Alexander’s youthful potential. It does not even relate what happens in the aftermath of Philip’s death, ending, in a way, with a shocking cliffhanger. And the second novel in the Alexander trilogy, The Persian Boy (1972), will begin several years later with the point of view of the orphaned, enslaved, and castrated son of a Persian noble in the middle of the Persian Empire, while the third, Funeral Games (1981), begins with Alexander’s death. Mary Renault is impressive in her refusal to pander to readers.
Another impressive feature of Fire from Heaven is the psychological complexity of her central characters, Alexander, Philip, and Hephaistion. Especially interesting is Alexander’s relationship with Philip: “Each eyed the other with curiosity, resentment, suspicion, regret, and a half-hope which each hid too well.” Philip loves Alexander and is proud of him but can’t help but see Olympias in the boy’s features and mannerisms, while Alexander is often too quick to believe his mother’s worst interpretations of Philip’s actions, even when it means ignoring his beloved Hephaistion’s more balanced ones. The King is at times reduced to wondering, “What did I do to deserve this?” Alexander is superb in Renault’s hands: beautiful, brave, loyal, loving, poised, reckless, clever, curious, unpretentious, charismatic, and destined for glory and fated to die early: “Shining and calm at the center of his mystery, the godlike freedom of killing fear.”
Renault narrates by switching from among multiple points of views in third person, doing things like telling us what Alexander was up to on an early campaign by showing Philip reading a letter from the boy telling him what he accomplished (instead of showing Alexander accomplishing it in real time), and efficiently making events lead up to Philip’s death, the tragic core and climax of the novel. En route, she works in plenty of matter from Greek myths and The Iliad, Greek, Macedonian, and Persian history, and cultural contrasts, like Greek-Macedonian, Thebes-Athens, Attic-Sparta, Greek-Persia, etc.
The novel is vivid, believable, transporting, moving, exotic, lean, fierce. It does what the best historical fiction does, transporting us to another time and place with details and imagination while making the characters relatable, as in the following lines:
“In the midst of it, dwarfing shrines and altars like toys, a vast oak lifted its bare black labyrinth above the snow.”
“She gave him with dropped lashes a little smile, fragile, mysterious like a hamadryad slipping out briefly from her tree.”
“The smell of its sweat and breath and leather bathed him in its steam.”
“He walked over, put out his hand, and touched Hephaistion as a man might touch a sacred object for luck or a good omen, while deeply concerned with something else.”
Brian May reads the novel professionally and engagingly.
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- april franklin
- 04-24-15
Felt like Algebra homework...and I hate Algebra
What would have made Fire From Heaven better?
A better story. This book never really becomes a story and I had a very difficult time feeling engaged or entertained. The characters have no depth. no real presence. The secondary cast has no substance at all. There are no difficulties, no challenges, no upset, no scares, no peril, no risks. It's more like a narrative. Olympias is portrayed as a whiny, manipulative child and it's annoying. The author seems to forget important details, leaving me feeling like I walked in on a conversation at the midway point having no idea of the who/what/when/where/why. I see the potential for a great read but it fell tragically short. I was hoping for something of Game of Thrones or The Winter King caliber and I was sorely disappointed. After 10.5 hours, I still have no idea what the plot is (except that Alexander grows up to be a great warrior) and I just couldn't do it anymore
What was most disappointing about Mary Renault’s story?
the disjointed way it's written.
Which character – as performed by Roger May – was your favorite?
none. The dominant character is Alexander and the way he is voiced was weird.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
...
Any additional comments?
As a disclaimer, I like George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, Bernard Cornwell, Ken Follett, etc. Maybe I should stick to what I know.
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- yay science
- 09-07-20
Boring and overrated
This was recommended on one of the "what to read after the Aubrey-Maturin series" message boards.
Sadly, this book is nothing like those. It is a jumbled confused story with long passages of boring prose. I have no idea why this book is rated so highly.
I forced myself to finish it, but won't be continuing with the series.
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