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This thread is the Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts thread for the book Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire by James Romm.

by James Romm (no photo)

This is the "Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts" thread.

SPOILER THREAD

For those of you who have completed the book and/or who want to discuss aspects of the book which are beyond our weekly assignments in the non spoiler threads, this thread is a spoiler thread where you can discuss those points. We know that some folks like to color outside the lines - so this a place for them.

If you have completed the book and would like to tell us what you thought about this selection, please feel free to discuss your opinions in a respectful way here.

However, please no links to personal reviews because we consider that self promotion. Simply post your thoughts here without the links.

Many folks read ahead of the weekly assignment and that is OK too; however, you must make sure that your posted comments on the other weekly non spoiler threads do not reflect reading ahead of the posted weekly assignment. If you would like to discuss aspects of the book further along, this is a spoiler thread where you can do just that.

We try to move along the discussion slowly on the weekly non spoiler threads but realize that some folks like to move along swiftly. So we have options for both groups of folks.

This is also the thread where you write your review of the book after completing it.

by James Romm (no photo)

If you have completed the book - please post your review here.

Please do not add any links such as to reviews elsewhere or blogs, etc. If you have already posted a review elsewhere - you may do a copy and paste here but with no links or references.

Please post your review here - just no links.

I am not good at writing reviews, I can only say that I am glad I discovered this book through the club. It was so enlightening, filling a considerable gap in my knowledge of ancient times.
I think the book is well researched and manages to tell a coherent and plausible (where not much is known) story in a way which engages the reader.
I am not too happy with how it ends, I would like to have the account of not only the main strife but also how the hellenistic kingdoms became more or less securely established.
All in all it was definitely worth reading and the discussion took the whole experience to another level.

Michael, we are so glad that you enjoyed the discussion. We really appreciate everybody posting their thoughts about the book to help those members who are interested in finding out more about the book and this time period.

I have mixed feelings about the book. On the positive side, it is a complicated story told well. Complicated because there are a multitude of characters on three continents making and breaking alliances. Told well because Romm made it exciting and almost a page turner. I learned a lot about an era that I knew little or nothing about. I now have an interest in reading an Alexander biography and learning more about the Hellenistic period.

On the negative side, I was very disappointed that Romm didn’t finish the story. The sub-title of the book is “The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire��. The book stops before the battles are over. Most noticeable was not covering the rise of Seleucus�� and the fall of Antigonus. Seleucus, after all, founded the Seleucid Empire which lasted almost as long as Ptolemy. Also Lysimachus was pretty much overlooked. He controlled the European side of the Hellespont. That should have made him a player.

Overall, the pluses outweigh the minuses, and I’m glad I read the book. I’m going to make a separate post about the group.

This was my first group read. My reasons for doing it were a combination of my retirement and “sheltering in place�� for COVID. The group made reading the book more enjoyable. I looked forward to Vicki’s questions each week. I will look for other group reads to participate in.

I wish we had time for more overarching questions. From the Preface, Alexander’s empire “existed in a full and relatively stable form for only two years�� from 326 BC till 323 BC. Is that really an empire? Is that part of the explanation for why it fell apart quickly? With all these wars to determine who would rule what, why weren’t there challengers from the native populations?

Michael wrote: "I am not good at writing reviews, I can only say that I am glad I discovered this book through the club. It was so enlightening, filling a considerable gap in my knowledge of ancient times.
I think..."

Michael, I'm really glad you enjoyed the book and our discussion here. Your comments were very interesting and I really appreciate your making a video for us about Greek pronunciation. A link to it is in message #33 of the week 1 thread.

Actually, here it is, so people don't need to go to the old thread:

Bill wrote: "This was my first group read. My reasons for doing it were a combination of my retirement and “sheltering in place�� for COVID. The group made reading the book more enjoyable. I looked forward to Vi..."

Bill, it's great you liked the group read. Keep checking the home page for the History Book Club to find other books you'd like to read along with others in the group. We all really liked your comments, which echo many of my own (my review coming soon).

Bill wrote: "This was my first group read. My reasons for doing it were a combination of my retirement and “sheltering in place�� for COVID. The group made reading the book more enjoyable. I looked forward to Vi..."

It was a pleasure Bill, I hope we meet at another group read!

Vicki wrote: "Michael, I'm really glad you enjoyed the book and our discussion here. Your comments were very interesting and I really appreciate your making a video for us about Greek pronunciation."

You are welcome Vicki, it was a great experience and I am glad I was able to contribute a bit.

Thanks, Michael. I always looked forward to your comments. I also hope we meet up again.

I greatly enjoyed the book. It was as someone noted almost a page turner which is pretty amazing for a history book. Like others I wished that he had continued and discussed Seleucus. He appears, at least to me, to have been the final victor of Alexander's empire. But the fact that I was disappointed that the book was not long enough may indicate that it was so well written that I could not get enough of it. My thanks to the History Book Club for recommending and discussing this book.

You are most welcome Savannah.

My official review:

When Alexander the Great died suddenly at age 32, there was no obvious successor to his vast empire. He had an infant son and a mentally-challenged half-brother, and his loyal Bodyguards declared them both to be kings, for whom they would be regents. Different men took charge of different parts of the empire and eventually fell out with each other, causing several wars. There was a lot going on in the book, and many different characters. I found it sort of hard to keep track of the various battles and generals. Many of the characters were very interesting. I particularly liked Eumenes, who started out as secretary to Alexander, but finally became a skilled general and perhaps might have taken over the empire, but he was Greek, and the Macedonians didn't trust the Greeks. There were also formidable women in the story - Olympias, Alexander's mother; Adea, his half-brother's wife; and Cynanne, Adea's mother. Each one worthy of her own book. The book felt unfinished, since it didn't go into the creation of the Selucid Empire.

Thanks Vicki - obviously an opening for a sequel by the author. I also imagine that there was a lot to try to cover in terms of characters, battles, generals and events. But everyone seemed to enjoy the book and wanted to find out more about Alexander.

Savannah wrote: "I greatly enjoyed the book. It was as someone noted almost a page turner which is pretty amazing for a history book. Like others I wished that he had continued and discussed Seleucus. He appears, a..."

Savannah, I agree with you that the book makes Antigonus appear to be the big, final victor in the East. We know that’s not true.

I forgot to add in one big complaint in my review - not enough maps. The ones there were really good, but other books often have maps of battles, so it's easier to visualize what was going on.

Vicki wrote: "My official review:

When Alexander the Great died suddenly at age 32, there was no obvious successor to his vast empire. He had an infant son and a mentally-challenged half-brother, and his loyal ..."

Nice review Vicki, thank you for everything!

Savannah wrote: "I greatly enjoyed the book. It was as someone noted almost a page turner which is pretty amazing for a history book. Like others I wished that he had continued and discussed Seleucus. He appears, a..."

Totally agree with you Savannah.

Vicki wrote: "I forgot to add in one big complaint in my review - not enough maps. The ones there were really good, but other books often have maps of battles, so it's easier to visualize what was going on."

Yes, more maps would have been nice!

Vicki wrote: "I forgot to add in one big complaint in my review - not enough maps. The ones there were really good, but other books often have maps of battles, so it's easier to visualize what was going on."

Maps are "always" a problem - it appears that is where publishers skimp.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our discussion. I hope you all enjoyed reading the book and the comments - I certainly did. Hopefully in the coming months we'll have another book about ancient history to talk about.

Vicki wrote: "Thanks to everyone who participated in our discussion. I hope you all enjoyed reading the book and the comments - I certainly did. Hopefully in the coming months we'll have another book about ancie..."

Thank you! I’ll keep an eye out for future reads.

Vicki wrote: "Thanks to everyone who participated in our discussion. I hope you all enjoyed reading the book and the comments - I certainly did. Hopefully in the coming months we'll have another book about ancie..."

Thank you Vicki! I hope to join another read soon!

One last note: I just got Women and Monarchy in Macedonia from the library. I'm looking forward to reading more about Cynanne, Adea and Olympias, as well as other women from this era.

by Elizabeth Donnelly Carney (no photo)

Excellent.

Hi everyone - I just finished the book! I read with you all up to about 1/3 of the book, then I realized this book is too advanced for me who knew so little about Alexander. I stopped there, and read trilogy fiction about Alexander by Mary Renault. After reading the trilogy (Thank goodness they were historically very accurate), I came back to this book from the very beginning. This time around, I knew all the players and how things went; I almost confirmed the events that I read from fiction by reading this well researched non fiction. Romm skillfully laid out all the players in different locations and times. I agree with Vicki - I wish there were more maps!!

I cannot get over how all these happened in 300 B.C. and kept wondering what was going on in Japan (my home country) around that time. Also, I am like no wonder there is always a conflict in Middle East, even before Christianity came, there were always conflict among people in different customs and tribes in that area! Now difference in religion is added to those conflicts....

I was cheering for Eumenes and liked Ptolemy very much (from Renault's trilogy), but sooo annoyed with Athenians.

Thank you so much for inviting me to this reading. I could not keep up with everyone, but I enjoyed this book very much. Now, I am off to non fiction about Alexander years and another fiction of his youth years.

Happy Reading, everyone!!

Yuki, I'm so glad you finished the book and enjoyed it. And it's great that it "inspired" you to read Renault's fiction series. I read the first one a while ago and have the others in my TBR list. So many books, so little time!

Vicki wrote: "Yuki, I'm so glad you finished the book and enjoyed it. And it's great that it "inspired" you to read Renault's fiction series. I read the first one a while ago and have the others in my TBR list. ..."

Vicki - You are a great moderator. I hope I would read with you again in this group. Until then!

Wow, thanks. I'm blushing.