Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
The Chicken House (2006), Hardcover, 416 pages
Description
The war horse Bucephalus recounts his adventures from 344-323 B.C. with Alexander the Great and his relationship with a groom who has prophetic dreams.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Smiler69
Based on real-life events, this book describe the relationship between Alexander the Great and his horse. We follow the ambitious young king on his long campaign to conquer the Persian empire along with India and form the largest empire in ancient history, the twist being that the story is
When Alexander was ten years old, a horse trader from Thessaly brought Philip a horse, which he offered to sell for thirteen talents. The horse refused to be mounted by anyone, and Philip ordered it to be taken away. Alexander, however, detected the horse's fear of his own shadow and asked for a turn to tame the horse, which he eventually managed. According to Plutarch, Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed him tearfully, declaring: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you", and bought the horse for him. Alexander would name the horse Bucephalas, meaning "ox-head". Bucephalas would be Alexander's companion throughout his journeys as far as India. When Bucephalas died (due to old age, according to Plutarch, for he was already thirty), Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala.
In this fictional account, Roberts invents a young groom, Charmedes who is attached to Bucephalas by a strong spiritual connection, and since the horse is dangerous to handle by anyone else, Alexander appoints young Charmedes as his official horse groom. When it turns out that Charmedes is actually Charmeia, even though it is unheard of that a girl should do a man's work, Alexander still keeps her on as she is the only one who can give the special care required by Bucephalas to heal all the wounds he receives in battle, and he also relies on what appears to be her prophetic dreams.
I really wanted to like this book a lot. I'm usually immediately taken in by stories about animals and this one was recommended by Kerry, who's suggestions usually hit the spot for me, but it just didn't click. One of the problems is that I don't enjoy stories of battles to begin with and this book described Alexander's conquests step by step. I might have enjoyed it more if it had not been written for young adults, because the tone and approach sometimes grated on me. For example, most of the chapters ended with a tally by the horse of the results following each battle with numbers of enemies dead, numbers taken as slaves, numbers of Macedonians dead and how many horses have perished. The last statistic was usually accompanied by a comment from Bucephalas such as: "Horses dead: 100, including Zoroaster and Aura's foal (VERY sad!)" One interesting aspect was that we got Bucephalas' unbiased view of the great conqueror, who believed himself to be the son of Zeus and was obsessed with reaching the end of the world where it was prophesized that he would attain immortality. Not surprisingly, Alexander comes across as an insecure brute who is intent on forcing the world to regard him as a great king. An interesting book, but unfortunately not quite my cup of tea.
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literally told from the horse's mouth. The description of their initial encounter in the novel is very similar to that stated in wikipedia:When Alexander was ten years old, a horse trader from Thessaly brought Philip a horse, which he offered to sell for thirteen talents. The horse refused to be mounted by anyone, and Philip ordered it to be taken away. Alexander, however, detected the horse's fear of his own shadow and asked for a turn to tame the horse, which he eventually managed. According to Plutarch, Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed him tearfully, declaring: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you", and bought the horse for him. Alexander would name the horse Bucephalas, meaning "ox-head". Bucephalas would be Alexander's companion throughout his journeys as far as India. When Bucephalas died (due to old age, according to Plutarch, for he was already thirty), Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala.
In this fictional account, Roberts invents a young groom, Charmedes who is attached to Bucephalas by a strong spiritual connection, and since the horse is dangerous to handle by anyone else, Alexander appoints young Charmedes as his official horse groom. When it turns out that Charmedes is actually Charmeia, even though it is unheard of that a girl should do a man's work, Alexander still keeps her on as she is the only one who can give the special care required by Bucephalas to heal all the wounds he receives in battle, and he also relies on what appears to be her prophetic dreams.
I really wanted to like this book a lot. I'm usually immediately taken in by stories about animals and this one was recommended by Kerry, who's suggestions usually hit the spot for me, but it just didn't click. One of the problems is that I don't enjoy stories of battles to begin with and this book described Alexander's conquests step by step. I might have enjoyed it more if it had not been written for young adults, because the tone and approach sometimes grated on me. For example, most of the chapters ended with a tally by the horse of the results following each battle with numbers of enemies dead, numbers taken as slaves, numbers of Macedonians dead and how many horses have perished. The last statistic was usually accompanied by a comment from Bucephalas such as: "Horses dead: 100, including Zoroaster and Aura's foal (VERY sad!)" One interesting aspect was that we got Bucephalas' unbiased view of the great conqueror, who believed himself to be the son of Zeus and was obsessed with reaching the end of the world where it was prophesized that he would attain immortality. Not surprisingly, Alexander comes across as an insecure brute who is intent on forcing the world to regard him as a great king. An interesting book, but unfortunately not quite my cup of tea.
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LibraryThing member theteenspot
This is an epic tale with a twist. Alexander the Great's stallion, Bucephalas, tells the story of life as a battle horse as seen through a horse's eyes. The steed of a king is as important as any weapon and it therefore lays on the shoulders of Charmeia, the stable girl, to make sure Bucephalas is
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fit and ready for battle. But can she do it and still keep all her secrets? Show Less
LibraryThing member NikhilSuri
This is a pretty good book, but is long and can get a little stale in the middle; but it is not bad. It is about Alexander the Great's war horse. It tells the story through Brucephalas (Alexander's war horse) eyes and ears.
LibraryThing member MCocuzzo2
You never truly know anything until you see it through a horse's eyes. This book was amazing.
Awards
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2008)
Language
Original publication date
2006-08
Physical description
416 p.; 9.34 inches
ISBN
0439821630 / 9780439821636