This is number 3 in Mary Renault's Alexander quartet. It is perhaps not as good as the first two ( The King Must Die,Fire From Heaven), but still remains in my heart as a powerful and moving read. It is not worth reading the final one, Funeral Games, unless you wish to tie up loose ends regarding what happened.

I'll repeat what I said about the other two:

Hard for me to comment on these three books as I more or less lived these books over and over again as a teenager (they are not, however, children's books) and in a way I feel they are utterly personal to me - almost 'mine'. However, I think they still are worth reading. Mary Renault has written several others set in the ancient Greek world, and a few about lesbian love, but nothing touches these novels, and nothing touches her ones about Alexander the great. I believe went into a kind of altered state when she wrote them. I love a good hero, and Mary Renault's Alexander is one of the best.