Judith French, The Warrior

The Warrior

Judith French

Leisure, Dec 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 0843953950

In Alexandria Pharaoh Ptolemy informs his Queen Artakama that their daughter Mereret will marry his nephew Alexander, son of the Great. Though Artakama objects that her only child is too young to wed the offspring of a barbarian and Mereret says never to an alliance marriage with the barbarian that will take her away from her home, Ptolemy invites Alexander to his kingdom. In Bactria, ignoring the advice of his mother Roxanne not to trust the Egyptian ruler, the son of a Macedonian bandit, Alexander accepts the invitation and sails to Egypt where his half-brother Paris resides.

Mereret appeases Alexandra's sexual appetite by gifting him with a pleasure slave Kiara of the Misty Isles. Alexandra enjoys the tryst and informs her she is his exclusively until he leaves for his kingdom with his bride. When Mereret tries a sexual betrayal of Alexander, Kiara saves his life. As they fall in love, Alexander does trust his intended with his life; besides he wants to spend forever with Kiara. However, running off with her could cause an international crisis but marrying Mereret means courting death.

THE WARRIOR, the final tale in the "Alexander" trilogy (see THE CONQUEROR and THE BARBARIAN) is a fabulous ancient historical romance starring the shrewd son of the Great one and an intelligent Irish sex slave. Readers will feel the royal intrigue on almost every page as Ptolemy battles with his scheming Queen and their daughter to cement the alliance with his nephew; Paris does his own plotting with the target of everyone's machinations being Alexander. Judith French closes her superb miniseries with a powerful insightful look at fourth century BC mostly at Egypt and the Kingdom of Bactria ad Sogdiana.

Harriet Klausner