Alexander volume II: The sands of ammon. (Fiction).

VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI, TRANS. FROM THE ITALIAN BY lAIN HALLIDAY. Pocket/Washington Square, $14 paper (41 6p) ISBN 0-7434-3437-4

Manfredi (Alexander: Child of a Dream) turns his attention to the Persian campaign of Alexander the Great in the second novel of his epic sequence, focusing on the memorable series of battles between Alexander and a rival mercenary general, Memnon of Rhodes. Duplicity is the order of the day as the fight begins, with Memnon engaging in some well-engineered surprise maneuvers, attacks and ambushes that initially set the great conqueror back on his heels. Alexander knows his superior troops will ultimately carry the day, but even as he sets …