Flood Tide: An Epic Novel of the Greek Invasion of Persia (The Ptolemaios Saga)
Ptolemaios bitterly regrets that a brief study of ancient Greece turned into a time trap. He’s been in the past for a decade and has spent most of that time finding a place among Alexander’s elite and trying to keep the Prime Directive: “Don’t Mess With The Past.” Now his only way home is a faraway time portal that will open in Egypt years from now.
But the change in history means he now faces a deadly enemy as well as a future that no longer has any signposts for him. For all he knows, Alexander’s whole army will be wiped out in the next battle with the Persians.
Since the premise of the novel is that Ptolemaios has gone back from the future to the far past (330s BCE), I admit I was expecting another time-travel-back-to-romance-Alexander-the-Great novel – and I’m very pleased to have been wrong. The novel has an unusual setup, and the change in Alexander’s history makes it extremely intriguing. Like Ptolemaios, the reader has no notion what will happen next, managing the amazing feat of creating suspense in the familiar history of Alexander the Great. Flood Tide is a corking good read, and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens to Ptolemaios (although his name is of course a huge clue).
Although this is the second book in the Ptolemaios saga, it’s not necessary to have read book one to follow this story easily, and I compliment the author on his skill.
