Synopsis
A biography of the Persian king who devoted much of his reign to the conquest of Greece.
Xerxes comes from a series of books which offer a large amount of detail about the lives of Caesar and Persian King Xerxes, whose battle losses to the Greeks changed the balance of power in the ancient world, but they are short on analysis and overall historical perspective. They do not provide the background most young readers need or tell them why these leaders are still studied today.
Xerxes has a great deal of fictionalizing, including what the king was thinking. However, this book could be considered for collections that need books on the period. The complimentary novel is Ceaser. Both books are out of print but can be found used.
Author
New York-born author Morgan Llywelyn is one of the world's leading popular chroniclers of Celtic culture and history. A prolific storyteller, she has written more than twenty books over the past two decades. Her fiction has received several awards and has sold more than 40 million copies, and she herself is recipient of the 1999 Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year Award from Celtic Women International.
In the words of Judith A. Gifford of the reference publication Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers, "Drawing on the history and lore that are part of her own heritage, the works of Morgan Llywelyn concern themselves with Celtic heroes and heroines, both real and mythical, bringing them and the times they inhabited to life with stunning clarity." Pauline Morgan, writing in the St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, has explained, "[t]he majority of Morgan Llywelyn's books may be regarded as fictional biographies. Each book takes a person, often historical or legendary, and relates the story of their life. Most of the novels with a fantasy connection rely heavily on Celtic mythology, particularly that of the Irish.
Morgan Llywelyn now lives outside of Dublin, Ireland, and has become an Irish citizen.
