Dancing with the Lion: Becoming

Set in ancient Macedonia (here called Makedonia), this slow-moving work does much to illuminate history but falls short as a romance. The warrior prince who will one day be known to the world as Alexander the Great is still only Alexandros, son of the king and a page in his father’s service. Most of the book focuses on his early teen years and the friendship that develops between him and a fellow page, Hephaistion, as they study and fight together. Though Reames’s background as a historian shows through, readers expecting a romantic novel will be disappointed. The book is nearly over before one of the boys admits feelings of longing for the other, and there’s neither the sizzle of a slow burn nor the heat of a passionate romance. This well-told, if unexpected, coming-of-age story is best suited to those who don’t mind having only a drop of love in the bucket of personal narrative. (July)