Ben Bova
Orion and the Conqueror
Tor, c1994, ISBN 0812523768
science fiction
 

Multiple hugo award winner Ben Bova is known for scientifically accurate hard SF.  That accuracy is no surprise, since Bova himself is a scientist with academic publications as well as novels and short fiction.  This particular book does not, though, belong to his more serious works.  It's part of his "Orion" series, what might best be called light SF.  The series follows an immortal named Orion through various adventures set for him by his "Creators."  One need not have read the other series books to follow this one, which finds Orion sent back to ancient Macedonia and the court of Philip II.  We then follow events leading up to Philip's murder.  Bova states that he admires Philip more than Alexander -- evident enough in the portrayals of the characters with a sinister Olympias and vicious Alexander -- but if so, why does Orion (whether the protag or not) make most of Philip's clever military decisions?  It rather detracts from the presentation of Philip as a great leader.

These are books unashamedly written to entertain and make money, not win more awards.  Even so, considering Bova's reputation, one might have expected better history.  In the author's note at the end, Mr. Bova makes the rather surprising claim, "While this continuation of the tale of Orion's struggles with his Creators is of course fiction, the details of fourth-century B.C. history are as accurate as I could make them."

After reading the book, the only conclusion one can reach is that he must not have tried very hard then.  Most of his research is dated, sometimes by as much as 20+ years, and he doesn't understand the ancient mindset.  He could have studied Macedonia and its institutions far more (since the novel takes place there), as well as looked at the wealth of recent work on Olympias (notably anything by E. Carney).  Apparently, he read a few books, largely biographies on Alexander, and stopped there.  The result is a curious jumble of the correct and the outdated, with occasional glaring anachronisms in thought processes, and a few humorous oversights.

One might be more inclined to grant Bova leeway -- as he is a scientist, not an historian -- except that he is known in the SF community for denouncing bad science in SF novels, taking fellow authors (particularly non-scientists) to task for scientific errors in a brusque -- even rude -- fashion.  As such, one cannot help but see a certain sour humor in tit for tat.

If Bova thinks that non-scientists shouldn't try to write hard SF, then perhaps non-historians (like himself) shouldn't try to write historicals . . . even SF historicals.  Certainly not if they wish to make claims to historical accuracy.

The novel is, perhaps, not as bad as it could have been -- certainly not as bad as David Gemmell's fantasy duology.  Bova writes with his usually clean prose and the plot moves along smoothly.  The characterization is somewhat two-dimensional, but characterization has never been Bova's strong point.  Nevertheless, it is a long way from Lord of the Two Lands, a novel published just a year before by his fellow SF/F author, Judith Tarr.