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Queen Of The Amazons by Judith Tarr
01/10/2004 . Source: Rachel Broome 
pub: TOR/Forge. 320 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30395-7. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
The story follows Selene, an Amazon warrior and reluctant seer. At the start of the book she is one of the queen's guards, but after the Queen's firstborn daughter and heir is born, alive but soulless, Selene discovers that the child's presence prevents the seers' dreams that have plagued her for years.
Selene therefore manoeuvres herself into becoming the child's (Etta's) guardian and continues in this role as the child grows up; energetic, beautiful but empty and soulless. When the child is born without a soul, the queen's cousin, Phaedra, who believes she should have been the rightful queen, attempts to persuade the rest of the clan to kill it, only to be prevented by the old clan seer.
Phaedra is not satisfied at this and as the child gets older and still does not gain a soul, more and more of the clan begin to side with her, until the only question becomes when Phaedra will try and take the clan, not if.
One day, Etta becomes aware of a beacon to the West which she must travel to, accompanied by Selene and various others of the Queen's party. When they arrive at this beacon, they discover it is Alexander the Great, just finished conquering Persia. Alexander becomes fond of Etta, thus granting Selene and Etta a place in his court. The rest of the story covers the decline and fall of Alexander and its consequence for Etta, Selene and the clan.
Tarr has done a lot of research for this book and it shows in her depictions of the different cultures and attitudes of the peoples involved. There is no explanation, however, for the different set up of the Amazon's clan: women being nomads, warriors and hunters, men settled in villages farming and raising children. I found this basic concept pretty hard to accept, though seeing as the book is called 'Queen Of The Amazons' it wasn't likely to be a study in patriarchal feudalism.
I did like the fact that this wasn't your standard fantasy set in some Dark Age quasi-European country. The Persian and Macedonian cultures featured are much more interesting.
The characterisation is OK. Some of the characters are just ciphers but others are more fleshed out, although I didn't find any of them particularly engaging.
The way Tarr has wound her story through actual historical events is good, as are the action sequences. Overall I found this a fairly good book and a pretty interesting way to spend a few hours.
Rachel Broome
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