Funeral Games is the tense, dynamic conclusion to Mary Renault’s Alexander Trilogy. With Alexander the Great in a coma, his empire is under threat of unravelling even faster that it was formed. Allies in battle will quickly turn into enemies as opportunities for enormous wealth and power emerge but the window to achieve them will close just as suddenly.

Alexander the Great is on his death bed and there is great anxiety throughout his barely-formed empire. Secretaries dispatch his latest orders knowing they will probably not be heeded. Priests congregate to discuss prophecies knowing they do not bode well.

And how differently things might have been? What if Hephaistion, Alexander’s best friend, had not died? What if Alexander had married as normal? He might have a fourteen-year-old son by now.

Now it is reported that before Alexander slipped into a coma, he gave his ring to Perdikkas though no one knows whether it means he has made Perdikkas his deputy or his regent. Together with Peukestes, who was made Satrap of Persia and now dresses like a Persian, Perdikkas addresses the troops. The Persian soldiers are worried about their status as a conquered people after Alexander had made them equals. The Macedonian soldiers bristle at repeated breaches of protocol and at leaders who have adopted Persian ways.

The generals hold a meeting. Absent is Krateros who was probably next in line but was sent back to Macedon to be regent there and is a long way into his journey. Perdikkas takes off Alexander’s ring and asks the generals to name a regent until Roxane’s child, assuming it is a boy, comes of age. Roxane, Alexander’s Bactrian wife, still has four months to go in her pregnancy. But Stateira, Alexander’s Persian wife, daughter of the Emperor Darius III, is also pregnant and has equal right.

While debate rages and anger rises, Meleager, one of the officers, slips out. He goes to get Arridaios, Alexander’s idiot half-brother and legal heir. Meleager takes Arridaios to the throne room and manipulates him into accepting the throne. The crowd cheers, calling him Philip III, the generals are shocked and angry.

Staying in the background is Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s oldest friends and generals. Looking older than his forty-three years, Ptolemy wants nothing more than to be Satrap of Egypt and is confident he can get it. He has never bonded with Bagoas, the Persian eunuch, lover and carer of Alexander (see The Persian Boy). But now they have common ground over what Alexander would have wanted and what now needs to be done to achieve it.

Bagoas’ slender hand closed in a sinewy fist. ‘Why did Alexander let him live? If he had only given me leave. No one would have been the wiser.’

I don’t doubt it, thought Ptolemy, glancing at his face. ‘Well, in Macedon the king is entombed by his rightful heir; it confirms his succession. So, Kassandros will be waiting. So will Perdikkas; he will claim it in the name of Roxane’s son – and, if there is no son, maybe for himself. There is also Olympias, who is no mean fighter either. It will be a bitter war. Sooner or later, whoever holds the coffin and the bier will need the gold.’

Meanwhile, in Macedon, further machinations are underway. The prospect of Alexander’s death and the imminent arrival of Krateros puts ideas in the minds of Olympias, Alexander’s mother, and Kleopatra, Alexander’s widowed sister. But there is also Kynna – a half sister of Alexander. Kynna has been sidelined ever since her husband was implicated in Phillip II’s assassination and executed for treason by Alexander. Daughter of Phillip II by an Illyrian princess, Kynna has followed her Illyrian heritage and is something of a warrior-princess herself. With a daughter of marriageable age who she is also training as a warrior, Kynna has plans of her own.

The death of Alexander the Great will plunge the ancient near-East into unprecedented turmoil. His queens, his generals and his own family will betray, murder and go to war to fight for their slice of his empire.

A rustling shudder passed through the brittle ranks. Horror perhaps, the knowledge that nothing was now unthinkable; or, perhaps, temptation.

Funeral Games is the concluding third novel of Mary Renault’s Alexander Trilogy and is a different beast from the two preceding novels. The first, Fire From Heaven, is a third-person coming-of-age story of Alexander’s youth. The Second, The Persian Boy, is a first-person account of the fall of Darius’ empire and the troubled founding of Alexander’s told from the perspective of Alexander’s companion Bagoas. In Funeral Games we return to a third-person narrative but with a story marked by the absence of the trilogy’s central character – Alexander.

This was one of the things I enjoyed most in Funeral Games – the elevation of minor characters from the earlier novels and the emergence of new ones. Several of them, like Kynna and her daughter, were very interesting on their own. Funeral Games is easily the shortest of the three Alexander novels. But it covers a complex dynamic period of three years and with several characters given equal weight. It is, therefore, relatively action-packed. Given that the aftermath of Alexander’s death is not given the same attention as his exploits in life, the story contained in Funeral Games, when delivered in this format, is both fascinating for the history and entertaining for the drama.

Funeral Games also contains a bit more emotional heft than the other novels. In particular, it was in the tragic fate of Arridaios/Philip III. The exploitation of Alexander’s intellectually-disabled half-brother by those seeking power for themselves was an affecting subplot.

Like all of Renault’s novels set in the ancient world, Funeral Games benefits from her research, attention to detail and world-building craft that made her one of the great writers of historical fiction. In Funeral Games, a scene from early in the novel where she creates the inside of Alexander’s neglected Harem was especially memorable. As usual, she includes notes on her sources, defends her takes with evidence and shares what parts are fictional.

Like the other two Alexander novels, Funeral Games includes an Introduction by historian Tom Holland, author of Persian Fire. I have already shared some of his insights in my reviews of the two earlier novels. One worth mentioning here is how Renault, writing in this period of history that was excessively male-dominated and dangerous for women, she blurs this gender divide with feminine characters who are survivors, influential and dangerous in the own right. In Fire From Heaven, it was Alexander’s mother Olympias. In The Persian Boy, it was Bagoas. In Funeral Games, it is Eurydike – Kynna’s daughter.

Beaten to her knees, faced with surrender, she felt her blood remembering its sources. The shade of Alexander taunted her; he, at sixteen, had held Macedon as Regent, and fought a victorious war. The fire of her ambition smouldered still under its embers. Why had she been humbled? Not for reaching too high, but too low. I was mocked, she thought, because I did not dare enough. From now on, I will claim my rights for myself.

At evening, when the sun sank over Asia and the first smoke rose, she put on her man’s tunic, called for her horse, and rode out among the watch- fires.

Funeral Games brings to an end my reading of Renault’s work. I have read her eight novels set in the ancient world which makes her the author I have read the most. The King Must Die – her retelling of the myth of Theseus is my favourite of her novels. The Mask of Apollo and The Last of the Wine are two others I enjoyed most. It would not surprise me if I made the effort to read them again one day. Of the Alexander Trilogy, I enjoyed The Persian Boy the most. And despite being a trilogy, I think the three novels can be read independently.

Funeral Games again showcases Mary Renault’s strengths as an historical novelist. One who has inspired others such as Madeline Miller and Hilary Mantel. It is entertaining but delivered with reassuring attention to historical facts. In addition, it covers a fascinating and turbulent period of history. One that enthusiasts of history will enjoy seeing brought to life.