The book is written through the first-person view of Alexander of Lyncestis - the titular Shadow King. This Alexander makes for an engaging character, and you share his concerns and worries, in battles and in politics, alongside him throughout the story. He is a companion of Alexander the Great, and plays an important role in the structure of the Macedonian army. However, Alexander of Lyncestis is not an astute politician, and he feels the weight of his place in line for the throne throughout the book as he juggles his loyalties to Alexander the Great and to his Macedonian comrades and home. The view from Alexander of Lyncestis allows for a deep insight to the world of Macedonia and the campaign Alexander the Great led into Asia against the Persians. The books is well-researched, as evidenced by the extensive descriptions of different types of troops and weapons within Alexander the Great's army, as well as by the insightful commentary Alexander of Lyncestis makes about how different stories quickly sprang up around Alexander the Great. Harry Sidebottom does an excellent job of weaving these different versions of history together and presenting a singular, unified story while also acknowledging the historical complexities of working with such material. At times, descriptions of battles took over a bit too much for me. This is not so much a fault with the book, though, as my own taste. The battle descriptions seem to follow the historical records, and I suspect this is why these events were more prevalent and with greater time in the narrative spent on them. Initially, I found keeping track of the political background tricky - there were a lot of names, some of them repeated between characters in relatively quick succession and without any particular identifying features for which. The character guide at the start of the book was therefore particularly useful for the first part of the story. Once established, the political aspects of the book were intriguing, especially with the risk of different factions and claimants. These aspects disappeared slightly in the middle, where most of the battles take place, but reemerged to great effect in the final third of the book, by which point I was fully engaged with them (as I'd gotten to understand what was happening) and fully on board with the concerns of Alexander of Lyncestis. As a semi-educational read, this revealed a brilliant light and insight on the dynamics of Alexander the Great's court and army, which I thoroughly enjoyed!!! Throughout much of the book, I could have done with a little more character engagement between our protagonist and others in the story, and I think such engagement would have helped my understanding of the political landscape click into place faster and build the stakes quicker, and therefore help me connect with Alexander of Lyncestis more. However, having reached the end of the book and with the benefit of reflection, the seeming isolation of Alexander of Lyncestis makes complete sense, and the whole way the book is written reflects how Alexander is telling his story. A bit of a "you've got to reread it to fully appreciate the structure" scenario - but definitely worth it!