The Philosopher Kings: A Novel (Thessaly), by Jo Walton
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The Philosopher Kings: A Novel (Thessaly), by Jo Walton
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From acclaimed, award-winning author Jo Walton: Philosopher Kings, a tale of gods and humans, and the surprising things they have to learn from one another. Twenty years have elapsed since the events of The Just City. The City, founded by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, organized on the principles espoused in Plato's Republic and populated by people from all eras of human history, has now split into five cities, and low-level armed conflict between them is not unheard-of.
The god Apollo, living (by his own choice) a human life as "Pythias" in the City, his true identity known only to a few, is now married and the father of several children. But a tragic loss causes him to become consumed with the desire for revenge. Being Apollo, he goes handling it in a seemingly rational and systematic way, but it's evident, particularly to his precocious daughter Arete, that he is unhinged with grief.
Along with Arete and several of his sons, plus a boatload of other volunteers--including the now fantastically aged Marsilio Ficino, the great humanist of Renaissance Florence--Pythias/Apollo goes sailing into the mysterious Eastern Mediterranean of pre-antiquity to see what they can find―possibly the man who may have caused his great grief, possibly communities of the earliest people to call themselves "Greek." What Apollo, his daughter, and the rest of the expedition will discover…will change everything.
The Philosopher Kings: A Novel (Thessaly), by Jo Walton- Amazon Sales Rank: #264210 in Books
- Brand: Walton, Jo
- Published on: 2015-06-30
- Released on: 2015-06-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.46" h x 1.17" w x 5.71" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
Review
"This continues Walton's fascinating exploration of what it might be like if people lived according to Platonic ideals but with messy human emotions and urges complicating matters at every turn."―Library Journal
"If there's one thing Walton is brilliant at ― and there are roughly 1 million of those ― it's not letting you know quite what kind of story you're in, and leading you to relish the discovery."―NPR
About the Author
JO WALTON won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012 for her novel Among Others. Before that, she won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Tooth and Claw won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. The novels of her Small Change sequence―Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown― have won acclaim ranging from national newspapers to the Romantic Times Critics' Choice Award. A native of Wales, she lives in Montreal.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. In a word, phenomenal! By Bibliotropic .net Sequel to The Just City, a book which blew me away when I first read it, The Philosopher Kings does exactly the same thing, and just as cheerfully. The first book of the series could stand on its own, and very steadily, without the need for a sequel. The story was complete, or at least complete enough that it didn’t feel unfinished in the slightest. However, it seems there was more of the story to be told after all, and The Philosopher Kings picks up some years after the end of the first book. The debate between Sokrates and Athene has become known as the Last Debate. The city has split, and 4 other cities have been formed, each attempting to build their ideal home according to Plato’s laws but with their own interpretation. Raids for art have become common, each city wanting their share of the time-rescued art and no other city prepared to give up what they have.Thanks to the art raids, Simmea, one of the characters we see grow up in the Just City in the first book, someone who devoted her life to excellence as best she knew it, has been killed. Apollo, in his mortal guise as Pythias, vows revenge against the person he thinks orchestrated the attack: Kebes, a malcontent who left the Just City some years back, and who has long expressed his hate for the City and what it stands for. Together with his children, he sets out on a journey to get his revenge, and along the way discovers that the Republic experiment has reached further than anyone intended.All of the things I loved about the first book make a return here. The thought-provoking debates, the unique and interesting characters, the expression of diversity amongst people who are still united for a common goal. Walton juggles many balls here, and does it all so well. The story of Pythias and his children seeking revenge on Kebes and finding other settlements that have been influenced by Athene’s plans would make an interesting enough story all on its own. Then you throw in the coming-of-age subplot with Arete, not only as she goes from child to ephebe, but also as she and her brothers discover that they have heroic souls, complete with a variety of divine powers, and they must decide whether to develop those powers and embrace that aspect of their heritage or to keep it hidden. Roll that all up into a ball with fantastic philosophical debates, and you get something that’s highly intelligent and will appeal to those with a keen mind.I suppose this book falls under the category of “literary SFF,” as does The Just City. There are definitely some fantastical elements to it all. Deities bringing together people from multiple different times and places. Sentience and art arising in robotic workers. Everything that was already established beforehand stays true here. The only new element, really, is Pythias’s children and the nature of their souls, but even that is mostly a frame upon which to drape philosophy and questions. It does serve to advance the story, though in small ways rather than huge ones. Arete can detect when someone is lying, which comes in handy during important debates, for instance.Walton works wonders with providing so much commentary on big issues here, issues that I can’t say I often think about but that are interesting to ponder once brought up. If you take a bunch of Christians and transport them back before the time of Jesus, does what Jesus did for humanity still apply? Is it better to have a high social standing and not follow your passion than to have a low social standing but be fulfilled by what you do there? What is true justice?Actually, I spent a few hours contemplating that one, and I still haven’t come up with a satisfactory answer. Best I can figure out, true justice is where the punishment inflicts proportional damage upon the perpetrator that they inflicted upon the victim. It’s not enough to follow “an eye for an eye” if the perpetrator is ambivalent about losing an eye and their victim valued their sight immensely, because things aren’t proportional. But that means that sometimes justice must be downright cruel, and sometimes it can never be served completely… See, this is the kind of stuff that reading this book makes you think about, which is why I love it! Rarely do I encounter books that put me in that exact frame of mind to ponder big questions in such an analytical way. It makes me want to search for answers. Not necessarily find them, but at least search for them, and in so doing improve my understanding of them.In short, it makes me want to better myself, to bring myself that much closer to excellence. Which is the whole purpose behind Athene’s experiment with Plato’s Republic.The Philosopher Kings was a brilliant book, and I adored it, as I expected to. If you enjoyed the first book, you’ll feel the same way about this one. And if you’re looking for a fascinating take on philosophy, history, and religion, then look no further than this duology. it’s worth every second you spend reading it, and every second you spend thinking about it afterward. In a word, phenomenal!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Great Continuation By Greg Polansky At the end of The Just City, Socrates was turned into a fly, Athene clearly lost the debate and disappeared, taking almost all the future robots with her. Now at the beginning of The Philosopher Kings we have moved about 15 to 20 years into the future and the Just City has fractured into five warring cities. What do they war over? Art. Because the main city had all the art that was recovered, the other four cities demanded their share. When that wasn't given, wars broke out over the art.At the very start of the book, Simmea is apparently dying due to one of the arts wars which was fought over the head of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. (I envy those of you who have seen the body in the Lourve) And Apollo? Apollo wants to kill himself so he can rescue his beloved. But will he be able to?This book is a continuation of the Thessaly trilogy. Yes, trilogy. There is a third book set to be published sometime in the Summer of 2016 called Necessity. But in this book, the second (and really if you're reading this I hope you have read the first book), Apollo and his children and other members of The Just City go on a sailing expedition from their island of Thera to discover who stole the head. Apollo believes it is Kebe's group who are believed to have founded their own city somewhere to the east. Sailing away from Thera into the wine-dark sea, the points of view shift from Apollo to Maia (great points of view that fill in what happened to fracture the Just City into five cities) to Arete, daughter of Apollo.There are lots of good philosophical discussions on time travel and what effects their presence will have on any communities visited. The story is quick paced and will keep you up past your bedtime. And now I wish I had the final book so I can see what happens to the characters I have come to love reading about.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. 4.5 stars: great writing, fascinating charqcters, and both action and a "thinky" plot By Cissa I am apparently the odd one out, since I have not yet read "Just City" (it lurks in the depths of Mount TBR at the moment).Despite clearly missing all that background, though, this is an engaging and effective tale. There are enough references to important incidents in the first book that a savvy reader can catch up on the gist, if not on the details.I have not read much of Plato's Republic, and am not exactly enthused about many of the aspects I have read. I particularly dislike and am suspicious of the caste system, as I am of the current caste system in the USA; I think it behooves governance to include the voices of all its citizens, not just the "golds".So- there are meaty philosophical issues raised here, and not answered directly- which is as it should be! This may be one of the most thoughtful "utopias" I've read; it's certainly the least didactic.The characters are engaging and complex, and interactions can get complicated- more like real life than they are in most novels.Which is not to say it lacks in action! It's got some tense action, as well as the thinkiness! The balance, I thought, was excellent.I really enjoyed this, and recommend it to people who like clear, lovely prose, and some serious philosophy with their sf/f action.
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