[XYN]≡ Download The Philosopher Kings A Novel Thessaly Book 2 eBook Jo Walton

The Philosopher Kings A Novel Thessaly Book 2 eBook Jo Walton

Download As PDF : The Philosopher Kings A Novel Thessaly Book 2 eBook Jo Walton

The Philosopher Kings A Novel Thessaly Book 2 eBook Jo Walton

The Philosopher Kings is the second volume in the Thessaly Trilogy, which began with The Just City. Walton describes in The Just City the goddess Athene's establishment of a version of Plato's ideal Republic (as hypothesised in the eponymous dialogue) on the island of Thera some time before the Trojan War. In this volume, the story resumes twenty years after the collapse of the original experiment following the Final Debate on the justice of establishing a Platonic Republic between Sokrates (the historic figure as opposed to the Platonic Socrates of the dialogues) and Athene, at the end of which a piqued goddess turned the stonemason/philosopher into an actual horsefly (Plato's Apology will explain the reason for this). The narrators of this story are Pytheas (the incarnate god Apollo, possessing key attributes but shorn of his divine powers so that he can experience life as a mortal), and Apollo's daughter Arete (Excellence or Virtue). The key element of the story is the search for a group of people who had left with Kebes (or Matthias) a recalcitrant member of the Just City's community following the Final Debate. It turns out that Matthias has established a Christian Platonist community, with colonies of its own. Because Matthias hated Pytheas he challenged him to a musical duel, with fascinating results, known to all familiar with myth as the tale of Apollo and Marsyas.

But this is more than a quest story cum revenge drama. It is science fiction, with the science being ethics. But the ethical questions are not only those posed by Plato (can the just city produce people who will develop their own excellence through true balance of character?) but also deeper ones about what it means to be truly human. Walton's gods seem to be a bit in awe of human qualities, and even of human limitation by time. The god who turns up in the end, summoned inadvertently by Arete, has a dry sense of humour and, I suspect, a deeper understanding of humanity than gods who spent years in the Just City.


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The Philosopher Kings A Novel Thessaly Book 2 eBook Jo Walton Reviews

This is an interesting science fiction novel based on Greek mythology and Plato's philosophy. It continues the story in "The Just City" into the next generation of the city. There is interesting criticism of Plato's ideas if they were put into practice, and some comparison of the Greek polytheistic religion with Christianity. There is little discussion of the abilities of the Greek Gods, so anyone who wants to see that aspect of the story may be disappointed.
A worthy second vol in the Just City trilogy. I recommend you read this trilogy in order. (By the way if you disliked Just City skip this one). Without revealing any of the plot, this continues the story of the main characters from the Just City -- as well as some new ones, mostly children born from the original inhabitants. This is a thought provoking story that makes you think and also a fast moving story. I highly recommend.
Walton continues to gently blur the boundaries of SF/F with this continued development of her society based on Plato's Republic. This sequel lacks the dramatic excitement of world-building that The Just City offered, but its characters are more accessible and warmly human. Most fun is the way Walton manages to -- again very gently -- suggest that all of our modern Western alien/superhero/magic narratives have a common core in ancient Greek philosophy. This novel suggests rather than explicates, and is short on plot and conflict, but it's a treat for readers who like a good thought experiment.
The Philosopher Kings works on two levels a story of an assortment of vivid, interesting characters and their pursuit of excellence and other adventures in a fascinating situation, and an exploration of Greek philosophy and Christianity and their effects on the people whose culture they dominate. It's one of those books that leaves you with a longer reading list than you started out with. Plato's Republic, obviously, but also Pico della Mirandola's Dignity of Man, and Thomas Aquinas, the myth of Marayas the satyr and his musical competition with Apollo, and on and on.This book and Just City stand on their own just fine but I'm looking forward to the third if there is one. Maybe by the time it comes out I'll have finished all the reading these two have pointed me towards.
Jo Walton's The Philosopher Kings is a direct sequel to her earlier book, The Just City, which concerns the time-traveling goddess Athena's attempt to set up the city of Plato's Republic in the distant past, all with some help from Socrates and robots! In my review of that book, I noted that, as a science fiction fan and philosophy professor who regularly teaches Plato, the book was pretty much tailor made for me. While the same can be said of the sequel, I have to admit I didn't enjoy it quite as much. See my full review http//examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2015/09/sci-fi-plato-continued-philosopher.html
I was a bit let down by this sequel to The Just City. Unlike the first book, the plot in this one seems very rushed and forced despite all the details, and the philosophy isn't always as integrated into the story as it should be. The characters are not as well-developed as they should be, and the overall feel is unsatisfying. I still look forward to the third book in the trilogy (if indeed there will be one) but I was not as impressed as this one, despite it's being so well-written. The concept of "art wars" was a bit silly as well; I doubt that anything like that would ever happen in such a civilization.
The Philosopher Kings is the second volume in the Thessaly Trilogy, which began with The Just City. Walton describes in The Just City the goddess Athene's establishment of a version of Plato's ideal Republic (as hypothesised in the eponymous dialogue) on the island of Thera some time before the Trojan War. In this volume, the story resumes twenty years after the collapse of the original experiment following the Final Debate on the justice of establishing a Platonic Republic between Sokrates (the historic figure as opposed to the Platonic Socrates of the dialogues) and Athene, at the end of which a piqued goddess turned the stonemason/philosopher into an actual horsefly (Plato's Apology will explain the reason for this). The narrators of this story are Pytheas (the incarnate god Apollo, possessing key attributes but shorn of his divine powers so that he can experience life as a mortal), and Apollo's daughter Arete (Excellence or Virtue). The key element of the story is the search for a group of people who had left with Kebes (or Matthias) a recalcitrant member of the Just City's community following the Final Debate. It turns out that Matthias has established a Christian Platonist community, with colonies of its own. Because Matthias hated Pytheas he challenged him to a musical duel, with fascinating results, known to all familiar with myth as the tale of Apollo and Marsyas.

But this is more than a quest story cum revenge drama. It is science fiction, with the science being ethics. But the ethical questions are not only those posed by Plato (can the just city produce people who will develop their own excellence through true balance of character?) but also deeper ones about what it means to be truly human. Walton's gods seem to be a bit in awe of human qualities, and even of human limitation by time. The god who turns up in the end, summoned inadvertently by Arete, has a dry sense of humour and, I suspect, a deeper understanding of humanity than gods who spent years in the Just City.