The King Must Die

[lunabee34]

The King Must Die by Mary Renault

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this a lot. I've always enjoyed retellings of Greek and Roman myths, and this is a wonderful example of that genre.

The story follows Theseus from his childhood through his escape from Minos, and I think what I like most about the book is that although the characters certainly believe the supernatural is real, the reader knows that natural explanations exist for all the supernatural elements.

Sometimes I felt a little bogged down in the prose; more often, I thought a turn of phrase beautiful and arresting. Always, I anticipated how Renault would twist the bare bones of the myth into something that could actually have happened.

Highly recommended.



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Comments

[igenlode]

Interesting way of putting it; yes, the author does a very good job on showing us the viewpoint of characters who believe utterly in the supernatural while making it completely real to the modern reader.

[lunabee34]

I love that sort of ambiguity in a narrative. It's particularly effective for me in horror where something supernatural could be happening but a mundane explanation also exists.

[igenlode]

And then there's that interesting moment when Theseus looks at the size of his father's sandals left underneath the massive rock and draws the very cynical deduction that the older man probably had to use a lever rather than superhuman strength to raise the boulder in the first place ;-)

[lunabee34]

*nods*

The author does a very good job of depicting Theseus as a very young man who's being thrust into these situations that should be beyond him. So he's by turns cynical and angry and overly optimistic; it's a really nice characterization of someone who the myths portray as confident and kingly throughout.