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The King Must Die

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The King Must Die

By: Mary Renault
Narrated by: Kris Dyer
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About this listen

The epic of Thesus, the boy king of Eleusis, ritually preordained to die after one year of marriage to the sacred queen but who defies God's decree and claims his inheritance - the throne of Athens. This re-creation of a Greek myth is written by the author of The Last of the Wine.

©1958 Mary Renault (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Classics Fiction Historical Fiction Royalty Ancient Greece

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Critic reviews

"One of the truly fine historical novels of modern times. Not since Robert Graves's I, Claudius has there been such an exciting living image of the Ancient World on this grand scale." ( New York Times)
"Takes the raw material of myth and makes it credible - I am spellbound by Miss Renault's art." ( Observer)
"Vivid and convincing...it brims with feeling." ( Sunday Times)
All stars
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Such a brilliant story and recreation of Ancient Greece and the hero Theseus. The reader is good but sometimes clunky and his accents for characters are often clumsy. None the less, a wonderful listen.

Brilliant Evocation

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Good and worth another listen. Very good writing, brings to life ancient myths, and very well performed. Will listen to the sequel and then revisit

Good and worth another listen

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Mary Renault was a good writer but, like so many of her generation, she was afflicted by a downer on women. Unsurprising, then, that this novel has a downer on Minoan culture. If she had been ahead of her time in that respect, her writing would have been great. She was not, and this constrains her work. Sad, and must have caused her pain in her personal life, she living as a woman and furthermore one whose only lifelong romantic relationship was with another woman.

Limited by misogyny

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Mary Renault was an artist with words. I read all her books in my teens and twenties and am revisiting them now. Her writing is like poetry. The amount of research she must have done to craft this work and her others, at a time before the internet which makes things so much easier, is epic. The performance is sensitive and elegant. Highly recommended.

Beautiful writing from an artist.

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Excellently written . I expected it to be dated as the book was written in 1958 but it reads true as all classics do. Excellent plot and reconstruction of the atmosphere and superstitions of those early times. Quite well read by a young voice as Theseus but some terrible pronunciations e.g. Feeb for Phoebe amongst some others but at least he was consistent, so I'm giving the 5 stars for the book itself and 3 for the reader. This has not put me off ordering the sequel however.

Vivid reconstruction of ancient times

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I very much enjoyed this book. I’ve seen a few criticisms that it takes a few liberties with the archaeology but we’re talking about Bronze Age Greek and Minoan culture here so good luck constructing a beautiful epic story without taking a few liberties! I don’t think anyone with an interest in Ancient Greece would seriously consider this as anything other than an extremely well-written fleshing out out of the Theseus and the Minotaur myth, stripped of almost all of the supernatural elements yet still capturing the essence of the beliefs and practices involving local deities.
I’ve also seen complaints that it’s misogynistic. I strongly disagree. The main character would actually have been extremely progressive for an ancient Hellene. There is no maligning of women (other than Medea but that’s entirely consistent with the culture) but ancient Attica was a very patriarchal society with chauvinistic beliefs and norms. Without it the book would have lost its authentic feel.
Looking forward to the sequel!

Wonderful, imaginative with an authentic feel

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I would recommend this book to anyone intending to visit Knossos, or anyone who has enjoyed knowing the myths and legends of ancient Greece.
Mary Renault is a scholarly writer with great imagination.
The performance of Kris Dyer enhances the text.

Myth brought to life

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I have returned to this book many times, the narrator probably has not. Here is Theseus as an older man looking back on his life, but the narrator sounds middle-aged. if that. He is not familiar with the pronunciation of names like “Knossos” and “Amyntor”, which is irritating, and why do many narrators these days employ an intonation more suited to “carpet time” in a primary school than to adult books?
Disappointing.

Gifted Writer - inadequate narration

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I always loved this story, retelling the legend of Theseus. Renault is a cracking story teller. I liked the narrator too, but found the character voices he assumed annoying, affected and stereotypical - a simpler approach on the whole would have sufficed. But it was such a pleasure brought to life I will forgive him!

A magical tale brought to life

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I couldn't get on with the narrator at all, he made Theseus sound wet. Book returned.

Didn't like the narrator

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