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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 Mythology Ancient Greece

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)
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I read The Persian Boy many years ago and loved it. I found this book not to be particularly engaging. I was vaguely familiar with the Theseus story. I found the narrator to be quite off-putting, due to what seemed to me s rather light or effete and too cultured reading style. Others may disagree, but it was just not to my taste.

disappointing

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The world of the Minatour and the bull dancers is brought from ancient frescoes into the immediacy of our present-day imagination. A wonderful re-telling and reading of the classic legend. All honour to both author and reader.

Evocation of a forgotten civilisation

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.