Publisher: Vintage
Authors: Mary Renault
List Price: $14.00
Amazon Price: $10.78
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Reviews:
Summary: Imperfect writing style, but an interesting retelling with empowering ideas. Mildly recommended.
The King Must Die is a retelling of the Greek myth of Theseus, following the hero from the contested fatherhood of his early childhood, through his Kingship at Eleusis, to his time at Crete as living as a bull-dancer, ending with the successful journey through the labyrinth and the slaying of the Minotaur. The text humanizes the mythic figure of Theseus, giving him mortal weaknesses and human wants, while at the same time preserving a sense of power and destiny through moira the scope, possibility, responsibility, and end of every man's life. The end result is a realistic yet still heroic tale, fairly easy to read, with an interesting and motivating concept of fate. I would recommend it to those who like myths, specifically Greek myths; it's not a world-changing book but it is a fairly enjoyable read.
I'm not entirely sure I have much more to say about this text. It is what I've already described it as: a humanized retelling of a classic myth with an emphasis on the idea of fate. The idea of fate that the book considers and revolves around is quite interesting. Unlike some Calvinistic concept, fate, or moira, in The King Must Die focuses on ability and life just as much as it does death. Fate is not only how a man will end up, but also what a man can and must do. The concept is empowering and even comforting to both Theseus and the reader because it provides divine support to even the greatest ambition.
For all of that, there is something a bit clunky, a bit heavy-handed about the text. Books written to affect a certain style or national sense often feel that way to me. Here, Renault appears to be imitating whatever she thinks Greek thoughts or writing to be like. I can only assume that's what she's doing--otherwise, her writing style itself is choppy, using over-definite sentences, hard end-stops, and cut and dry physical descriptions. The effect, while readable, taints the human aspects that she has worked so hard to give to the text. While gritty detail and lust may be human, robotic sentence structure is not. In the end this may be a quibbling fault, but it distracted me throughout the book.
I was impressed by idea more than execution in this book, but I'm ok with that. It's an imperfect text, but the realistic, pre-myth version of the Theseus story is an interesting read and the concept of moira is thought-inspiring. I recommend the book only tentatively, and would rather readers check out some really great literature instead, but I would still recommend it. It's a pretty good, interesting text.
Summary: How legends begin and more
I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I started reading this book. I was familiar with the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. This, I figured, would go into greater depth. But what Renault does here was not expected. She takes the legend of Theseus and makes it real. If you have ever wondered how all those Greek myths and legends came to be, read this book. It makes perfect sense that stories of real and extraordinary people would, over time, condense and exaggerate into something fantastic.
This book is, in the end, all about Theseus. His voice comes through strong and shining and we immediately immerse in his adventure. Interestingly enough, he remains a teenager throughout the story. It is often touching how much growing up he has to do at such an early age.
My only wish after finishing this book was that Miss Renault had continued to the end of Theseus's life and not stopped halfway through. However, it seems she does continue with "The Bull from the Sea."
I was shocked to learn that kids in grade 9 and 10 are required to read this for English class. This is higher level reading requiring maturity. When I was that age I could never get through the "boring" books that I now hold in esteem. And there is a certain amount of sexuality and homosexuality involved that might offend.
Summary: Fact from Fiction
Although Mary Renault was writing in the 1950's in The King Must Die (KMD) she manages to delve into the cultures and lanauges of ancient Greece in such a way that her novel about the life, trials and triumphs of King Theseus of Athens is as timeless as the myths about him.
Instead of creating a personal account of the myths of Greece, Renault took on the etiological aspects of the stories about Theseus and explains them in a way that the modern, analytical mind can be comfortable with.
Yes, the religious elements and influence (of the sea god, Poseidon, and the Earth goddess, Dia) are still profound, but we see real-life explanations that could very well have been the source of the myth.
The minotaur of Crete becomes an illegitimate son of the too-proud Queen, the Labryinth is a maze-like palace meant to keep royal blood from being mixed with 'outsiders' and, throughout it all, the essence of every person's moira (destiny) is related to the rituals that mean 'the king must die.'
Every aspect of the book leads into a sense of give and take, life and death, sink or float. The kings give their lives for their people the same way the Earth Mother's harvest feeds the people (with the kings' blood being the 'seed' that causes her to flower).
The most appealing aspect of this book is that the myths of ancient Greece and the long-gone gods are reanimated so that we are able to see the true religion of the era. Libations, questions and sacrifice mean the gods' favor and "play-acting" at the reverance inevitably means death.
Renault should be commended for an interesting, thought-provoking novel that had me dreaming of gods, kings, queens, and "wine-dark" seas for days on end.
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