The Philosopher Kings
Thessaly, Book 2
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Narrated by:
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Noah Michael Levine
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By:
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Jo Walton
About this listen
From acclaimed, award-winning author Jo Walton: The Philosopher Kings, a tale of gods and humans and the surprising things they have to learn from one another.
Twenty years have elapsed since the events of The Just City. The city, founded by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, organized on the principles espoused in Plato's Republic, and populated by people from all eras of human history, has now split into five cities, and low-level armed conflict between them is not unheard of.
The god Apollo, living (by his own choice) a human life as Pythias in the city, his true identity known to only a few, is now married and the father of several children. But a tragic loss causes him to become consumed with the desire for revenge. Being Apollo, he goes about handling it in a seemingly rational and systematic way, but it's evident - particularly to his precocious daughter, Arete - that he is unhinged with grief.
Along with Arete and several of his sons, plus a boatload of other volunteers - including the now fantastically aged Marsilio Ficino, the great humanist of Renaissance Florence - Pythias/Apollo goes sailing into the mysterious Eastern Mediterranean of pre-antiquity to see what they can find - possibly the man who may have caused his great grief, possibly communities of the earliest people to call themselves Greek. What Apollo, his daughter, and the rest of the expedition will discover...will change everything.
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A Shadow in Summer
- Long Price Quartet, Book 1
- By: Daniel Abraham
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit Seedless, an and at bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity.
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REALLY Hard to Rate!
- By Trip Williams on 04-27-15
By: Daniel Abraham
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Lion of Senet
- Second Sons, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Fallon
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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On the world Ranadon there is no night as both suns shine brightly. The intervention of Belagren, High Priestess of the Shadowdancers, and the sacrifice of a child of royal blood, has banished the Age of Shadows from the skies. Belagren's position is unquestioned...until circumstances begin to tip political rivalries into a deadlier game altogether.
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Really enjoyed it
- By Amazon Customer on 09-15-17
By: Jennifer Fallon
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The Immortal Prince
- Tide Lords, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Fallon
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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He's insisting he's a Tide Lord and he's begging us to try again...to kill him, that is. When a routine hanging goes wrong, the survivor announces he is Cayal the immortal Prince, a Tide Lord. However, the only known record of the immortal beings of Amyrantha is the Tide Lord Tarot...and everyone knows it is only a parlour-game, an amusement. Arkady Desean, an expert on the legends of the Crasii - a part-animal, part-human race - is sent to interrogate Cayal.
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really hard to listen to
- By Scott Oeskovic on 02-09-18
By: Jennifer Fallon
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The Throne of Caesar
- By: Steven Saylor
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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It's Rome, 44 BC, and the Ides of March are approaching. Julius Caesar has been appointed dictator for life by the Roman Senate. Having pardoned his remaining enemies and rewarded his friends, Caesar is now preparing to leave Rome with his army to fight the Parthian Empire. Gordianus the Finder, after decades of investigating crimes and murders involving the powerful, has set aside enough that he's been raised to the Equestrian rank and has firmly and finally retired. On the morning of March 10th, though, he's first summoned to meet with Cicero and then with Caesar himself.
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Oh, How Disappointing!
- By Gillian on 03-01-18
By: Steven Saylor
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A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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This is one of the defining novels of English writer Julian Barnes. An entertaining melange of stories starting with a contemporary account of the launch of Noah's Ark takes us into unexpected areas of human foibles, activities, and tendencies.
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Not what I Expected
- By Mark on 02-20-08
By: Julian Barnes
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Galilee
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 23 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Barbarossa family’s roots are far more ancient and ethereal, but they are bound to the Gearys by a shared history of murder, insanity, and adultery. When Rachel Geary and Galilee, the seductive prince of the Barbarossa clan, fall in love, they unleash powerful enmities that could destroy both dynasties. Shorter and more conventional than some of Barker’s other work, this novel is especially rich with complex, passionate, three-dimensional characters, lush settings, and elegant language.
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An Audiophile's Dream
- By Joseph on 09-01-11
By: Clive Barker
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The Praise Singer
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Tim Bentinck
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in sixth-century Greece at the time of the Tyrants, the Persian Wars, and a great flowering of the arts, this novel takes the form of Simonides' memoirs, written in retirement in Sicily. The author was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and she also wrote "The King Must Die".
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Ambrosia for the gods & a feast for Greek geeks
- By James on 04-20-15
By: Mary Renault
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Dreams Underfoot
- The Newford Collection
- By: Charles de Lint
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to Newford: to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the gray harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost.
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Too Much Urban Fantasy Wears Thin
- By Jefferson on 06-15-13
By: Charles de Lint
What listeners say about The Philosopher Kings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SharkHunterSFO
- 07-17-16
Boring , Boring , Boring......
This is a disappointing book. story line week. Ms. Walton kills off the only interesting character from the first book. Narration is good. but could not save this story
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- Elisabeth Carey
- 07-28-16
The Just City meets the world
Thirty years have passed since the founding of the Just City. The first period of its history ended with the Last Debate, when Athena turned Socrates into a fly and then left. The community split, and there are now four more cities in addition to the original, or "remnant" city. Apollo/Pythias has several grown or nearly-grown children, mostly sons but also a daughter, Arete, with his partner and votary Simmea, originally an Egyptian farmer's daughter.
The book opens with a tragedy, Simmea's death in one of the art raids that have become common in the years since the division. Apollo wants revenge, and goes after it in a seemingly rational, organized way. Those closest to him, including daughter Arete and some of his sons, know he's unhinged with grief. He leads an expedition, using the colony's ship, Excellence, to explore the region and seek "the lost city," the group that left with the other ship, the Goodness, and has never returned to the island.
What Arete and a few others know is that Pythias (only his children know that he's Apollo) blames Kebes, the leader of the Goodness group, for Simmea's death, and for his rape of her many years ago, during one of the city's Festivals of Hera.
Meanwhile, Arete and her brothers are starting to discover what it means to be the children of a god, heroes with the potential to be gods themselves.
In their travels they find early Greek settlements that lack a lot of what they have in the way of civilization, and they find the multiple cities founded by the Goodness group.
The Just City cities, despite ongoing low-level warfare, are all committed to the ideals of Plato's Republic, interpreted somewhat differently in each of their cities.
Kebes and his companions have abandoned Platonism in favor of Christianity, centuries before the birth of Christ. They've also committed themselves to helping their neighbors; they take in refugees from wars, build cities, and teach the skills they have. In many ways, they've got a higher level of technology than the Platonic cities. They've trained medics and glassmakers.
And they torture heretics.
But they don't wage war with each other. Their goal is to bring all the benefits of civilization that they can to the people of the Aegean.
The Platonic cities do war with each other, and they've avoided contact with local populations to avoid affecting history. They have no slavery, they have a broader vote than the Goodness group, who come to be called Lucians, after their first city, named for St. Lucia.
The Lucians have something that at least closely resembles slavery.
Athena planted the Just City on an island that will be destroyed by the eruption of its volcano, leaving nothing behind to alter the course of history.
The Lucians are actively looking to change history.
Both sides have a case to make.
What follows is a tale of mutual discovery and self-discovery, of cultural conflict and adaptation. Pythias, Arete, her brothers, and Maia, the mentor originally from Victorian England, undergo the greatest growth and change. What change can the god Apollo go through? He's learning the lessons of mortality, grief, loss, and change.
I rarely comment on narrators, but Noah Michael Levine is excellent.
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from Audible in exchange for an honest review.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Chris
- 03-10-20
What a Great Story!
Easily book 2 is the best of the series! We get to explore new islands, learn about newly formed gods, and discover the outcome of Apollo and Cabez finally meeting after so much time and animosity. Well done!
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1 person found this helpful