Thessaly: The Complete Trilogy

Thessaly #1-3

by Jo Walton

Finalist for 2017 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature

For the first time, Jo Walton’s critically acclaimed, genre-defying trilogy Thessaly— The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, and Necessity —is available in softcover, in a single-volume trade paperback omnibus

The goddess Athena thought she was creating a utopia. Populate the island of Thera with extraordinary men, women, and children from throughout history, and watch as the mortals forge a harmonious society based on the tenets of Plato’s Republic .

Meanwhile, following his famous spurning by a nymph, Athena's ever-curious brother Apollo has decided to live a mortal human life on the island, in an effort to gain a better understanding of humanity.

But as both Athena and Apollo soon discover, even the Just City is susceptible to the iron law that nothing ever happens as planned. And there are sins in Paradise, mortal and divine, far graver than the everyday ones.

In an epic encompassing sandy Mediterranean shores and the farthest reaches of the galaxy, Victorian England and Renaissance Italy, gods and humans argue, fight, love, and most of all, learn from one another, in critically-acclaimed author Jo Walton's unique exploration of the human condition, Thessaly .

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Mythology, Historical Fiction, Philosophy, Science Fiction Fantasy

723 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 21, 2023

About the author

Jo Walton writes science fiction and fantasy novels and reads a lot and eats great food. It worries her slightly that this is so exactly what she always wanted to do when she grew up. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I finally finished this trilogy. It is a fascinating exploration of Plato's Republic, Fate, Necessity, and time travel. Much like Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, I find it more interesting to ponder than I do to actually read it. I think I was hoping for hard science fiction and actually getting to see the first contact with aliens, and that is more the window dressing rather than the actual story. The trilogy really is looking at Plato's Republic, the nature of the Greek Pantheon, or at least a version of it, and consent. Athene finally gets called out on her own double standards a few times, but so far, only the male characters show real growth. I thought some of the discussion around Christianity could have been explored better. It was really weird having people from the future spreading Christianity and talking about the New Testament and going weird torture and executions just because prior to the Incarnation. Yes, for them it already happened, but not for everyone else around them. My brain is still trying to figure out how that would even work, because the New Covenant would only be applicable to the people from the future. Some of the scenes were more graphic than I like, both as far as description of violent deaths, and sexual content. I get why she wrote them that way. It's just a preference. My copy had a glitch in the Matrix and repeated a chapter several times. I can also verify that this book did not make me want to live in Plato's Republic.

[Scott Neigh]

A trilogy of fantasy books republished under a single cover. My inclination is to describe it as "high-concept fantasy," because it is based on asking a very thinky-yet-clear what-if and then seeing how it plays out, but I worry that label makes it sound obscure and inaccessible when in fact it is compulsively readable. The book asks, what if the gods of Greek antiquity actually exist and that Athena gets it into her head to bring together philosophically inclined people from across time – from the ancient world to the mid-21st century – to a temporally and geographically isolated corner of the Mediterranean to try to implement in real life the Just City that Plato writes about in *The Republic*. It includes Apollo in human incarnation as a central character, robots, and eventually aliens and other planets. Almost all of the characters, and certainly all of the viewpoint characters, approach the world as philosophers, so much of the book is built from philosophical conversation – often very much in the mode of Socratic dialoguge, and even sometimes involving Socrates himself – that engages deeply with ideas while remaining entirely plausible within the context of the story, very much conversational rather than pedantic, and usually about real practical questions that the characters are wrestling with. The writing makes you care about the characters and about the ideas, and it makes you not care so much that, particularly in the second and third books, the plot feels somewhat secondary. I also felt a few elements of the resolution of the third book seemed to come out of nowhere, but the trilogy had earned considerable indulgence from me by that point and I wasn't too bothered by it, particularly given that it included a novel and interesting relationship formation, which is something I always appreciate. Not a short read, but an excellent trio of books and well worth it.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this series.

The Just City saved my life when I was stuck in a crisis center.

Two years later, when I realized there were sequels, I barreled through them. I was delighted.

Book 2 was intriguing. There was plenty to be sad about. I appreciate the importance of grief throughout the trilogy.

Book 3 is rather repetitive given that so many characters need to coordinate with each other. However! There's lots of fun plot twists. I really like how the consequences for various actions echo throughout the trilogy. It resonates with how things work in real life.

I want all my friends to read this trilogy so I can have someone to geek out with!!!

[Hao · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first two books, The Just City and Philosopher Kings, as the characters struggled with building Plato's Republic, confronting the strictures of the original text with perspectives from their own lives across the ages. Simmea has become an inspiration to me.
The last book, Necessity, though it does provide some great closure, felt more rushed and plotty compared to the first two books which seemed more introspective.
Overall though, Jo Walton did build some amazing worlds, and I feel like the imagined conversations throughout are a Socratic dialogue on pursuing excellence that I will probably have to re-read a few more times to really digest.

[Daniel Pepin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best novel I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It’s a medley of all I adore: Greek myth and history; philosophy and debate; and superbly crafted worlds. This trilogy has fascinating world building and such a brilliant, mesmerising logic behind it, one cannot help but be in awe! The characters are wonderfully well-rounded and I love them with my heart, truly. I laughed, I cried, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times… yada yada yada go read this fucking exceptional, heart-rending, mind boggling book!!

[Brenda Clough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a titanic achievement. A hard SF trilogy that revolves entirely around Platonic philosophy, doesn't that sound like it ought to be impossible?

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thessaly, a fantasy in philosophy, society, and time is wonderful. The first two books are fantastic, the third struggles to keep pace. The series is audacious, giving dialog to history's most renown figures and deities is an impossible writing standard, but Walton entertains readers while avoiding direct dialog with the great orators of time. However, her writing does come short of expectations in the climax of the first book. The author wrote herself into a bind; the story required to such excellent dialog that only the greatest speech writers could deliver. As such, it leaves frustration and confusion. The following works carry the story forward, further evolving characters.

However, where the first two books happen over years or months, allowing a reasonable character arch, the final book happens in a span of hours. The character developments there seem rushed. However, these detriments are minor at best. The trilogy is brilliant, displaying the inspirational interactions of historical geniuses. It is a flip book of inspiration; here see Pico's genius, now see Socrates', now Ciro's... And this brilliance is set in captivating, even relatable, story. The work is unique, and inspires faith in what people are capable of.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It starts off with the Greek gods: Pallas Athena in her search for wisdom gathers scholars from across the centuries, and a number of ten year old children, to deposit them on an island in order to form a society based on Plato's Republic. The story seamlessly blends fantasy and science fiction tropes with an ongoing discussion of Plato's theories and what it means to strive for excellence.

Fans of mythology, time travel stories, and thoughtful fiction like tv's The Good Place will enjoy this.

I'm still not a fan of some aspects of Walton's endings, but the sheer audacity and wit of this series leaves me unable to dock it.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved book 1 in this trilogy, and really enjoyed books 2 and 3. I liked the combination of mythology, time travel and science fiction, and thought over all it was a well-written series. Will likely reread at some point in the future, and will definitely be checking out some of her other books.

[Zarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come. In the meantime: read this book!!

[Lee Graflund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 1 is really good, book 2 starting to stretch it but still good, book 3 weird. Book 3 kinda spoilt it for me.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very imaginative but this became a slog for me. After the first book, many of the conflicts and story lines were inconsequential.
Simmea was the only character that I felt connected with.

[Ariella Hardjono · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this trilogy was excellent for the most part. Characters were so loveable, extremely interesting and very very relatable at times.

I do however think that this trilogy could have done without the last book, Necessity. I feel like the end of Philosopher Kings would have been an adequate and great way to end off the series. I feel like Necessity was a little unrelated to the first two and it kind of dragged, and the ending was a bit lacking. I think the series started really really strong with the first two but the last one (although on it's own it was a decent story) was quite unnecessary and kind of detached from the rest of the book.

I missed Simmea right up the last page of the book, and the characters such as Apollo, Athena, Arete, Marsila, Thetis, Kebes, Maia etc. I thought were all complex, excellent and well developed. (But moreso characters in the first two books)

Overall, this was an extremely amazing and exciting read, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was on the edge of my seat throughout it all. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to everyone.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

[Allison Denny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually am not interested in works that collect philosophers and thinkers from previous ages and show them engaging in dialogue (in the technical or the lay sense of the word). This absolutely does extend back to Plato's works, which I am willing to give another shot now. But I loved this. (I do love myth retellings and seeing the Greek pantheon in new settings. And my last fictional Apollo was in Lore Olympus, so extra kudos to Walton for wiping that taste entirely from my mouth.) I realized halfway through The Philosopher Kings that I liked it so much because the city was like a generation ship. I've loved generation ship stories since I first read Le Guin's The Birthday of the World and Other Stories in 2006. Thessaly made me realize for the first time that we also live on a generation ship. Necessity was a bit of a shark jump, but still fascinating and engaging once I got into it. I'm very glad I read this and I wish I could read it for the first time again.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the whole trilogy. This for me is the best of what speculative fiction can do: create a fascinating new world to explore; fill it with interesting characters; and involve them in a plot that goes in unexpected ways. And I am a sucker for good stories in which Greek Gods are real (not a spoiler - we meet Apollo in the first sentence). I will admit that I had some trouble keeping track of the minor characters, especially from book to book [it might've been smarter to read the whole trilogy at once, rather than leaving a few weeks between each book], and also book three, Necessity, went some places that I was really not expecting and was not always into, but the wrap-up at the end of Necessity redeemed it all for me.

[caro_cactus · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting trilogy! It's a tad more distant in perspective than I truly love my SFF, but it's just...hopepunk. Art depicting good people doing good things, indeed - not as a descriptor (although miles away from the grim dark takes on the premise), but as a finality. Absolutely adored Simmea, and Sokrates, and Maia and Ficino, and probably the most sympathetic portrayal of Apollo I have ever read.
What delighted me most, I think, is the reflection on different kinds of love, and how queer (and specifically aro-ace spec) it was. Much as the third book is a...excessively timy-wimey, it's worth it for Hilfa's pod. Family. Friendship. No excellence can exist in isolation.
Really happy I finally read it.

[Sean Camoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to digest these a bit more. I think I’d give them 3.5 stars, but don’t want to lowball it. The craft of the books - the writing, the depth and breadth of knowledge about mythology & philosophy, and the facility for challenging thought experiments and argument, are all top notch. Some of the characters were engaging, to a degree. The books are told in various points of view, but some of them blur; there is very little distinction between the voices of the various characters. The stories are clever and compelling, but these books are really ,ore about humanizing and realizing abstract philosophical concepts. And that it does quite well.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not expecting this to go into space or to include aliens and sentient robots, but hey, I'm a trekkie, I can't complain. This trilogy is fantastic. It's just as Platonic as it needs to be and just as not-Platonic as it needs to be. Things get weird and it still works.

[Lucas]

Me

[Cory]

Really enjoyed these books. A great introduction to philosophy with characters that make you want to keep reading.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally unique read. The first two books were stories stronger than the last, which I wished would have dealt more with the space humans and less with the gods, but 4 stars on the whole.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so beautiful and rewarding, as a lover of Plato. Thank you Jo Walton!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books more than I can say.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adored this trilogy. The first is best, and the last is weird, but it remains true to its exploration of philosophic questions and methods.

[Scotty Marinara · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfection i love these books and i come back to reread threm from time to time! such a great cast of characters and worldbuilding is top notch too!

[Stevie Nystrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Just City (1st book) and struggled through the last two. I think it has a great premise and I learned a lot about philosophy. I enjoyed bits and pieces throughout all three books. Overall I enjoyed this trilogy.