Brilliant Evocation

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.

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1 person found this helpful

Good and worth another listen

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

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Limited by misogyny

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.

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3 people found this helpful

Beautiful writing from an artist.

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.

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Vivid reconstruction of ancient times

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.

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Wonderful, imaginative with an authentic feel

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!

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1 person found this helpful

Myth brought to life

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.

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1 person found this helpful

Gifted Writer - inadequate narration

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.

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A magical tale brought to life

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!

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Didn't like the narrator

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

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