⋙ [PDF] Bull from the Sea Mary Renault 9780099463535 Books

Bull from the Sea Mary Renault 9780099463535 Books

Download As PDF : Bull from the Sea Mary Renault 9780099463535 Books

Bull from the Sea Mary Renault 9780099463535 Books

the second of a pair of novels personalizing the life story of Theseus, the legendary founder of Athens, as told by the hero himself - read first The King Must Die, it strongly puts the reader into the world and mindset of pre-Classical Greece - the novel "unpacks" the myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, and gives the tale of how it must have happened. The Bull From the Sea is the latter years of Theseus, how he founded the nation-state of Athens, made an Amazon his Queen, encountered the accursed Oedipus, lived as a pirate, and went to Hell and back - the ancient gods seem silly to us now, but once they were the guides and oracles of the progenitors of democracy, and they live again in the visions of these characters. I loved this duology, though Bull from the Sea is more elegiac - hey, a life has an arc, right? Worthy writing, good reading, evocative and spellbinding in a literate, immediate, and thoroughly compelling style.


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Bull from the Sea Mary Renault 9780099463535 Books Reviews

This book completes Mary Renault's rendering of the story of Theseus, now as a mature man and King of the unified city-states of Greece well before the Trojan War. The book takes a much more introspective tone than the previous book---The King Must Die---and reflects the frustrations any great leader must face when dealing with the tides of history, the forces of love and sorrow, the machinations of others and the inimitable power of the gods. The last sentence of the book is the most perfect ending ever.
Mary Renault's historical fiction is probably the most immediate and compelling I've ever read. Her intimacy with the details of period allows her to make her characters incredibly immediate and yet convincingly alien. NB, though, her novels tend towards engaging and complex rather than fun and easy reads. The Bull from the Sea is a great one to start with, since it takes a fairly familiar myth as its jumping off point and doesn't expect much knowledge of Attic history or military tactics.
Wonderful follow up to "The King Must Die" also by this author. Really allows you to feel like you're in a world so different from ours but with the foundations of our own world visible.
Very interesting version of the Theseus legend mixed with the legend. Obviously written for young people not adults but still a good story for those who love mythology.
Why all the questions about sex and violence for this book? Anyone familiar with Mary Renault's superb writing, recreating mystical people from legend into real characters, and in all her books, including one at a time just after World War II in an English hospital, handles sexual subjects (it's told in first person by a man who is gay, she handles both violence and sexual matters with a great deal of finesse - never graphic, but you sure know what's "going on" in the minds of the characters. "Bull from the Sea" is a superbly written novel.
This is the continuation of the story of Theseus beginning with his return to Athens and his assumption of the kingship following the death of his father. Of the two books, this is the more poignant, because Theseus is no longer the young, invincible hero. He is aging, and as with all aging heroes reality begins to take its toll. I found his relationship with this own son, Hippolytos, to be particularly powerful in its universality. Renault is a fabulous writer. She managed to flesh out a three thousand year old myth and to give it timeless applicabilty, a quality only really achieved in the great tragedies. I highly recommend this to any fan of ancient myths who hasn't already read it.
Mary Renault was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece. In addition to vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great, she wrote a non-fiction biography of Alexander. If you have not yet read her work, do yourself a favor and purchase one of her novels... This novel is the story of Theseus and I promise it is something you will enjoy if you like to immerse youself in a story. I know no other writer who recreates ancient Greece to vividly.
the second of a pair of novels personalizing the life story of Theseus, the legendary founder of Athens, as told by the hero himself - read first The King Must Die, it strongly puts the reader into the world and mindset of pre-Classical Greece - the novel "unpacks" the myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, and gives the tale of how it must have happened. The Bull From the Sea is the latter years of Theseus, how he founded the nation-state of Athens, made an his Queen, encountered the accursed Oedipus, lived as a pirate, and went to Hell and back - the ancient gods seem silly to us now, but once they were the guides and oracles of the progenitors of democracy, and they live again in the visions of these characters. I loved this duology, though Bull from the Sea is more elegiac - hey, a life has an arc, right? Worthy writing, good reading, evocative and spellbinding in a literate, immediate, and thoroughly compelling style.