Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding tale.........
Review: After having had this book in my library for years, I finally picked it up and began to read. And, then, I didn't stop. Excluding the short breaks that are necessities in life, I consumed The King Must Die in one enchanted reading. Renault's effort here ranks with the best of historical fiction as it grabs it's reader and does not let go. Theseus, the child of a Peloponnesian priestess and an absent Athenian king, sets out to find his lot in life, overcoming obstacles through sheer perservence, exuberance, and derring-do. His courage is palpable, his conviction invincible, as he navigates the customs, conflicts, and contradictions of ancient Greece and it's surroundings. Renault tells a masterful and utterly absorbing story and I look eagerly forward to the the ultimate book in the series, The Bull from the Sea. If you delight in historical fiction, this is a treasure you shouldn't ignore.
Rating: 
Summary: Theseus saga of Greece retold without the myths
Review: For fans of ancient Greek myths this is well worth reading - I loved it and it is very compelling read. It is told in first person style by Theseus himself and Renault has clearly done her research on the period and on Ancient Greek and Cretan culture and legends. The book de-mythologises the story of Theseus and carries it off with great conviction. No longer is the god of the sea, Poseidon an active participant in the tale, but rather the myth of his parenting of Theseus explained in a convincing manner. In this same way the other vital keys to the tale have mortal and plausible explanations. For those who don't know the myth, the story of Theseus is explained in the notes, as are the basis for many of her selections for what Theseus looked like, and the art of bull jumping which was popular in Cretan art in this period. While I do enjoy the Greek myths it was a nice to read something that gave a possible explanation to the stories. Renault writes well, and I would certainly be interested in following up any more of her novels.
Rating: 
Summary: this book was horrible
Review: How many people picked up "The King Must Die" and put it back thinking it was another hackneyed palace-plot historical novel? The title has the unfortunate punch of a spy novel. But for those who've read it . . . again and again, "The King Must Die" is the best of Mary Renault's novels of ancient Greece, and the best account of the Theseus myth. Extensive research and exquisite talent combine in recreating Bronze Age Greece, down to the women's spangled skirts and the atmosphere in the smaller Greek cities. Theseus himself springs forward from the first page, a boy of reckless courage and pride whose belief that he is the son of a god is coupled with an intuition of coming earthquakes. When his parentage is revealed to be human, Theseus sets off to find his father--and Renault takes us deep into ancient spirituality and the forms of king and queenship. From the first we understand that Theseus' people believed not in the divine right of kings, but the divinely-ordained duties of kings; the title is taken from the concept that a king might be called at any time to lay down his life for his people, or else lose his right to rule. The society Theseus moves in has not yet moved completely away from matriarchies, but is not entirely patriarchal either. Women hold power and no matter who the woman is, she is a presence, from Aithra (Theseus' mother) to Ariadne (the princess of Krete). Nor are all the men chauvinistic boors, a fatal flaw in more than a few recent historical novels (at least those seeking to show the ancient world from a woman's point of view). From Theseus' grandfather Pittheus to Minos of Crete, the men of "The King Must Die" are by turns honorable, lust-driven, wise and attuned to the demands of the societies they live in. They are all flawed--there are no stainless heroes here, only fully-rounded characters with complex natures and needs. The only flat villain is Asterion, Minos' heir, but through Renault's power of description he has a strong presence for what time he appears in the book. The style is perfect. Renault wastes no words, and every scene fits together seamlessly. Characters, even the flat ones, evoke response from the reader; the narrative voice never veers into anachronisms, nor loses that sense that Theseus is there at your shoulder, telling you his story. Descriptions are rich without being overwritten, something most authors fail to do today. If you've never read one of Mary Renault's historical novels, "The King Must Die" is an excellent one to start with.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all time favorite books!
Review: I first read this book about 30 years ago and I have reread it several times since then. I generally don't reread books, so for me to do so as many times as I have with this one says a lot for the book. Before I read this, I was mildly familiar with the Theseus legend. After reading this book, I became extremely interested in the legend, particularly in the true-life palace at Knossos. The book gives some excellent background in the religions of the old matriarchal societies in which, each year, the king was sacrificed to the earth mother to ensure good crops for the next year. The theories on the bull dance which are based upon the findings at the palace of Knossos are excellently done. And the connection with Theseus belief that he is descended from the god Poseidon and so many things coinciding either with earthquake or something to do with the ocean prove that Mary Renault never left out any parts of her story when considering events that would take place. The research done for this book is great, and if you're like me it will lead you to do further research on your own. I recommend that you purchase this book and also its sequel The Bull from the Sea. You won't be going wrong!
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I picked up _The King Must Die_ out of a 25 cent bin at a garage sale; my copy had a cheesy mass-market paperback cover and I figured it would do for light summer reading. I was wrong about the light reading - the book is anything but frivolous - but I did get terrible sunburn the weekend that I read it becuase I couldn't put it down for long enough to get out of my lawn chair and put some sunscreen on.
I knew a little from class about the legend of Theseus; REnault takes it to a whole new level than what I learned in lit though. The plot is quick, the characters well-developed, and Renault's prose is wonderful to read. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: An ancient myth transformed into a youth's adventure story
Review: Mary Renault revitalizes the ancient Greek myth of Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur by following its hero's thoughts and actions as a series of rites of passage. Theseus, no longer innocent, leaves home, traverses dangerous territory, kills his first adult opponent, beds a queen, and returns home triumphant, only to volunteer to be one of the youths annually sent to Crete as doomed tribute to King Minos and as mortally perilous bull-dancing entertainment for the king's minions. He welds together a team so flawlessly attuned and unselfish that all its members survive, and he then goes on to new adventures. Because of the book's explicit (though tasteful) sex scenes, I was surprised to learn from a teenager who spotted the title on my beach towel that he had read it in his freshman year at a parochial prep school in Connecticut. But then I realized that The King Must Die is indeed an adventure story which teaches tenderness and consideration as well as sexual politics to its intended young audience. The descriptions and extended similes are Homeric in their richness, and the story is faithful to accepted versions of Greek mythology.
Rating:
Summary: exquisite
Review: Mary Renault's historical fiction is, perhaps, the best ever written, and this book is the cream of the crop. The storytelling is brilliant, and the writing itself is exquisite, almost poetry in places. Here is the story of Theseus as it might have actually taken place-his boyhood in a provincial Greek town, his quest to find his father in Athens, his rise to princehood, his enslavement to the Cretans, and his fiery life among the bull dancers in The Labyrinth, Knossos, the seat of King Minos. Theseus's story is a pre-Iliad legend. This is the story of the man who may have been Achilles' hero. Renault milks the legend and the historical material for every scrap of cohesive storyline and fills in the gaps with superb insight and truly clever inventions. Her Theseus is a meticulously rendered flesh and blood human being, and the whole culture of ancient Greece comes gloriously to life under her pen. You will want to go to Knossos after you read this book and see the bull dances painted there on the old walls. This is a story that gets into your blood, under your skin. Renault also brings out the cultural struggle between notions of sky gods and earth gods. Theseus believes himself to be the son of Pseidon and is bound by honor and traits of character to the sky gods. He has a smoldering feud with the goddess who would become Aphrodite and all she stood for and a deep love of the goddess who would become Athena and all she stood for. No conclusively supernatural events enter Renault's tail. She leaves possibilities open, but primarily uses ideas of religion to show the struggles going on in the culture and in the mind of her protagonist. She also brings out the full horror of the maenads, the female cult of Dianesis so savage that the Romans later banned them. Everything that is best and worst about ancient Greece finds some representation in this story, which is in fact only the first half of Theseus's life. Renault finishes her tail in The Bull From the Sea, which is an equally stunning, though much sadder, performance.
Rating:
Summary: another one bites the dust
Review: One after another the great myths fall to a writer who tries to melodramatize, and tune them up. In this story the great tale of Theseus is butchered. I really can not see how such a great story can be shreded to nonsense. Honestly, LEAVE ALL THE CLASSICS ALONE. You will NEVER be able to make them any beter than they already are. With that said now I will move onto the actual book. Bad writing PERIOD. The writing is a stab at being origional, but it is way too choppy. And at some times this book actually became boring. As the book went on, the boerdom streaks became more common. WOW, HOW DOES ONE MAKE A GREAT TALE BORING,.....MAGIC.By the way, if you disagree with me, then you are wrong.
Rating:
Summary: #1 on my All-Time Top 10
Review: The greatest talent a historical novelist can possess is the ability to recreate the past. By that standard, this is the best historical novel I've ever read: in the middle of page 1, I was transported to the 1200s B.C., following first-person narrator Theseus through the realistic adventures that will mutate into myths and transform him into one of the greatest heroes of the Mycenaean age. The book is a great portrait of a heroic personality, and Renault renders the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, and the "sport" of bulldancing in spellbinding prose. Almost as good is the author's rendition of the Peloponnesian War, THE LAST OF THE WINE.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book
Review: This is a book I just reread for the zillionth time. I just love it. It's a first person retelling of the Legend of Theseus. The author takes a lot of liberty in telling the story, but through that makes it believable and very immediate. We follow him through his early childhood, his famous travels through the Isthmus Road, meeting his father in Athens, being chosen/taken to be a bull-dancer in Crete, and fighting the Minotaur. While he clearly believes that he receives signs from the gods, the reader is free to believe that or to take a more practical viewpoint (i.e. the waves suddenly crashed over his head not because he had just asked Poseidon for a sign, but because he's in the ocean and those things happen). It's a fascinating story and I highly recommend it. There are some mentions of s3x and nud!ty but nothing particularly graphic. I would probably say that pre-teens are parent's choice, but older than that should have no concerns.
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