The King Must Die; The Bull from the Sea

In her inventive novels of ancient Greece, Mary Renault performs the alchemical feats of fashioning from the myth of Theseus a convincingly flawed human hero and of weaving a thrillingly plausible tale from the fantastical legends of his exploits.

The King Must Die follows young Theseus from his mystery-shrouded birth and resulting youthful insecurity, through his fondness for pranks and his growing maturity, to the battlefield feats that made his name--culminating in a bold display of ingenuity in the Labyrinth of Crete. The Bull from the Sea begins with Theseus's triumphal return to Athens after having slain the Minotaur. He finds his father has died and he is now king, but his adventures have only begun: he has yet to confront the Amazons; capture their queen, Hippolyta; and face the tragic results of Phaedra's jealous rage. Using her deep understanding of the cultures of the ancient Greek world, Renault constructs an enthralling narrative of a time when heroes battled monsters and gods strode the earth.