Historisch mythologische roman over koning en held Theseus nadat hij de Minotaurus verslagen heeft.

Well written as always, but there were a few things that made this book less engaging to me.
It's told in first person by our hero Theseus, but he was unsympathetic half of the time. Am I supposed to like him when he sacks various cities and disrespects women?

Alexander was written about by other people, so it made more sense that all his bad deeds were glossed over by the people telling the story. Alexias was a mere soldier, not the king who made decisions like Theseus did.

I also found the various timeskips a downside because I never got to know Theseus, his supposed romance with Hyppolyta or even his sons beyond what he narrated.
Maybe if this book had been longer I would have liked the characters more. ( )

Book 2 of this retelling and interpretation of the Theseus myth carries on immediately after his return from Crete and the suicide of his father, who thought he had been killed. Theseus has to get to grips with the various problems inherent on taking over as king, some of which have been caused by his father's reluctance to deal with a powerful sadistic local chieftain (the mythological Procrustes). Theseus soon proves to the doubting barons that he is a strong and decisive ruler and he goes on to lead a successful war against his father's brothers and their kin who had previously attacked Athens on a number of occasions.

On the personal side things do not run so smoothly. He is aware that he should marry and produce legitimate sons to succeed him, yet he is reluctant to commit himself. Eventually he settles on Phaedra, whom he met when she was a child while he was a bulldancer on Crete. The younger sister of Ariadne, whom he left on Nexos when it became clear she had the 'bad blood' that full-out worship of the Goddess represents - she had taken part in the Maened frenzy in which the local King was sacrificed - Phaedra is now a sedate young Cretan matron. He puts off the marriage even though he has arranged that she stay on Crete, because she would lose her royal status there if she left. Instead, driven by a restless spirit, he goes roving on ships with his friend Prince Pirithoos and indulges in piracy.

On one of his trips he meets and eventually defeats in a fight Hippolyta, King of the Moon Maidens of Artemis, for whom he forms a deep and instant devotion. Despite her upbringing she reciprocates his love, and eventually they have a son, Hippolytus But he also has to marry Phaedra. He has a son by her also, Acamus, a typically Cretan boy, rather than the tall Helene young man that Hippolytus grows into. He intends Hippolytus, despite his illegitimacy, to inherit his rule of Athens and the other countries now under Athens' rule, apart from Crete, which could go to Acamus who is rather easy going and not much of a warrior. But things don't turn out according to plan.

This book is rather more bitty and disjointed than volume one. Certain characters are sketched, such as Hippolyta, their son, his wife and other son, and his friend Pirrithoos. Theseus contends with various difficulties such as the hostility to Hippolyta who continues to dress in "men's clothing" and ride and hunt - he has a beautiful sword made for her too. The prevailing attitudes to women mean that the senior nobles and the serving women both view her with suspicion - the men because her reverence of the goddess Artemis reminds them of Medea who was the close companion of his father and whom they suspected of wanting to bring back the Mother worship complete with king-sacrifice, and the women because Theseus has elevated her to his soul companion and common law wife and no longer sleeps around, plus he favours her son above theirs. As foreshadowed, from as far back as a couple of mentions in passing in volume 1, things end in tragedy as usually happens in Greek mythology.

As before, Renault has a different slant on the mythical elements. For example, the Kentaurs as they are called here are not half horse and half man but a type of wild man - possibly Neanderthals - who have a close bond with horses and live a basic outdoor existence. As in book 1, various other myths are worked in, including mentions of Jason, and a cameo appearance by Achilles. Because there are quite long periods when nothing basically happens in the myth, these are summarised briefly and, as they consist mostly of Theseus going on pirate expeditions, that is no bad thing.

The attitudes to women continue to be problematic but this follows the cultural norms of the time. To some extent, Theseus overcomes these in his relationship with Hippolyta but he continues to treat other women, including his wife, as people whose opinions don't matter - to his undoing and that of his elder son. His likeable characteristic is his championing of underdogs and belief that a king is a protector of his people and stands between them and the god - mainly Poseidon, but others - with the ultimate role, if required, of self-sacrifice.

Because of the more episodic character of this book which perhaps suffered from such a large stretch of Theseus life being packed into one novel I didn't enjoy this as much as book 1. I also found it not altogether credible that Hippolyta so quickly falls for Theseus and renounces her old life. For those reasons, I rate it at 3 stars overall. ( )

Renault has this great knack for casually skewering Theseus with his own presumptions of kingly privilege and judgement that you consistently feel sorry for those in his orbit, rather than fall into what a lesser author would render as a straight up heroic power fantasy. ( )

Another excellent picture of Ancient Greece, this time concentrating on the life of Theseus after he returned from Mycenae, the Labyrinth, and the Minotaur.
Theseus is bigger than life, as a mythical hero should be, but Renault manages to make him seem almost human with some very real and strong emotions. Most of the other characters are rather flat, thus the 4 stars. The author’s strength was always her storytelling and world building. Of special note here are the more-or-less plausible explanations of some of the myths (e.g., the centaurs).
This will appeal to anyone interested in Ancient Greece and/or Classical Mythology. ( )

Rereading after a gap of about fifty years the book does not disappoint.
The author has an admirable written style, employing a simple vocabulary which seems to be to a large extent monosyllabic, but which turns out to be remarkably expressive and where appropriate lyrical.
This is an account of Theseus’ life and adventures after passing boyhood. There is a clear narrative where appropriate, and the writing achieves significant heights at the climaxes, which mostly revolve around death.
Small lines, almost throwaway, with very discrete hints of homoeroticism are tastefully proffered and are to be found here and there, like delicate spice.
The book has aged well and is a delight to read. ( )

The pebble moves upon the mountain, shifted by a goat's foot or the scour of rain. For a while it tumbles and rolls, and a child's hand could stop it. But soon it takes great bounds, swift as a slingshot; at last it leaps out from the crag like Apollo's arrow, and can pierce through a war-helm into the skull of a man. ( )

More with Theseus if I remember rightly. Of the more fun ones. ( )

Continuing the story of Theseus after his return from Crete, ascending to the throne of Athens upon his father's death, this is the tale of an heroic life lived large and bold and self-assured. A model of manly behaviour, balancing the duties of kingship and an inerrant sense of fair play and justice with a desire for adventure that takes him on pirating voyages with his friend, Pirithoos. He carefully forges a stable kingdom and yet roams near and far in search of glory and plunder. One such voyage brings him the true love of his life, won in single combat, the Amazon warrior priestess, Hippolyta. The tragedy of Hippolyta lays the seeds for the tragedies of his later years, as their son grows to manhood, and the bull from the sea waits to strike.

The writing is simply superb. Utterly beautiful. Sensuous and earthy yet redolent with unquestioning belief in the supernatural forces that control their lives. There is simply no division between the natural and the supernatural, and Renault's success in conveying this makes her books magical and thrilling and gorgeous and filled with mystery. ( )

Sequel to Renault's King must die, this is her retelling of the further story of Theseus. He returns to Athens, claims his throne, lifelong friendship with Pirithoos, liaison with Hippolyta and birth of their son, Hippolytus, marriage with Phaedra, her attempted betrayal and murder. Then Theseus breaks off his narrative right before his death on the island of Skyros. Very enjoyable, but I didn't feel it was quite up to Renault's usual standard, just a continuation of the Theseus myth. ( )

Published four years after The King Must Die, this book picks up the thread of Theseus’ story once again. Having brought down the ancient Cretan house of Minos, he comes home to Athens flushed with glory, accompanied by his loyal team of bull-leapers, the Cranes. But the joy fades quickly: Theseus is greeted by news of his father’s premature death; and, for all the Cranes, the Athens they return to seems smaller and more provincial than the city they left...

For the rest of the review, please see my blog:
http://theidlewoman.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-bull-from-sea-mary-renault.html ( )

The sequel to The King Must Die, The Bull From the Sea begins shortly after Theseus's triumphant return from Crete. His father's unfortunate suicide means he's now king of Athens, with all the accompanying perks and pains. This book lacks the momentum of it's predecessor; much of the drama is generated by Theseus's romantic gains and follies, ominous but convenient prophecies, and family troubles. It was a passable read overall.

Also: Renault jarred me a bit at the end by having one of her dying characters utter the immortal last words of Socrates: not "I drank what?", but that mundane bit about owing someone a rooster. It ruined what would have been a nice dramatic scene for me because I immediately recognized the cribbed phrase. Bad Renault! No cookie for you. ( )

Here is the last half of Theseus' life, and Renault has added a fair amount of Material, taken from Plutarch, Pausanias and other tangential sources. Sadly things don't go as well for our hero in his later life. He has failed marriages, step-children and worse. But if you read The King Must Die you will read this one. Still a good novel. ( )

My introduction to Mary Renault was The King Must Die, the first of two novels about Theseus--it was actually assigned reading in high school. What impressed me so much there was how she took a figure out of myth and grounded him historically. After that I quickly gobbled up all of Renault's works of historical fiction set in Ancient Greece. The two novels about Theseus and the trilogy centered on Alexander the Great are undoubtedly her most famous of those eight novels.

This book is the sequel to The King Must Die. It's no less remarkable in taking the bare bones of myth and giving it flesh, transporting you into the world of the past and making Theseus credible as a person who lived and breathed, and not some fantastic figure. If I enjoyed this less--well, it's definitely the more melancholy work. The King Must Die was about Theseus the hero, and it's a great adventure story. This one, well, is more Greek tragedy than Greek myth, and after falling in love with Theseus in the first book, it's sad to read of his undoing. I'd still name this one of the best works of historical fiction I've ever read, one that cemented my love of historical fiction and fed a hunger to learn more about Ancient Greece. ( )

This is the second of two books by Renault that chronicle the life of Theseus; the first is The King Must Die. The Bull from the Sea picks up Theseus's story at his return from Crete, where he has defeated the Minotaur, and chronicles his time as the King of Athens. This includes the story of Hippolyta, his Amazon queen, and the consequences of his betrothal to Phaedra, daughter of Minos. The book contains an author's note and a brief summary of the legend of Theseus.

The beginning and end of this book were captivating -- the beginning because I knew the story and wanted to see how Renault handled it, and the end because I realized I actually didn't know the whole story and wanted to know what happened next. The middle was a bit slow, or at least very easy to put down. The story was told as first person from Theseus's point of view and it worked quite well because it drew me fully into the world of ancient Greece; however, as a 21st-century female I would have liked to see the perspective of Hippolyta as well, if only for a chapter.

I would recommend reading this after the first novel for sure, and perhaps after reading a brief summary of the legend, if only to get an idea of the cast of characters. ( )

742. The Bull from the Sea, by Mary Renault (read 9 Jul 1963) This is the sequel to The King Must Die, which I read 21 June 1961--two years before I read this book. Wikipedia has a quite extensive recitation of the plot of this book but reading it did not much recall my reading of the book--it is almost 50 years since I read this book. But I think I liked it pretty well, even though I remember less of it than I should. ( )

4.5 stars

Mary Renault’s _The Bull from the Sea_ takes up where [b:The King Must Die|93941|The King Must Die (Theseus, #1)|Mary Renault|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347466077s/93941.jpg|2758229] left off and continues the legendary story of Theseus and his kingship of Attica. There are some differences between this volume and its predecessor, most notably in the fact that the scope of this tale is much broader. Whereas the first volume concentrated primarily on Theseus’ youth and time in the bull ring of Crete and covered the time involved in a fair amount of detail, this volume is much more a précis of many events, covering a much wider range of time. Important events and periods are singled out, however, and expanded upon with more than enough detail to satisfy. I never had the sense that the tale was in any way rushed or incomplete and the broader scope perhaps allowed for a more elegiac tone to the novel, which is appropriate given the ending to Theseus’ tale. This is a memoir giving the wider story of Theseus’ kingship and deeds after the defining moment of his youth has passed.

Even though this memoir comes from the hand (voice?) of Theseus himself and is often told very much in overview I was impressed with the way in which secondary characters came to life. For example with only a chapter seen from Theseus’ POV and the things he is able to glean from implication we learn a lot about the entire youth and development of his son Hippolytos. Theseus’ great friend Pirithoos, his wives Hippolyta and Phaedra and his other son Akama are also all very well depicted even when painted with minimal brush strokes.

Another thing that struck me with Renault’s Theseus saga (and this volume in particular) was the deft way in which many other legends and tales from ancient Greece were woven into the fabric of his tale without taking anything from the tale being told, but also without detracting from their own importance. These include the legend of the famous bard Orpheus, the tragedy of the king Oedipus, the existence of the Centaurs and the apparently contradictory traditions of both their training of the heirs of kings and almost bestial gluttony and lust, the tale of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, and even echoes of the coming Trojan War in a cameo by the young hero Achilles. As with [b:The King Must Die|93941|The King Must Die (Theseus, #1)|Mary Renault|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347466077s/93941.jpg|2758229] Renault is able to retain the mythic stature of these stories while making them much more ‘realistic’.

For all of the many events that make up the career of Theseus Renault tells a tight tale, woven deftly with nary a thread left astray. We very much see him here as Theseus the King (as opposed to Theseus the wandering hero, though the latter is never wholly absent from his nature or actions) and we see him constantly trying to live according to the guiding principle of his life, learned in first trials of his youth: “To stand for the people before the gods, that is kingship. Power by itself is the bronze without the gold.” Despite the fact that he is a heroic figure whose deeds may often seem larger than life he is also a man whose ultimate tragedy is born of the foibles of his own human nature. In the end Theseus comes to learn, perhaps too late, that all of his choices and actions, along with the fate he has willingly embraced, have a price: “Fate and will, will and fate, like earth and sky bringing forth the grain together; and which the bread tastes of, no man knows.” The taste may be bitter at the end, but the sweet was no less great and is ultimately not erased by his tale’s conclusion.

Highly recommended. ( )

It is definitely a juvenile book, but it was not a bad read at all. It was interesting the way she synthesized the various myths into a continuous story. ( )

This novel - Renault's second featuring Theseus - is ambitious, and packs a lot into its meagre 220 pages. Unfortunately, the conflicting demands of preserving a mythic tone, getting through a tonne of classic legends, and still providing human characters proves too much in The Bull From The Sea. It's not a bad book, per se, but in striving to be so many different things in so short a space, it inevitably falls short.

Returning triumphant from Crete, Theseus now faces a far more complex challenge: running, maintaining and expanding a kingdom. Along the way, he will fall in love, organise succession and try to keep the always-fickle gods on his side.

Renault has taken a raft of classical myths surrounding Theseus, and adapted them into a kind of pseudo-historical yarn. It's so pseudo because our knowledge has expanded since she wrote these books, and also, it's at heart speculative; we do not and cannot know these things. Renault juxtaposes this with an almost formal, somewhat "legendary" tone to the story, and many a mention of the Gods and their ways etc.

When I read Black Ships by Jo Graham earlier this year, an approach like this worked a treat. But in working with such well-known material, and altering as little as possible, I found it really distracting. With so many iconic events happening in The Bull From The Sea, I felt consistently yanked out of the story by these "almost-myth" events, and then evaluating Renault's treatment of them etc.

This is compounded by Renault's characterisation which - in this book at least - ranges from slim to non-existent. We follow Theseus from his teens to his late fifties, and so much change would be difficult for any writer to do convincingly, doubly so when there are several checkpoints along the way that you feel Renault is driven to tick off.The other characters - as is appropriate in myth - are more archetypes than people, and Renault never really breaks through the facades we already know from the tales.

These factors all combined to produce a aura of formalism and framing that I don't really respond to in novels. This feeling of the work being a Story can work well in myths, which are typically short and extremely diegetic, but in a novel it's just not enough. I need something more human, more sophisticated and dynamic. The Bull From The Sea kept me at arms' length - finishing it wasn't a trial, but it wasn't a shame, either. ( )

For sweeping glorious romance of the highest calibre there is none greater than The Bull from the Sea. The story of Theseus, the great Athenian, famed for his bringing together the Greeks under his rule, encompasses great love, sacrifice, betrayal, hatred and revenge. Like the great Greek plays it shows the lives of a hero, driven by fate, through great love to great misery. Theseus, Pirithoos, Hippolyta, Hippolytos, Akamas and Phaedra are all drawn masterfully, becoming unforgettable characters in a great drama. Spectacular story carefully crafted into a pageturner by Mary Renault. The highest recommendation. ( )

The Bull from the Sea maintains the narrative charm of The King Must Die and continues the tension of the fall of goddess worship and the rise of the patriarchal sky gods. Theseus remains an interesting narrator, and Renault avoids forcing him into the role of a flawless hero, or brutish lug.

The greatest flaw of the book is the lack of narrative cohesion. The plot skips about on a whirlwind tour of the legends surrounding Theseus, frequently with little connecting material to relate the episodes to each other. ( )

The sequel to The King Must Die, this book picks up almost exactly where the last book ends. It covers the rest of the legend of Theseus, combining the original legend with Renault's blend of imagination and historical research.

This is probably the weakest of Renault's books that I've read. The pacing of the book - cramming most of the life of one of Greece's most famous legendary heroes into less than 250 pages - means that Renault was always going to need a strong and clearly defined character in order to carry the book without it feeling rushed and uneven. Theseus never comes across to me as any of those things. In fact, he never even comes across to me as remotely likeable. There was a coldness and a remoteness to the character that I can't recall encountering when reading her Alexander trilogy, for instance. It's as if Renault was trying to create a real man from an archetypal hero, and got stalled halfway through the process.

Overall, she handled the conversion from myth to novel well, providing some plausible and fairly realistic expectations for parts of the legendary cycle. The rest of the historical aspect shall be passed over in silence by me, mostly because I can appreciate that at the time Renault was writing, much of what she was saying was still accepted as historical fact. (But it's not, it's really, really not! 'Shore People'! Matriarchal religion being replaced by the patriarchy! Mycenaeans in 1500BCE!) I was more than a little irked by her representation of some aspects of gender history/interaction. I can buy that, since this novel was from Theseus' viewpoint, - and he was a pretty typical example of a Bronze Age male raised in a patriarchal society - that he would have no problem in ascribing a woman's anger to the fact that it was her 'moon time.' I had much, much greater problems with the representation of Hippolyta; not that Theseus would think of her as he did, but that a woman who was supposedly raised as an independent and self-sufficient Amazon would have thought and acted as she did, and would have what seemed to me to be a high level of internalised misogyny. It made me very, very uneasy reading those sections.

I think I'll be re-reading the Alexander trilogy long before I pick this one up again. It's not a bad novel; it just didn't really do so much for me. ( )

The Bull from the Sea picks up Theseus's story from where The King Must Die ended, his return to Athens from Crete, and follows his adventures until old age. As the story spans so many years, it seems to lack the central focus the year as a bull-leaper that The King Must Die has, we have wars, life with Hippolyta, life after her, Phaedra, Hippolytos, etc. I can understand why I felt bogged down with the book on my first attempt years ago, this time it seemed to flow better. ( )

Plot: The Theseus myth after the return from Knossos. Mostly a collection of smaller myths tied to the figure, with a bit of plot to keep it all together. The pacing is off in places and makes things drag, and especially in the second half the story begins to fray.

Characters: Same as with the first book as far as Theseus is concerned - he takes center stage and leaves little room for others. There are fewer side characters here, and the ones who are feel as though they did not get all that much author love. What is lacking isn't so much characterization but motive.

Style: There are stretches where the writing feels superficial. Dialogue sections are usually fine, but longer narrative bits have a tendency to drag. The mythology is again rationalized.

Plus: Historically accurate, mythologically accurate except for the fantastic concepts.

Minus: The story can't seem to focus on anything.

Summary: Together with The King Must Die a retelling of the Theseus myth, but it doesn't quite have what makes other Mary Renault books so special. ( )

Not as good as The King Must Die. Best part was Theseus's meeting with Oedipus. By the end of the book, Theseus's attention was wandering, and I suspect Ms. Renault's was as well.

For my fuller review, see: http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/theseus/a/100707Theseus.htm ( )