The Philosopher Kings (novel)

The Philosopher Kings is a fantasy/science fiction novel by the Welsh-Canadian author Jo Walton, published by Tor Books in June 2015. It is middle part of the Thessaly trilogy, sequel to The Just City, which was published a mere six months previously, and followed by Necessity, which was published in 2016.

The Philosopher Kings is set fifteen years after the events described in The Just City. The City, which was created by the time-traveling goddess Athena on the island of Thera prior to its Iron Age volcanic destruction, and then populated by people from all ages of human history and organized on the principles of Plato's Republic, has now split into five feuding cities, while a further, sixth, faction has sailed away and remains lost.

The god Apollo, who had chosen to live as a human in the original city, and, having married, is now the father of several children, is struck by a tragic loss, which causes him to become consumed with grief and a need for revenge. Though, being Apollo, he deals with these feelings rationally, his precocious teenage daughter Arete understands that these novel experiences (for a god) are leaving him unbalanced.

With Arete and several of his sons, Apollo sets out by ship across the Aegean, in the company of sailors, soldiers and scholars, among them the by now 99 years old Florentine renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino. After a long voyage of exploration they discover the sixth, lost group from the City, which has been preaching Christianity to Iron Age Greeks. Apollo's confrontation with a longtime rival lets him finally start the healing process. Afterwards he turns toward peacemaking, but although hy succeeds in his goals, the course of history seems by then to have been irrevocably changed by the anachronistic introduction of Christianity. It takes a surprising amount of divine power to put everything right again.