The Just City

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The Just City
The Just City - book cover.jpg
Hardcover edition
Author Jo Walton
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThessaly
Genre Fantasy
PublisherTor
Publication date
January 2015
Pages368 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-3266-0
Followed by The Philosopher Kings  

The Just City is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Jo Walton, published by Tor Books in January 2015. It is the first book of the Thessaly trilogy. The sequel The Philosopher Kings was published in June 2015, and the final volume, Necessity , in July 2016.

Contents

Synopsis

The Greek gods Athene and Apollo collect 10,000 human children from throughout history, and place them on the island of Thera prior to its volcanic destruction. There, a collection of adult supervisors (who are likewise from throughout history) will raise the children to achieve the ideal society as described in Plato's Republic – which becomes much more difficult when Socrates arrives.

Characters

The characters include:

Reception

At NPR, Amal El-Mohtar called City "(b)rilliant, compelling, and frankly unputdownable", comparing it to a Socratic dialogue, [1] while at Booklist , Michael Cart described it as a "remarkable novel of ideas", conceding that it may be somewhat "abstruse", but emphasizing that this does not detract from the quality of its plot and characterization. [2]

Publishers Weekly stated that City was "impressively ambitious", but criticized Walton for overuse of sexual violence and for a "reductive" portrayal of the Greek gods. [3] Similarly, Kirkus Reviews considered the protagonists to "have a certain appeal", but stated that the novel was "more thought experiment than plot". [4]

The Spanish-language translation, La ciudad justa, was a finalist for the 2022 Premio Ignotus. [5]

Related Research Articles

The Trial of Socrates was held to determine the philosopher's guilt of two charges: asebeia (impiety) against the pantheon of Athens, and corruption of the youth of the city-state; the accusers cited two impious acts by Socrates: "failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges" and "introducing new deities".

A sophist was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught arete, "virtue" or "excellence", predominantly to young statesmen and nobility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prodicus</span> Greek philosopher (c. 465 – c. 395 BC)

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Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric and aesthetics. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and later evolved into Roman philosophy.

Critias was an ancient Athenian poet, philosopher and political leader. He is known today for being a student of Socrates, a writer of some regard, and for becoming the leader of the Thirty Tyrants, who ruled Athens for several months after the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War in 404/403.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Walton</span> Canadian writer and poet (born 1964)

Jo Walton is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel Among Others, which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and Tooth and Claw, a Victorian-era novel with dragons which won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Other works by Walton include the Small Change series, in which she blends alternate history with the cozy mystery genre, comprising Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. Her fantasy novel Lifelode won the 2010 Mythopoeic Award, and her alternate history My Real Children received the 2015 Tiptree Award.

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<i>Republic</i> (Plato) Philosophical work by Plato around 375 BC

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Hermodorus, an Ephesian who lived in the 4th century BC, was an original member of Plato's Academy and was present at the death of Socrates. He is said to have circulated the works of Plato, and to have sold them in Sicily. Hermodorus himself appears to have been a philosopher, for we know the titles of two works that were attributed to him: On Plato, and On Mathematics.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socrates</span> Classical Greek Athenian philosopher (c. 470 – 399 BC)

Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape.

<i>My Real Children</i> 2014 novel by Jo Walton

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Francis Mason</span>

Ellen Francis Mason was a New England author, civic leader, trustee, and philanthropist. She is known today for her translations of Plato.

<i>The Philosopher Kings</i> (novel) 2015 novel by Jo Walton

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 the second book of the Thessaly trilogy, and the sequel to The Just City, which was published a mere six months previously, and followed by Necessity, which was published in 2016.

<i>Necessity</i> (novel) 2016 novel by Jo Walton

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atticus (given name)</span> Name list

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References

  1. El-Mohtar, Amal (15 January 2015). "The Consolations (And Controversies) Of Philosophy In 'The Just City'". NPR . Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  2. Cart, Michael (1 December 2014). "The Just City". Booklist . Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  3. "The Just City". Publishers Weekly . 13 October 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  4. "The Just City by Jo Walton". Kirkus Reviews . 16 September 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  5. 2022 Ignotus Winners, at Locus Online ; published October 10, 2022; retrieved December 5, 2022