Mary Renault Libros

Alejandro Magno, dueño y señor de la mitad del mundo conocido hasta entonces, agoniza sin haberse decidido a nombrar sucesor. Tras su muerte, los «juegos funerarios» no son los torneos homéricos sino las cruentas luchas por el poder absoluto.

Esta novela completa la recreación del mito de Teseo que la autora, inspirada en las viejas leyendas áticas, inició con «El rey debe morir». Teseo, el legendario rey de Atenas, hijo de Egeo o Poseidón y de Etra, es uno de los personajes más controvertidos y fascinantes de la Grecia clásica. Destructor de Cnosos, residencia real de la dinastía minoica, fundador de la dinastía ateniense, reformador religioso, gran navegante y pirata, a él se atribuye el sinecismo ateniense (reunión de varios pueblos en una ciudad, con igualdad de derechos entre todos los habitantes e instituciones políticas y religiosas unificadas) tras haber conquistado gran parte del Ática. En «Teseo, rey de Atenas» el héroe ya ha logrado volver a Atenas, después de salir victorioso del combate con el Minotauro de Creta. La novela relata, a un tiempo, cómo se convierte en rey del Ática y de Creta y sus expediciones guerreras, sus acciones como gobernante y sus amoríos con Ariadna, Hipólita —reina de las amazonas— y Fedra.

In myth, Theseus was the slayer of the child-devouring Minotaur in Crete. What the founder-hero might have been in real life is another question, brilliantly explored in The King Must Die. Drawing on modern scholarship and archaeological findings at Knossos, Mary Renault’s Theseus is an utterly lifelike figure—a king of immense charisma, whose boundless strivings flow from strength and weakness—but also one steered by implacable prophecy. The story follows Theseus’s adventures from Troizen to Eleusis, where the death in the book’s title is to take place, and from Athens to Crete, where he learns to jump bulls and is named king of the victims. Richly imbued with the spirit of its time, this is a page-turner as well as a daring act of imagination.

In her inventive novels set in ancient Greece, Mary Renault crafts a compelling narrative from the myth of Theseus, creating a flawed hero and a plausible account of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. The story follows young Theseus from his mysterious birth and insecurities about his size to his growing strength and belief in his destiny. As a teenager, he embarks on a journey to meet his father, the King of Athens, but faces unexpected challenges, including a forced stay in the matriarchal society of Eleusis and his participation in a tribute of Athenian youths sent to be sacrificed to a bull-worshipping cult in Crete. Trapped in King Minos's labyrinthine palace, Theseus teams up with high priestess Ariadne to devise a daring escape plan for the Athenians. The sequel begins with Theseus's return to Athens, where he discovers his father's death and his new role as king. However, his confidence in his destiny is tested by future encounters, including a life-altering meeting with Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, the birth of a son who seeks his own path, and the tragic consequences of his wife Phaedra's betrayal. Renault combines her deep understanding of ancient Greek culture with imaginative speculation, bringing legendary heroes and monsters to life.

Tells the story of the climactic last seven years of Alexander the Great's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. The relationship between the beautiful young eunuch and the great general's sustains Alexander as he survives assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper.

The acclaimed biography of Alexander the Great.

“Written with her usual vigor and imagination...Mary Renault has a great talent.”– The New York Times Book Review Alexander’s beauty, strength, and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fueled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon’s cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.

Few events in his early years had prepared Laurie Odell for that day in the veterans’ hospital when he first met Andrew Raynes. Laurie, who was recovering from wounds sustained at Dunkirk, had seen a bit of life, but the moment he met Andrew was unique for him – it was a moment that provided clarity and logic for the many things that he vaguely knew about himself but had never fully understood. With Andrew everything became right – love entered Laurie’s life and with it, finally, a sense of self. But with this discovery began Laurie’s difficult journey between two communities – that of the soldier and that of the gay man – and the delicate task of navigating the precarious waters that flow between them. In The Charioteer Ms. Renault has created a stunning work of historical fiction that is as fresh as today’s headlines. This is a novel that thoroughly succeeds in illuminating the world around us.