Thessaly Series Reading Order

'Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent.' One day, i… 'Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent.' One day, in a moment of philosophical puckishness, the time-travelling goddess Pallas Athene decides to put Plato to the test and create the Just City. She locates the City on a Mediterranean island and populates it with over ten thousand children and a few hundred adults from all eras of history . . . along with some handy robots from the far human future. Meanwhile, Apollo - stunned by the realization that there are things that human beings understand better than he does - has decided to become a mortal child, head to Athene's City and see what all the fuss is about. Then Socrates arrives, and starts asking troublesome questions. What happens next is a tale only the brilliant Jo Walton could tell. read more

The sequel to The Just City and The Philosopher Kings: "A glorious kitchen sink of genre, combining philosophy, time tra… The sequel to The Just City and The Philosopher Kings: "A glorious kitchen sink of genre, combining philosophy, time travel, aliens, and the gods." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Sunburst Award for Adult Fiction Finalist More than sixty-five years ago, Pallas Athena founded the Just City on an island in the eastern Mediterranean, placing it centuries before the Trojan War, populating it with teachers and children from throughout human history, and committing it to building a society based on the principles of Plato's Republic. Among the City's children was Pytheas, secretly the god Apollo in human form. Sixty years ago, the Just City schismed into five cities, each devoted to a different version of the original vision. Forty years ago, the five cities managed to bring their squabbles to a close. But in consequence of their struggle, their existence finally came to the attention of Zeus, who can't allow them to remain in deep antiquity, changing the course of human history. Convinced by Apollo to spare the Cities, Zeus instead moved everything on the island to the planet Plato, circling its own distant sun. Now, more than a generation has passed. The Cities are flourishing on Plato, and even trading with multiple alien species. Then, on the same day, two things happen. Pytheas dies as a human, returning immediately as Apollo in his full glory. And there's suddenly a human ship in orbit around Plato—a ship from Earth. "As before, Walton has done a superb job of world building and character development, giving readers a novel that both stimulates and satisfies." — Booklist (starred review) read more