Thessaly / Philosopher Kings Trilogy by Jo Walton

I came across a recommendation by Cory Doctorow of Jo Walton‘s work, on July 1st. I bought a range of her works then, and in the past month read what I bought. Among them the Thessaly trilogy which I read in the last 2 weeks, consisting of three books, The Just City, The Philosopher Kings and Necessity. What a joyous read! Weaving together the history and attitudes of different places and ages, in bringing a variety of people with a deep interest in Plato together (but not Sokrates himself) because both Athene and Apollo want to see if living in a city using Plato’s Republic / Πολιτεία as blueprint would work. The original people brought together from across time were brought there because at some point they prayed to Athene. They get presented with their cultural backgrounds and blind spots as real people, which allows the exploration of topics like emancipation, consent, awareness, time paradoxes, religion, love, gender, art, different family constellations, ageing, anger, grief and…