Mary Renault

The last of the wine

few authors have an innate gift of truly making historical fiction their own. mary renault does it effortlessly, she captures ancient greece with such vividness and finesse, it makes one gape when holding her novels. she made me relate to people, places and sentiments that don't belong to my era nor my upbringing, and throughout the book it truly felt like i was transported into the past. reading mary renault's works is a true delight to the soul.

« what is honour? in athens it is one thing, in sparta another; and among the medes it is something else again. but go where you will, there is no land where the dead return across the river. »

no author writes about ancient greece the way mary renault does. i have always sung the praises of her alexander the great books, which is what got me into her writing in the first place, but her other novels deserve just as much praise.

this was a reread and once again, what strikes me most with renault's works is how immersive it immediately feels. i wasn't here, i was in 5th century bc athens. with it's qualities and its many flaws. this does not feel like any other greek historical novel or retelling, there's truly something special about her writing that you do not get anywhere else. i both loved and loathed alexias, suffered alongside him and at times felt like throwing him from the pnyx. 

florine

« what is honour? in athens it is one thing, in sparta another; and among the medes it is something else again. but go where you will, there is no land where the dead return across the river. »

no author writes about ancient greece the way mary renault does. i have always sung the praises of her alexander the great books, which is what got me into her writing in the first place, but her other novels deserve just as much praise.

this was a reread and once again, what strikes me most with renault's works is how immersive it immediately feels. i wasn't here, i was in 5th century bc athens. with it's qualities and its many flaws. this does not feel like any other greek historical novel or retelling, there's truly something special about her writing that you do not get anywhere else. i both loved and loathed alexias, suffered alongside him and at times felt like throwing him from the pnyx. 

The last of the wine

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