Tag Archives: alternate history

The prolific Jo Walton returns with a sequel to 'The Just City' and 'The Philosopher Kings.' 'Necessity' completes the saga of gods and philosophers seeking to make Plato’s 'Republic' a reality. While it has an entertaining storyline, it is a missed opportunity in an otherwise exemplary and thought-provoking trilogy.

Jo Walton’s My Real Children is difficult to classify. Although it can be read as an alternate history (actually two alternative histories—more on that in a moment), the novel really belongs on the shelf beside the work of “literary” writers like Jonathan Franzen or Alice Munro. The book both warms and wrenches the heart as it explores feminism and gay rights, as well as war and peace. The lives of Pat and Tricia tell us much about the world in which we live and what it means to be part of a family.

Three Princes paints a vivid and compelling image of how things might have been had Egypt not fallen to the Greeks and Assyrians. However, it suffers a bit from lack of focus and follow-through and ends up reading like a wandering series of partially unresolved short stories.