Thessaly
#6423.85 adjusted 3.86 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2015–2016 Reading commitment Medium Jo Walton Last reviewed 2026-08-25
Overview
Thessaly is a completed trilogy by Jo Walton, comprising The Just City (2015), The Philosopher Kings (2015), and Necessity (2016). Its premise has the goddess Athene gathering scholars from across human history who once prayed to live in a society built on Plato's Republic, settling them on the island of Thera shortly before its historical volcanic eruption to raise ten thousand purchased children toward that philosophical ideal; her brother Apollo joins the experiment as a mortal, living among the very children he helps raise in order to better understand human choice and consent. The arrival, five years in, of an aged and characteristically disruptive Socrates unsettles the entire project's founding assumptions, and the consequences of that unsettling ripple outward across the trilogy's final volume, which shifts the action beyond Thera itself. The series is notable for treating classical philosophy as an active plot mechanism rather than background texture, staging its ideas as lived experiments with real human consequences.
Mythic fantasy, Historical fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Thessaly trilogy Jo Walton
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Just City | 2015 | 1 | core | 3.80 (8,689 ratings) |
 | The Philosopher Kings | 2015 | 2 | core | 3.93 (3,140 ratings) |
 | Necessity | 2016 | 3 | core | 3.93 (1,907 ratings) |
Quick answers
- How many books are in Thessaly? Thessaly's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for Thessaly? Publication order, starting with The Just City. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Thessaly finished? Complete (2015–2016).
- How much reading does Thessaly take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books).
- How is Thessaly ranked? #642 in this site's official ranking, based on 13,736 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #642?
Ranked #642 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.85 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (13,736 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 3 rated core books rate within 0.13 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #641, The Well-Built City (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 3 books · Complete · 14k ratings · Ranks #642 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Just City (2015)
- The Philosopher Kings (2015)
- Necessity (2016)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.85 across 13,736 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Thessaly (Jo Walton) accepted 2026-08-25
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: The Just City Tier 3
- Thessaly series bibliography (specialised series-tracking site) Tier 3
Last reviewed: 2026-08-26
Rule: Core Canon covers the complete, published trilogy.