[The Charioteer] is the most sensitive and accurate treatment of homosexuality I know of; modern in setting, it has all the sense for a real issue that one looks for in Renault's historical fiction. (It is also a useful antidote to her The Persian Boy, which is far below her usual standard; admirers should stick to … her earlier books.) (pp. 271-72)

W. C. McWilliams, in Commonweal (copyright © 1973 Commonweal Publishing Co., Inc.; reprinted by permission of Commonweal Publishing Co., Inc.), December 7, 1973.