[The] less inhibited cousin [of the historical novel], the legendary romance—a freer form because it is by nature exempt from the restrictions of historical fact—is no less honorable and may offer even more in the way of inventive and persuasive entertainment.

Mary Renault's evocations of the Greek past, starting with "The Last of the Wine" (1956), are admirable examples of this genre, perhaps the best we have…. [In "The King Must Die"] an act of scholarship and art combined to give us a novel that was at once ancient and contemporary, as beautifully and horribly moving as the wild legends upon which it was based.

In her new book, "The Bull From the Sea," we have the sequel, which carries the story on to the death of Theseus. Sequels are a tricky business, as are afterthoughts in general; but this one is no falling off, no perfunctory...