They fit neatly into the story with the fictional characters, who all had compelling and individual voices. I think I was expecting to be bored to death by deep, philosophical discussions, as philosophy is not really a topic I like to give much of my time to, but I liked that Walton truly created her own interpretation of historical figures like Socrates and famous god(desse)s like Athena. I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Then, a few years in, Sokrates arrives - the same Sokrates recorded by Plato himself - to ask all the troublesome questions you would expect. For this lifetime, he is prone to all the troubles of being human. He knows his true identity, and conceals it from his peers. Meanwhile, Apollo - stunned by the realization that there are things mortals understand better than he does - has arranged to live a human life, and has come to the City as one of the children. The teacher Maia was once Ethel, a young Victorian lady of much learning and few prospects, who prayed to Pallas Athene in an unguarded moment during a trip to Rome - and, in an instant, found herself in the Just City with grey-eyed Athene standing unmistakably before her. The student Simmea, born an Egyptian farmer's daughter sometime between 5 A.D, is a brilliant child, eager for knowledge, ready to strive to be her best self.

Created as an experiment by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, the Just City is a planned community, populated by over ten thousand children and a few hundred adult teachers from all eras of history, along with some handy robots from the far human future - all set down together on a Mediterranean island in the distant past.

The Just City by Jo Walton