I wasn't sure I wanted The Just City to have a sequel. It was an excellent book, and it ended well, and often good endings can be undermined by a second volume. Thankfully, this is set twenty years after the end of The Just City, giving enough distance for the characters to have grown, and new issues arisen. From the first chapter, The Philosopher Kings sets out it's stall: if The Just City was about consent, this time the focus is on death (and life, and posterity). Apollo incarnate was one of my favourite characters in the first book, and he continues to learn and grow here; his daughter, Arete, is also a highlight. Worth a read.