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hannahbaird2023's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and War
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery
shiyuplsloveme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Rape, and Death of parent
Minor: Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War
emtees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Like many mythological beings, Circe’s story is told in scattered tales across different sources. Miller does an excellent job of weaving them together into a coherent “biography,” creating relationships between the various characters said to be descended from Helios, finding explanations for things like Circe’s remote home, and tying Circe’s tale to others like the legend of the Minotaur or the transformation of the sea god Glaucos. In the process she creates a world for these gods that feels somewhere between mythology and fantasy, internally consistent and complex, with its hierarchies and personal rivalries and complex rules. But this book is much more than just connect-the-dots with Greek Gods. Miller creates a thematically powerful story with Circe, finding a common thread in her stories and weaving it across the novel. I didn’t see the ending coming but it was such a perfect one for this character.
Moderate: Rape and Pregnancy
mairiairi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Book felt like it was slogging a bit at the beginning, wasn't interesting, everyone was a completely self-absorbed, narcissistic jerk including Circe. Then she gets a couple hundred years under her belt and becomes more self-aware, growing out of the teenager stage into the young adult stage, and it's so organic and natural that I didn't even notice it until I read over the quotes I'd posted and realized there's a huge difference between the first, second, and third of the book. I def found her growing on me and ended up rooting for her by the end of the book (which is crazy considering how weak and spineless she was at the beginning). It was really really well done.
The writing kind of reminds me of Hamnet, though probably more flowery and descriptive, but definitely not as pretentious as Wolf Hall. This was subtle enough that you had to think about it and read slower than usual, but it wasn't so subtle that you felt dumb for not understanding, and not getting anything out of the book. The writing also didn't get in the way of the story at all, imo.
Had some really good morals/lessons, and some thought-provoking takes on human nature, existence of man, etc. and I wish I'd had a physical copy so I could annotate. Or a teacher to tell me to write a paper on it. Fascinating stuff fr fr
I did get a lil bit bored until about halfway - it was a bit tedious, because she's stuck on an island, but definitely not anywhere near as bad as A Gentleman in Moscow, this actually had a storyline lol it did leave me feeling like I was reading one of those multi-generational books and there's a reason I never read those. To her credit, I think it definitely sells you on the "she's centuries old, exiled on an island" without dragging or being boring like you'd expect.
Definitely want to get a physical copy, reread, and annotate everything. Too many relatable characters, but most of them see their flaws and work on it so that by the end of the story they've changed and are far healthier than where they started. Anger management, trouble with trust and vulnerability, dealing with loss or loneliness...there is so much they either grow through OR recognize in someone else as being bad, and seeing my own problems represented in a book was so encouraging to me. I don't have to keep doing this to myself and those around me, don't keep hurting people just because you're too proud to admit you're the source of the hurt - these gods suck, but I don't have to lol
So interesting that she is drawn to humans time and again. Those are the only ones she's interested in, everyone else is a side hustle. Why? Because she's drawn to authenticity and weakness, being deemed weak and naive to the family of gods that she was born into. And so much more. But I have work tmr and it's already 3:30am so imma leave it at that and if any of this piqued your interest then just go read it already (it's subtle enough that even if you're under 13 it's fine, but you won't enjoy it so wait till you're like 15+ << only saying this bc my lil sister follows me HAHAHA sup tia)
also: there were some long quotes I liked that didn't fit in the update thing, so I'm leaving them as comments under this review lol
(also also, note that I wrote right before the book gets good:
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
kyleighf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Only took me 10 months :/
Idk if I was just in a slump or if the style of the writing really put me off from reading but I don’t know. Not one of my best reads. Which was disappointing because I’m obsessed with Circe the Greek myth and still am. It’s a hard story to tell with all its history and old timey stuff, and I appreciated the actual story itself. The writing just didn’t do it for me :/
Moderate: Pregnancy
bekieboo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, and Abandonment
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Body horror
Several scenes depicting child birth that are graphic and atypical.readingraine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
mothmaven63's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexism, and Pregnancy
phoevincent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Minor: Infidelity and Suicidal thoughts
rhiannon814r's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment