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courtsport'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
4.5
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Rape, Torture, Violence, and War
garnethalo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Animal death, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
It a story about the women affected by the Trojan war. Both Greeks, Trojans, and women nearby Troy. Greek tragedy even sadder when you consider the women. You have been warned.emiandem's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Rape
brianvirgil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Rape, Grief, and Death of parent
nialiversuch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ashleycmms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
jeannekmele's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
An exceptional collection of nearly universal tragedy across its heroines, pyrrhic victories are the norm for women whose darkest moments shine with vibrant human spirit on the pages of A THOUSAND SHIPS.
So often left footnotes--wives, mothers, sisters, sluts and daughters written to live, die, and love for the storied men of old--any background knowledge of the classical canon will lend an unerring hand to the conclusions we know these women will come to. Yet you cannot help but root for their success, or their peace if no such thing exist; despite the ends long since written for them, their human resilience and fragility and the womanly grit behind it all almost feels as if history could rewrite itself this time.
It doesn't, of course, but this in of itself is the devoted intersection of care and craft.
Though ATS is tragedy from the first page to last, the deluge of misery and loss roils and settles with the comfortable shape of a story until you're left with a sense of resolution that is not gratifying, but it is real. And that is the way of tragedy, trauma, and war: these things cannot be reversed, nor smoothed over, nor sated.
What of Eris, the instigator? What of Helen, the adulteress, the end of a kingdom? It is very easy, in a song about war, to glorify and vilify to the whims of one's own biases, or heroes, or chosen themes. I don't believe you will find such binary in this book.
I will quote Natalie Haynes' afterword: 'Survivors, victims, perpetrators: these roles are not always separate. People can be wounded and wounding at the same time, or at different times in the same life.'
It would be erroneous to go into A THOUSAND SHIPS expecting anything less than complex women with rich inner lives under extraneous circumstances. In the man-made disaster that is war, it becomes impractical and impossible to keep an orderly measure of right and wrong. The human condition warps into something immeasurable under such extreme duress. Though by no means a soothing read, I nonetheless devoured ATS as I haven't done with a book in a long time.
I will close with this: Grief is a long-lived creature with many faces that may come in any amount or combination at any time, in three days or five years, or decades hence. Grief is angry, and loud, and dead-eyed; it is wasting away and endless tears and twists in our chests that by right of anatomy shouldn't twist there; it is jealousy and accusation and cruelty and violence and submission and insanity.
Grief is ugly, and so often in contemporary western culture it is unsightly and to be repressed. In women, grief is mockingly anticipated, oppressively levied, and mercilessly culled. A THOUSAND SHIPS is an excellent read across the board, but for those who are processing grief and trauma, who may be unsure how to (especially women), it is a cathartic and humanizing portrait of the externally-inflicted and yet worst, most unacceptable parts of ourselves that are too big for our bodies, and too loud for the world.
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
orlagal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
padlecat'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? No
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, and Rape