rllbth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Torture, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Xenophobia, and Slavery
Minor: Classism
uranaishi'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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: War, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Domestic abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Mental illness, Bullying, Outing, Physical abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Gore, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Child death
_bobatea_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Slavery, Classism, Child abuse, Abandonment, Grief, War, Violence, Sexism, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Outing, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Sexual assault
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, and Vomit
fuzzywilson's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, Cursing, Confinement, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Slavery, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death
emolr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, War, Violence, and Slavery
lhyz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
But honestly, WTF.
This is the book I've seen everywhere as "hearbreaking" and "best love story"?
If this is what people undestand by love now, I'm worried.
The book is narrated by Patroclus in first person.
I liked him. The original one. I'm fond of that kind of simple and nice secondary characters. But this Patroclus is the most unreliable narrator I've ever read. He's treated poorly by his father and has a childhood of believing himself worthless. Then he moves, meets Achilles and looks like there will character development.
Wrong. He's presented as useless and his only trait is how much he admires and loves Achilles. Talking about him all the time to a creepy-fan level, to be honest. Doesn't look creepier because the hero corresponds his affections.
Physically.
Because I've never met two lovers with less chemistry in my life.
For a modern book, I'm suprised about how little direct dialogue we have between characters, specially the two main ones. And barely any real romantic action between them, just Patroclus' monologue.
I still don't undestand that scene between him and Deyanira. Had that involved any other character, I could justify it by the narrator (and thus, the reader) not having access to the character's thoughts. But this is between Deyanira and Patroclus and he IS the NARRATOR.
Another thing that makes no sense to me is the villanification of Thetis. She is written as the most stereotypical evil step-mother from a Disney/fairytale.
And what for? I imagine that, because ⅔ of the story is just them being kids and teens, the book needed some kind of "obstacle". It actually suprised me, to find such a maintream "she's a witch" attitude with Thetis just so the boys have something "against them" before the actual war. Specially with the great work she did with Circe.
If, like me, your favourite part of the book was the events of the Trojan war; read TROY, by Stephen Fry.
Oh, and the Spanish translation is horrible. Outdated and old terms chosen, I believe, to imitate the language used in old scholar works to talk about Ancient Greece mixed with incredibly informal and modern slang terms when writing direct dialogue.
But at least for once, our edition is prettier.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Child death, Bullying, Grief, Slavery, Racism, Blood, Classism, Infidelity, War, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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: Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Slavery, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
Minor: Abandonment, Rape, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia
saskiajva's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The book was so well written and i devoured it quickly. The voice and writing style takes after the way old myths are written so it’s a bit more formal. The love story was beautiful and i still cried even knowing what the end held. Beautiful story
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Classism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Slavery, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, and Adult/minor relationship
l1v_yy'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? No
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Addiction, and Child abuse
Minor: Abandonment
ghostlyprince's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Pedophilia, Self harm, Child death, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Blood, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and War
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Bullying, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Vomit