Scan barcode
jessellisx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Infertility, Misogyny, Grief, and Sexism
Minor: Suicide, Slavery, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship
chloj_'s review against another edition
- 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
4.5
!!spoilers ahead!!
- ‘his idea of female beauty was a woman so fat if you slapped her backside in the morning she'd still be jiggling when you got back home for dinner.’ damn me too
- ‘she could’ve been kind to me and she wasn’t; she could’ve helped me find my feet and she didn’t.’
- ‘when i got to the door i paused with my hand on the latch and looked back, but she’d already turned away’
- the main character’s relationship with femininity is so cleverly written- both her relationship with other women, and with her own femaleness
- ‘but the dying man, his face wiped clean of pain, cradled his spilling intestines as gently as a mother nurses her newborn child.’
- ‘“it’ll be alright,” i said, knowing it wouldn’t.’
- ‘he fucked as quickly as he killed, and for me it was the same thing. something in me died that night.’
- the emotions in this book are soooo beautiful done
- ‘the bed was cold.’ this one sentence is so incredibly powerful
- ‘no girl ever dressed more carefully for her wedding than achilles for the battlefield’
- ‘as long as i lived and remembered, [my brothers] weren’t really dead.’
- the relationship between briseis and iphis is SO special- it is born entirely from shared tragedy and the kindness only women can share with each other.
- that depiction of wasteland at the end of 46/start of 47 is SUCH a beautiful depiction of the waste of female beauty (both physical and mental) at the hands of men
- ‘the world began to close in around me, and i realised that the songs belonged to my brothers and not me’
- ‘i always remember that she wept for me when i couldn’t weep for myself’
- the list format of the people Achilles killed / how they died is SO good- it really displays how the repeated trauma and war has made tragedy something clinical.
- ‘before leaving, he always bent down and kissed him in the mouth, though the lips had darkened and begun to retract.’
- ‘Why him? Why not me? He asks the questions over and over, as if one day they might have a different answer, and the burden of guilt be lifted at last.’
- achilles grief is written so beautifully
- ‘and i do what countless women before me had been forced to. i spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and brothers.’
- ‘now my own story can begin’
Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, and Pedophilia
readingoccasionally89'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? No
3.75
one thing that bothered me aswell was how the relationship between patroclus and achilles is described, especially because i read this after tsoa, (which i definitely liked better.) but that’s just my personal opinion and NOT a flaw of this book.
i think the intention of this book was to show the hopelessness, troubles and crimes in the trojan war from a woman’s perspective, in which pat barker definitely succeeded, but stil i wouldn’t call this book a favourite.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, and Slavery
asternautt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, and War
Moderate: Kidnapping, Excrement, Gore, Rape, Gaslighting, Trafficking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Medical content, Blood, Pregnancy, and Murder
Minor: Cannibalism and Vomit
alexiasophii's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is a hefty book, before anything else, please be careful of the content warnings, they are NOT a lie or minimized, this is a very heavy, graphic and pain-ridden book. However, it is incredible. It's amazingly sad, amazingly painful, but amazing nonetheless.
I might come back and do a bigger review later because I'm still gathering my thoughts, but I really enjoyed this book (I had a nightmare related to this book, that's how well-written it is!) and I'm planning on reading the sequel as soon as possible!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Slavery, Alcohol, Excrement, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Torture, Genocide, Rape, and War
emilyandthewhippet's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Deportation, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cannibalism
sas_lk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
The entire time I was reading, I so desperately wanted the women to fight, to try different things, to escape this hell. But at the same time, you know that they will never be able to get out of that situation. It is so sad how a lot of the events are not even historical, in the sense that many women are still treated like this.
At the end, it still ended up being quite a bit about Achilles. While i understand why Barker wanted to do it, I still wish the focus was even more on the women because in the end, it almost felt like the book was forgiving Achilles and the men for what they had done.
That said, when Achilles grieves Patroclus, Barker wrote it extremely well.
Graphic: Animal death, Slavery, Child death, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Kidnapping, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Violence
shadereads's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape, Gore, Blood, Pedophilia, War, Confinement, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy
kt2e56's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
But holy SHIT what an abysmal execution.
First of all: there’s the obnoxious overuse of very modern phrases and concepts (I mean modern as in there’s no way someone in Ancient Troy would even know what this MEANS let alone say it) which kept taking me out of the story. The author also straight up has no idea how to write dialogue. Each character sounds the same. They all speak the same. Exactly the same. And there’s ZERO consistency. A character will go from speaking fairly normally one chapter to speaking like a British chav the next (no joke. “Me mam bloody well told him to sod off, the wanker.” That’s the level of bizarre random, nonsensical dialect the reader is subjected to. It makes ZERO sense and comes and goes in such an alarming rate) then back to normal a sentence later. It’s insanity.
Most egregiously though, halfway through the book Barker decides to abandon the purpose. It’s no longer the Iliad from Breises’ point of view and told in her voice (granted her voice sounds like everyone else’s but still) but now we’re being subjected to jarring chapters told in third person all about Achilles and events that Breises wasn’t even around for. So the author essentially took back the idea that made this so interesting in the first place by tossing Breises aside and making this all about Achilles and his mommy issues.
Like I truly don’t know what editor approved this. This genuinely felt like I was reading an outline let alone an actual published novel. And a novel that people are apparently fawning over and think is really good and ~feminist~!? I’m just astounded by the praise this mess of a book has received. The one good thing honestly was Achilles being portrayed as a petulant toddler obsessed with breast-feeding a la Homelander in The Boys. That’s it. I hate comparing books but honestly just read Madeline Miller’s “Song of Achilles” even THAT is much more graceful and lyrical and does an infinitely better job of fleshing out Breises (AND SHE IS ONLY A SIDE CHARACTER!!! SHE ISN’T THE CHARACTER TELLING THE STORY!!!) than this drivel did. Both SOA and Circe were so well done and beautifully written that they felt like myths in and of themselves. This is just bizarre.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, War, Gore, Rape, Child death, Excrement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Cursing, Grief, and Medical content
beauvisseau's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Although the main character, Briseis, does not have a highly developed character, I feel that it fits with her state of being. The grief of losing her loved ones but also one's self can turn you into a shell of memories and thoughts.
One point of criticism though, is that I would have liked to see more perspectives of different women there. It is a missed opportunity to switch between Briseis, Patroclus and Achilles, when two of those three narratives have already been explored for centuries but so many narratives are missing.
Amazing work of fiction that truly expands upon the existing narratives and opened my eyes to many new ideas about war, feminism, story-telling, slavery and power. Would recommend to anyone.
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Genocide, Gore, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia