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rowdymeowdy'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and War
lizdon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Transphobia, Medical trauma, and Deportation
Once they reach war, there are mentions of how they treat female slaves that are stolen during raids, which is accurate to the time but can be hard to read. Not detailed, mostly just commented at.rllbth'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? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Slavery, and Xenophobia
Minor: Classism
rionstorm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The character development was really well done, felt gradual and natural.
I read it after Circe, and I found the difference in how certain things (especially stuff relating to women, marriage, and assault) are talked about really interesting. This one was definitely a bit more difficult to read in that sense, as sexual assault in particular is talked about relatively flippantly.
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Homophobia, Self harm, Xenophobia, and Outing
uranaishi'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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Medical content, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
harrimyers'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Colonisation
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: Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, and Abandonment
gabriella_'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? Yes
4.5
I have never read a love story convey so much closeness. Even the physical gap between their bodies must have been too much distance for them to bear.
The prose reads like poetry. The story was incredibly satisfying and kept my interest. I got teary-eyed a few times. This is a story where two characters dare to love in a world where marrying for love is an outlier.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
kt2e56'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
4.5
I read Circe first and I found it to be much, much more relatable due to my own personal history and experiences but this book was just as spectacular. I love that this was all told from the point of view of Patroclus. He’s compelling and it’s lovely to see his own story fleshed out. His love for Achilles is touching but I think Achilles eventually becomes so unlikeable that it’s hard to see what Patroclus still sees in him and why he still so readily would give up everything for him.
And Achilles himself is seen as complex here! Which is fine! Complex is good and I’m glad that he wasn’t always the attentive, loving, nurturing boy that Patroclus fell for and believed in. I think the story of Achilles here (and eventually Pyrrhus although he’s a much more extreme example) is a fascinating look at masculinity. Achilles is beautiful and sensitive and kind. He loves music and pretty things and nature. We see this throughout. But it isn’t until he starts demanding the treatment he believes he deserves and stamping out all that’s beautiful and tender about him that he could be seen as great and powerful by the world around him. He believes he’s entitled to greatness and he reaches a point where he really buys into his own hype and doesn’t care who he’s harmed as long as he gets what he believes he deserves as this pinnacle of masculinity, the best of the best. He can only become a hero by embracing cruelty and he’d rather be a hero and be remembered by everyone than remembered only by his love, Patroclus: the only person who ever really knew him at all.
I’ll be thinking about this book for awhile. It’s hard not to. It’s so rich and textured. I’m giving this a 4.5 instead a 5, only because I started to grow a bit numb from reading cruelty after cruelty and atrocity after atrocity but I can absolutely recognize that that has nothing to do with Miller’s skill as a writer, and has everything to do with my own personal preferences.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Outing
kate_lemer'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? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, and Xenophobia
The tears did not come. It could be because the ending is obvious, it is an almost exact copy of the Illiad after all. Or it could be that disregarding the first few pages, this book failed to rouse any other emotion but disgust. It's false marketing, in a way. In the beginning, the plot sucks you in, despite the fact you know how it will end. A Greek tragedy is quite predictable in that way, unfortunately. Any joy I had from spotting the famous quotes is swiftly ruined. I detested Patroclus' defeatest approach towards almost anything in his life (if there appeared to be a sliver of non-defeatism, it was apparently gods' will). I suppose we are supposed to read it as being a product of his environment - his father had literally beaten him down until there was not a sliver of self-respect left within his body. He will not try. He explicitely refuses to do so.