Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A Canção de Aquiles by Madeline Miller

858 reviews

teslis's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I did really enjoy it in the beginning, but at the end I stoped. It was to much fighting and I got bored, sadly. I’m tired and I think me being stressed to read didn’t help

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Deportation

hayreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was honestly expecting it to devastate me more. Very enjoyable book, I was always wanting more. Loses points because I hated Achilles in the last third so much I lost a lot of emotion around him dying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War

sreddous's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a well-crafted, well-paced, emotional historical fiction. 

The descriptions of war are disgusting and immersive in the best ways, I could feel each spear butting me in the stomach. It's really cool to have two characters that approach war/glory/etc. differently and we get a good portion of both perspectives to really get a good picture of what war could be like.

The romantic timeline and pacing I also thought was fantastic. The innuendos and tension early in the story set up good tension, and the ending was truly heartbreaking with enough time spent on each of the feelings the characters were working through. The pacing was really just perfect here -- I never felt bored or stagnant but also never felt like very important feelings and character motivations or lessons learned were rushed.

The only thing I found myself wishing was really different was: I do really wish there was "more" to Patroclus in the first 1/3 of the book to make it clear why Achilles started to like him over the other boys. I like very much that later in the book Patroclus found his talents in medicine and that's interesting - I find myself wishing he was showing signs of being good at stuff like that early so Achilles had a reason early in the book to find him 'special/different' and be therefore interested in him. It felt kind of strange when Achilles was defending their friendship to his dad by saying "I find him interesting" and I kind of thought "lol why" at that time in the story. Still, this point does resolve itself and their chemistry and connection later is really believable, so it's mostly-minor for me as a whole.

Good stuff!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Violence

minnow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

As a huge fan of Greek mythology, and after hearing all of the praise for Circe, I expected this to be a 5-star read for me. I was pretty disappointed in this novel. It's just too heavy-handed with the descriptions. Every single thing is described in minute detail. I don't need to know every time the character has the tiniest feeling. I don't need a paragraph-long description of an item that has no importance to the story whatsoever. I don't need to know the hundred tiny gestures or expressions a character is making when those emotions are then repeated in the dialogue. It creates redundancy and weighs down the story. There are scenes stretching over chapters that could have been reduced to a few paragraphs, improving the pacing of the story. There's a time and place for heavy descriptions and I did not feel that discernment was exercised here.

I did, however, feel that this story did a fantastic job of portraying love in a way that was intense but not cringey.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment

maddiepaige's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

linnau's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Abandonment

cats33's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Oh my heart always has space for Achilles and Patroclus. Gosh I love these two. Beautiful story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

davidalanyoung's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• 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

4.5

As a long time fan of Greek mythology, I was a bit nervous to pick this book up. Gay literature is usually hit or miss and I wasn’t quite confident this was a hit. I am glad I did. What a delightful read. And typical of Greek stories, a tragic but beautiful one. Would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

areadnes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

don’t let the rating fool you — i enjoyed the song of achilles. sure, it didn’t really emotionally capture me as much as the majority of its audience, but i still had a lot of fun reading it regardless. if anything, i think it was my own expectations that dampened the experience and that’s just plainly on me. this is madeline miller’s first novel, after all, and despite whatever criticisms i have i think it’s still a feat to have something like this be your debut novel. achilles & patroclus’ relationship is very touching and there is no shortage of side characters to keep things interesting (love you odysseus <3). all in all, a good read and an emotional ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

bearbutch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely beautiful book, down to its writing, its characterisation, its imaginings. Couldn’t recommend more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery