Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

539 reviews

mangofraiche's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bethanwx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• 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

A romantic, morally complicated adaption of the myth of Patroclus and Achilles. Miller’s version of the world of the Ancient Greeks is misogynistic and violent, with Patroclus constantly trying to make the moral choice in a brutal world. Meanwhile, his relationship with Achilles is his constant rock, a love which holds them to each other.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Cursing and Outing

morbidgoogle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

• 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

5.0

Incredible book to read with my partner, took a couple of weeks of 15 minutes in the mornings. As two greek mythology nerds we appreciated the interpretation, and even though we knew the outcomes Miller writes tension and intrigue so well that we were still captivated and holding on with baited breath. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

monaa_lisaa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and War

Moderate: Animal death and Violence

Minor: Child death and Rape

wildflower_magic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

What a beautiful retelling of the story of Achilles. I swooned over the portrayal of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus and I think Patroclus was the perfect narrator for the story. Madeline Miller did a fantastic job of holding true to the original stories while also creating something unique and special within that story. The writing style was gorgeous: perfectly flowery and song-like just like the myths would have been told. The character development was so interesting. A month later and I still think about how this book ended! This book gives a lot of opportunities to reflect on the age-old debate: do we have control, or is it up to fate? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Transphobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

kaygee_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content

unoriginalusername's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I was influenced by BookTok (and partially strong armed by a friend) to read this book. 
It’s a gorgeously written story about Achilles from Patroclus’ point of view. I admire the author for putting so much love and respect into this story, giving a stellar retelling to a famous story and looking at the relationships from a different perspective. Anyone who’s read anything about Achilles or the Trojan War should know what they’re getting into with this book. The topics are heavy, potentially triggering, and altogether realistic for the setting. That being said, I’m not a fan of Greek tragedy and only enjoyed the book when I was done with it. It’s very emotionally provocative, and it does it well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

It’s a Greek tragedy. Idk what else to say, other than it’s going to happen.

jls6283's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• 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? Yes

2.25

I had high hopes for this since it’s been all over booktok, but it was not for me. The beginning was slow and the only world-building was in the form of mythology name dropping. Since I find myself rusty on those names, I’m sure many of the references were lost on me… 

Also few of the characters were likable…mostly just Briseis. Patroclus does go from mildly annoying 10-year-old to a noble man by the end. The “hero” on the other hand… 🙄

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and War

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Slavery, and Pregnancy

goemonxiii's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted sad 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

3.5

I don't normally read books like Song of Achilles, but it was thoroughly enjoyable for what it was. I liked viewing Greek Mythology through the lens of Patroclus, Patroclus and Achilles' relationship was interesting to read about, and I like how this book is introducing a new generation to Greek Mythology. Is this book a must read? No. Is it good? For what it is, yes. The only thing I didn't like was the "passive voice" in later chapters when major things are happening (hopefully you'll understand what I mean if/when you read it). But, for young adult fiction, the plot wasn't stupid, there weren't any glaring problems in terms of themes or messaging, and it was well-written in terms of word choices and how the story was presented.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Classism

lots of death, sad ending

, toxic parents, deals with the conflict of destiny versus identity, children being sent to war, deals with the consequences of war, passing mention of infanticide

elija_20's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

If you love writers who use a lot of similes and metaphors you will LOVE this book. The imagery is amazing and makes the characters and plot come to life on the page. I loved all the characters and their development throughout. All in all a really great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Kidnapping, and Abandonment