Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

43 reviews

hamstringy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

5.0

It is hard to write a book like this. Miller writes a tragedy with a clear and incisive voice, one that makes room for the joy and horror of a life under gods. Made me cry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Rape

anmane's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

The book was well written in terms of language and pacing, but the subject matter - by this I mean the war, not the romance - was hard for me to stomach. The focus is on the male characters, as it is in the source material, and how women, children or indeed all humans are treated is not sugarcoated. Also, because of the subject matter, there is a lot of violence, gore and cruelty. I also hated Achilles as a character, which made the motivation of Patroclus' actions hard to understand. Will not read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Pregnancy

mconroy9137's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

a_novi'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book was an interesting take on some Greek mythology. I read it because of a blind recommendation and I will say it is not family friendly, it not only has quite a bit of in depth death and injury descriptions but also some sex scenes. Over all the battles and challenges along with the characters were interesting and the sex scenes were not too forced, detailed or cringey so overall I still found it pretty tasteful and enjoyable. But it is definitely not any story of Achilles one may be expecting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

codapril's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

This was the first book I've read in a non-academic setting in a VERY long time, and I couldn't have picked a better book to get me back into reading again. I had been wanting to read more for a long time now, but worried I would struggle with finding a genre I liked, or that I would lose interest in a book and never pick it up again. Suffice it to say, I had no issued with this book and it reignited my love for reading and makes me excited to continue reading. This story was moderately slow, but slow does not mean lacking intrigue. The slowness is important in discerning characters, places, and events that all become very relevant later in the book. The friendship, love, and compassion presented in this story is truly beautiful, and brought me strong emotions at times. I'm very excited to read other stories from this author. From a very new reader I highly suggest this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

frihedferrero's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Murder, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death

valentinayippy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

z24's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book has me very separated. I always liked the story of Achilles and perhaps that is the problem. The author changed the story in some key factors, and imo took away a lot from what makes this story great. The writing on the other hand is quite enchanting and beautiful.
Leaving out some parts (like rape

Patroclus saving Brisis instead of raping her, made a cute story-line

) is an understandable decision and makes the novel a lot easier to read. But to change the main character to a weak guy, when the fact that Patroclus and Achilles very equally talented, makes it.. quite homophobic. It even is mentioned in the book that the Greeks weren't accepting of homosexual relationships. Only in specific instances, but to have a couple that defies those rules, that is what made the whole story so iconic. Pushing them back into this heteronomative characteristics, takes that away.
There is the option of looking at Patroclus story-line and trying to interpret it in a way, that says "there's other ways to be great than physical strength" but to be honest it still feels like a slap in the face to one of the veeery few storys that portray a different, not-so-stereotypical gay relationship.
Additionally, looking at the way the book is talked about on social media, lets it seem a lot like a fetishisation fan fiction of a gay couple.
Edit: While some parts were left out, other rather unnecessary and misoginistic parts were added (example:

Deidameira raping both main characters

). Also I forgot to mention the Bi-erasure, considering both main characters were considered bisexual in the original text and are almost repulsed by woman in this version.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Biphobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cecilie26's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

3.5

It was an interesting read. It didn’t quite have the “vibe” that I thought it would. It was not a bad thing, just thought it would be more- idk something more. I can’t quite find what’s missing for me, but none the less I did enjoy the story. Bit boring at times and was about to loose interest 60% in but it did have a good twist in the end that made it worth it. 
I think because I don’t like it that much is because I’m more to medium or fast paced books, so that might be it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sherilees's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic