Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

443 reviews

kylarenea_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, War, Cursing, Infidelity, Child death, Death, and Violence

chaotic_corvid's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

cried twice, loved the writing style amd the way that words from ancient greek were woven in, you can feel that the author has a lot of knowledge on the mythology and literature 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Cursing

nilsnoether73's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Un conte tràgic i lleial a la versió original amb certs desviaments i expansions (òbviament). M'ha agradat el fet que el misticisme fos semi-realista; ha ajudat a arrelar la història. Tot i que en algun moment m'he perdut en el batibull de personatges, sí que he pogut distingir i recordar en tot moment els més importants.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Sexual content, Grief, Violence, War, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Torture, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia

peacholino's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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: Grief, Blood, Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Rape

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I’m not going to lie… this book was a chore for me. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was that I didn’t like, but every time I put it down, I felt absolutely no desire to pick it back up again. 

Song of Achilles is one I had such high hopes for after hearing so many amazing things about it, but I just didn’t feel drawn into the story. 

With every multi-year time jump, I felt as if I had whiplash. If I’m adding correctly the book spanned a total of 18 years (ages 9 to 27 for Patroclus), which was just too wide a time frame. 

Because of the time jumps, Achilles’ character development felt spotty and incomplete. Patroclus, on the other hand, seemed to go through all of his character growth within the final few chapters, which was just as jarring. 

Speaking of the final few chapters…

I’ll admit, I did shed quite a few tears at the end of the book, but that’s only because of the characters’ reactions to everything that unfolded. 

Spoiler

I didn’t even fully follow what happened to Patroclus until Menelaus carried him back into camp, at which point I went back and reread the prior chapter. 

One second Patroclus was in the chariot, and the next he was at the wall of Troy, being surrounded by the Trojan army. 

I understand that Miller was demonstrating the draw of power in the scene, but it was so out of character for Patroclus that it took me right out of the story.

The only aspect of this book I have no complaints about is Briseis. Her character helped demonstrate the severity of war atrocities, while also helping mark time.

Briseis’ friendship with Patroclus was the only thing that kept me reading this book. 

She was so kind and understanding, even after the horrors that she had gone through (and was yet to go through) because of the war. 

All in all, I think this book was just not for me. Reading other reviews for The Song of Achilles, I recognize all the aspects that are being applauded, I just think Miller’s writing style was not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and War

Moderate: Torture, Child death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Bullying

jqkcy's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

this is the first book i read on my on volition, and now i fear I'm setting future reads to an unfair standard

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Infidelity and Child death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Trafficking

stellastallion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Homophobia, Blood, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Animal death

Minor: Child death and Sexual violence

komiification's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Medical content, Blood, Kidnapping, Death, Murder, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Child death

sirenricobooks's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

Graphic: Misogyny, War, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Child death, Death, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Torture, Classism, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, and Slavery

_al's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

I wanted to give this book 3.5/75 out of 5 but it was nice distraction from hard stuff and I very enjoyed the writing, so I'm boosting it up to 4. 

Writing was main thing of this book for me. Madeline Miller's prose is so captivating and smooth, I'm amazed each time I opened the book. But I wanted more from  Patroclus. I understand what she's trying to do, but I don't think she was very successful with his character. For me he felt mostly lacking and I wanted to feel him even if we dont witness his legend. Patroclus has such interesting stuff going on but just a bit more of..basically everything would be so good. 

I enjoyed Achilles but as much I enjoyed reading about him and him giving into his pride – which was fascinating to read – it felt awkward in places and also kinda lacking. 

But overall, I enjoyed it – i had fun, characters were interesting to follow, and it resurrected my love for mythology and give me interest to ancient history. Maybe reread it when i need the distraction with feelings. And definitely will check out Circe in near future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Medical content, War, and Child death

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment