maxyne21'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
4.25
Graphic: Terminal illness, War, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, and Body horror
Minor: Rape
aexileigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, War, Sexual violence, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
persipha_books's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Grief, Misogyny, and Rape
Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, and Slavery
onthelam'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? It's complicated
4.25
Spoiler
At the end though i was more distressed at the idea that Patroclus might never rest in peace than the fact that he died.Graphic: War, Death, and Bullying
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Slavery, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, and Sexism
dlrosebyh'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Slavery, Abandonment, Torture, Blood, Self harm, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, and Sexual assault
Minor: Homophobia
booksthatburn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I like how it handles the very high number of sexual assaults and consent violations which are, in many ways, the backbone of Greek mythology (or at least the family trees). Just giving proper context to this story and to events in Patroclus' and Achilles' lives requires some discussion of these themes, and I think it did as well as it could without feeling very anachronistic. This is a beautiful retelling of a tragic story, it makes me wish that Achilles, Patroclus, and Breisis could have been happy together, but it wasn't meant to be.
This retelling takes the stance that Achilles was definitely gay, with zero interest in women, and it seems to heavily imply that maybe Patroclus could have been happy with a woman but he has eyes only for Achilles. That does however lead to some interesting story decisions which have to be resolved, given the source material. It keeps one very notable instance of Achilles sleeping with a woman, and artfully dodges another that would be assumed to have happened but technically could be worked around. It did give it a kind of biphobic air to this retelling, like it's working so hard to show the love and devotion between Achilles and Patroclus that it shoves away any hint of intimacy or connection with women on Achilles' part. I'm not a Classics scholar and I don't know if the rejection is part of the myth, it just felt kind of bad in a few places because of it. It ends up working as part of Achilles' slow transformation from a kid who didn't want to hurt anyone into a stubborn asshole who let a lot of people die for his pride, but it did make me dislike him by the end. Patroclus' has a consistently rosy view of Achilles and mourns this change rather than rejecting him for it, which definitely helped me keep caring about the story even as I liked Achilles himself less and less.
I liked it overall and I'm glad I read it, anything that manages to make Achilles feel like slightly less of an asshole than most portrayals of him is doing a great job, and this manages that without stripping away the abrasive parts of his character.
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Minor: Biphobia and Cannibalism
CW for possible biphobia, major character death (graphic).