Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Circe by Madeline Miller

649 reviews

catesaav's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense 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: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

okaychanly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

Circe starts off kind of slow, making it challenging to dive in at first. But I’m so glad I stuck with it because it ended up being such a great read! With only a basic understanding of Greek mythology, I appreciated how Miller reimagines Circe’s story, infusing it with a powerful feminist perspective. The themes of empowerment and identity resonate deeply throughout the narrative. Miller's writing is captivating, filled with rich detail that brings the world to life. Overall, it's a beautifully crafted tale that transforms a familiar myth into something profoundly relevant and engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Incest, and War

joey_estrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

It was cool to see so many different myths from Circe's perspective. Her character development was very interesting. At certain points, it almost felt like each chapter was a short story told by Circe. The ending was very poetic and I think it wrapped everything up nicely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Grief

Minor: Child death and War

dearreads's review against another edition

inspiring reflective 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

4.5

the story of a witch damned for exile because of her newfound gift and a tale of a woman who learned to fight, to grieve, to love, and to live. 

deeper than the story of the Greek gods, comes Circe, the main character of the book. daughter of Helios, the Sun God, eager to please yet ever so curious. after turning a nymph to a monster, she was banished to a small island where she learned about the human world, about living with mortals, and about herself.

as a woman i resonated deeply with her struggles of realizing that everyday may be a constant fight. the world is vast and people are not always as kind as we treat them, and thus the only person we can trust and lean on is ourselves. how she got in touch and made peace with her gift, with all the losses it gave and the strength it provided, but in the end the one who picked what she would be, was herself. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence and Violence

bubblebot's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.25

happy ending we likey

this showed a lot of interesting humanly issues even though the characters were mostly gods lmao. although we're made in the God's image, but that's only in the bible for my knowledge.
there was child neglect, relationship issues cause welp it's ancient greece(what did u expect). they may have come up with the word for logic, but these gods for sure didn't use it and are behaving like spoiled children.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

tanoka's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Body horror, Violence, and War

olive_ia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a wonderful book full of stories from Greek Mythology from the perspective of the minor goddess Circe. Circe is a very likeable, powerful, and incredibly well written character, this book made me want to research more about Circe's story in Mythology. The book is fast paced and made me want to keep reading more, I very highly recommend Circe! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol

singalana's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I thought giving both the Song of Achilles and Circe five stars was impossible, but I’m glad I was proven wrong!

Madeline Miller specialises in Greek mythology retellings. She takes her time writing her books, and it shows. In Miller’s hands, what might sound like a strange and simply outlandish children’s tale turns into something organic, like the laws of nature. Now, she tells the story of Circe - most people remember her as the witch who turned Odysseus’ men into swine. But she is so much more than that, as Miller shows.

The characters are familiar from Greek mythology. Gods and mortal men all turn into something extraordinary in Miller’s hands, each with distinctive personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. Circe’s story is full of scheming, hubris, vengeance, and love. Sometimes, I had to peek at the next chapter just to find out what happened and what to expect before continuing the story. Very few books have the power to do that. 

I marvel at Miller’s writing style: every sentence is crafted beautifully. There are bits of dialogue I want to read over and over again because the words and the message behind them are so masterfully delivered. 

But what decided the rating for me was the ending. So be warned, spoilers ahead!

Spoilers!

Madeline Miller knows when to follow the source material and when to divert from it. And I’m glad she did because the book ends on a sad yet hopeful note. In the original mythos, Odysseus and Circe have many children together, and Telemachus eventually kills Circe. But Miller’s ending gives Circe the ending she deserves.

And the cover art is gorgeous. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sidhe's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

Minor: War

d12inspiration's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy

The process of childbirth is described twice in great detail.