Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson

15 reviews

alyxinthestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Death of parent

hzcyr's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Chapter 7 is so poignantly written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

thepostman96's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Murder, Child death, and Rape

oldandnewbooksmell's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Trigger Warnings: violence, death, murder, (ya know, Greek Gods’ stuff)

Herc is a retelling of Hercules told by the people around him and how he impacted their lives - for better or worse.

So, upon reading this, I realized that I only knew the Disney version of Hercules - totally and absolutely so much different.

It was the children’s killing that made my jaw hit the floor

I mostly listened to this in an audiobook and it had a whole ensemble of characters and voices, which was great because it helped with keeping everyone straight. It also gave Hercules a layered and complicated life (again, one I did NOT know about because I knew only of the Disney version). The different voices also gave way to some humor with it too because everyone obviously had different experiences with him through his life.

Overall, I’m going to be recommending this to quite a few people, especially those who like mythology and retellings. Also, this is such a nice twist of the telling of Hercules because it’s not really about him, but more about the people he had interactions with throughout his life.

*Thank you Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Child death

danny_fox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.5

Honestly... this book can just be described as a rollercoaster.

It was crazy funny at times when you would have characters talk in more modern ways than they are supposed to.

It would be absolutely shocking when you would have some dark scenes be described in such a way that left me actually, properly speechless.

And Herc or Herakles/Hercules as a character is just... a rollercoaster. And yet he is so amazingly written, and the fact that you never see his perspective makes the book all the more better.

Instead, you get to see how all other characters saw him, and how their perspectives are different from one another, where some see him in a more positive light and some see him as a monster. And hence there are times when you hate him, and yet when you also feel bad for him.

This book is a perfect mix of depression and happiness and joy and sadness and characters who you will love one moment and then hate (in a good way) next.

It's one of the most unique books I read about Greek mythology, and definitely one of my favorites. I had way too much reading it.

And goddamn it, it almost actually made me cry on a couple of occasions.

I'm looking forward to reading more stuff from the author, as their writing style is so unique and genuinely so nice.

I highly recommend it, but do be aware of trigger warnings, as there are some rather uncomfortable scenes.

Also, I wished there was more Hylas content (especially at the end) cause he was my favorite character, but that's just personal opinion. :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing and War

caidyn's review against another edition

Too many perspectives. And I did not care for Herc. I appreciate the honest view of him given all the shit he did in the original stories, but I didn't want to read about him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, and Murder

llyrian's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.75

What a wild ride.
I have a lot of feelings after reading this, and although it's in a very unique form for a greek mythology retelling it was one of the best ones I've read so far!
The main way of storytelling in this book, which is the shades of Herc's family, friends and lovers remembering him in a wild mix of ancient and modern language, was fascinating, and after about the halfway point the subtitle on the title page kept running in my mind because it's the entire point of the book:
Hero.
Husband.
Father.
Villain.
Monster.

Highly recommend this book!
Can't wait for Phoenicia's future work, too! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Alcoholism, Violence, Grief, Child abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, Bullying, and Death of parent

queerloras's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual violence, War, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Slavery

rambles's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

If you’re wanting something like the Song of Achilles or Circe, this is not the book for you. It’s a dark comedy of a book that makes Herc feel human even if he wasn’t wholy human. The language is modern because it’s for a modern audience to look at and go “Oh yeah like my messed up uncle. “ I really enjoyed it. The timeline of Herc’s life gets a little messy as the POVs of different people can make it confusing and too many people had ‘I’ names but that’s just Greek Myth for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

briannamwod's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

What a fun, joyous, heartfelt, and heartbreaking read. This was my first Greek mythology retelling and it has set the bar incredibly high! The smart, quippy humour was incredible alongside the truly heartfelt moments. I truly grew invested in these characters and I loved reading their journeys throughout the book. This is the Hercules Disney didn’t tell you about and I loved every second of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Suicide