Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

1191 reviews

morbidgoogle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Incredible book to read with my partner, took a couple of weeks of 15 minutes in the mornings. As two greek mythology nerds we appreciated the interpretation, and even though we knew the outcomes Miller writes tension and intrigue so well that we were still captivated and holding on with baited breath. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hey_al's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Rape

mmcz26's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gore, Rape, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Transphobia

chaneoosthuizen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence, Slavery, and Medical content

Minor: Misogyny and Rape

el_doodareno's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual assault

viaanne's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

wildflower_magic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

What a beautiful retelling of the story of Achilles. I swooned over the portrayal of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus and I think Patroclus was the perfect narrator for the story. Madeline Miller did a fantastic job of holding true to the original stories while also creating something unique and special within that story. The writing style was gorgeous: perfectly flowery and song-like just like the myths would have been told. The character development was so interesting. A month later and I still think about how this book ended! This book gives a lot of opportunities to reflect on the age-old debate: do we have control, or is it up to fate? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Transphobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

ajake's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

The book was not exactly what I expected. That being said I did enjoy the story in general. However, I found the characters to be a bit flat and to occasionally take actions which seemed to be contrary to my expectations for them given the background provided. The author forces a modern framework of how sexuality is handled or thought of on the relationship between the two main characters to create a bit of dramatic tension. This isn't a deal breaker exactly but it leads to some strange actions and interactions for the characters that doesn't fit the expectations given knowledge of ancient Greece and the character of Achilles. I don't want to give any spoilers but I was disappointed in the characters and their development.

The story would have benefited from extending the journey by introducing the characters to additional challenges and situations to develop their abilities, relationship, and reputation. A lot of what you would expect to come in the backstory of one of the greatest hero (Training, struggling, initial adventures) is completely absent. This results in Achilles being a literal Marty Stu where he is just the best only because he is the son of a god not because he learned to develop those skills or struggled at all. Later in the book he is referred to by everyone as the best of all Greeks despite the fact that nobody has any way to know this since only a few people have ever seen him fight. This breaks the realism and leaves the reader feeling like they missed something but it just wasn't written.

Despite all of this I still enjoyed the story overall and found it to be an interesting attempt to revisit a classic and show the characters in a new light. I just wish it was done a little better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Blood, and War

avaa1000's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny and Slavery

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, and Pregnancy

unoriginalusername's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I was influenced by BookTok (and partially strong armed by a friend) to read this book. 
It’s a gorgeously written story about Achilles from Patroclus’ point of view. I admire the author for putting so much love and respect into this story, giving a stellar retelling to a famous story and looking at the relationships from a different perspective. Anyone who’s read anything about Achilles or the Trojan War should know what they’re getting into with this book. The topics are heavy, potentially triggering, and altogether realistic for the setting. That being said, I’m not a fan of Greek tragedy and only enjoyed the book when I was done with it. It’s very emotionally provocative, and it does it well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

It’s a Greek tragedy. Idk what else to say, other than it’s going to happen.