Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Circe by Madeline Miller

76 reviews

peregrinwho's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? Yes

4.25

Absolutely incredible read. To span so much time and so many events is a great feat. I understand the direction it took halfway through to the conclusion was not made for me, and it was the best way to round out the character's arc, so don't take the fact this isn't 5 stars as a sign the story is flawed in any significant way. Glad I got to read it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Bullying, and Infidelity

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Medical content

tashaxkate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I am heartbroken to have finished this book, I feel emptier knowing there’s no more story to read but fuller for having read through its pages. One of the best books I have ever read and it deserves every piece of hype and praise it gets.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Grief, Violence, Medical content, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Slavery

erikabites's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Death of parent, and Animal death

Minor: Slavery, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

jesse_jellyfish's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Murder, Medical content, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Incest

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Sexism, Murder, Body horror, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Sexual content, War, and Gore

Minor: Slavery

kwichris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Circe is a cleverly written novel about the goddess herself and the experiences she endured from her perspective. This novel spans centuries in time with both well-known and new mythological events and experiences Circe must navigate. Circe is shown as a more fully-developed person than in the minor roles she's played in other grand masterworks of classical literature. She perseveres through more hardships than can be imagined and her shere ingenuity and life-experience guides her actions through each trial and tribulation. Through it all, Circe demonstrates how many of us feel at different points in our lives despite never being bestowed with divinity as she has. Just as Circe is more fully realized in this novel, so too are her accompanying characters often the focus of the story when they encounter Circe. All in all, Madeline Miller has crafted a wonderfully detailed novel encompassing more mythology and the human experience than one might expect. If you're a fan of Greek mythology, history, and novels that really flesh out their characters, then I would highly recommend this book! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Torture, and Incest

Minor: Physical abuse, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Slavery

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Abandonment, War, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol and Slavery

passivewax's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

WOW! Blown away. Beautiful and dark and the best testimony I’ve seen to the worthwhile flaws of being human. 

“I had walked the earth for a hundred generations, yet I was still a child to myself.”

Something else I want to add is that often I have trouble being able to envision scenery when reading, like following along with an author’s depictions is usually pointless for me and something I will read twice and then skip over because the description just doesn’t do it for me. Miller’s writing never once stumped me or had me reread, even in complex visual scenes. And also - it was so beautiful! The world she created and the imagery of nature and feelings was so extremely vivid. Was a nice change for sure. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Slavery, War, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Incest, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

agooding's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Infidelity, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Murder, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Slavery

momma_needs_to_read's review against another edition

• 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

4.0

This was such a good book. I absolutely love Madeline Miller’s writing. She is able to perfectly describe settings and characters to a point that I was really able to picture it in my head. This book made me want to live on a deserted island with the animals and my own little garden outside a cottage.

I love Greek mythology and I’ve been wanting to read this for so long and I’m glad that I finally did. The book starts with Circe’s younger days and continues on as she explores and finds her true self. Anyone familiar with Greek Mythology will recognize most of the characters and their stories. This is such a great retelling. However, there were a few parts that kind of crept by and felt less interesting than others. Other parts had me completely enthralled, but then it would get to a slow part and start to lose me a bit.

Overall, I loved this book. I definitely recommend it to all Greek Mythology lovers.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual content, and Slavery