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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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
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
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I read this because a friend recommended it to me and I am so glad that they did! I would’ve never picked this up on my own. Heartfelt and tense. I already want to reread it.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I was so disappointed in this book. After all the great reviews, I couldn’t wait to read it. What the author did to this book was take a great story about an amazing war hero, essentially changed everything about the characters personalities and purpose, added in some mushy romance, blended in bland characters with no depth and called it a day.
adventurous
dark
medium-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
2.5 stars. Took me a long time to finish this book and almost DNF. The narrator started feeling more present with the story (as opposed to distant from it) around halfway through, when the war started. I guess this is just a pattern with Madeline Miller, so maybe it’s on purpose. Looking back after having finished both books, this choice makes more sense. I just didn’t enjoy it as I started them. I really loved the choice to use Patroclus as the narrator, although now I’m very interested in Achilles’ perspective because I was always wondering what was going on inside his head and I started to hate him towards the end. He didn’t seem to have much personality to me, but then again, I think that’s just part of the Classic Greek myth style. Very much enjoyed the spicy scenes between Patroclus and Achilles, very much did not enjoy any of the other spicy scenes.
I also didn’t like that there was really no worldbuilding. The “rules” of the lore are not laid out so in some places it just feels like the story is dumped on the reader. In every Greek mythology adaptation, gods and magic behave a little differently so I would have liked a little more exposition about that so I felt more immersed in the setting.
But in the end, while it wasn’t a particularly satisfying story, it was beautiful and tragic and lovely so that is a draw. It’s nice to be heartbroken sometimes.
TW: rape, war/killing, blood/gore
I also didn’t like that there was really no worldbuilding. The “rules” of the lore are not laid out so in some places it just feels like the story is dumped on the reader. In every Greek mythology adaptation, gods and magic behave a little differently so I would have liked a little more exposition about that so I felt more immersed in the setting.
But in the end, while it wasn’t a particularly satisfying story, it was beautiful and tragic and lovely so that is a draw. It’s nice to be heartbroken sometimes.
TW: rape, war/killing, blood/gore