Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

161 reviews

skan's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Interesting perspective on the Trojan War from the perspectives of the women affected by the war. Kind of wished that the narrator was different between the different perspectives, rather than the author reading all of the perspectives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, War, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

margaret_k30's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Gore, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, Suicide, Slavery, Violence, War, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Vomit, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

jadstersuperinvader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

It'd be a perfect 5 star if I didn't personally dislike the reaccuring perspective of Penelope through her letters to Odysseus.

The narratives of the different women involved in and/or impacted by the trojan war was a very unique way to write about the subject. A lot of the short stories can be an emotional and tough read but that's the whole point and I appreciated it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, and War

shoesel's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: War and Violence

Minor: Rape

miniingrid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Violence, Slavery, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Child death, Animal death, and Lesbophobia

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I found it incredibly realistic that the women in this novel didn't necessarily realize that some of their thoughts and belief patterns about themselves and about other women were because of the patriarchy they are under.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, Slavery, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Grief, Trafficking, Blood, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Vomit, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Abortion, Cannibalism, and Infidelity

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

challenging informative tense slow-paced

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

2.5

slow and lenghty; 350 pages that felt like an eternity.

i found it really hard to enjoy this one. as someone who's read quite a few mythology retellings, surprsingly little was new to me, and even though it's advertised as very feminist and "epic", it didn't feel revolutionary at all.

i love that haynes introduced me to a couple of women and aspects in greek mythology that i hadn't previously heard of, but the stories themselves were a little, hm, flat maybe? i found myself unable to feel for the characters sometimes.
part of it's probably because of the amount of information in this book. haynes tried to fit the whole iliad (and odyssey) into 350 pages and all of it, all of the things that happened (though retold from the women's perspectives) felt textbook-dry.

i expected something emotional and fiercely feminist, but it ended up being unexciting and not entirely feminist either i feel like??? because though penelope wrote those letters, they were basically just retellings of the odyssey, of odysseus' adventures. we got the occasional "it's very lonely without you and there are suitors who invade our home", but other than that she was just retelling her husband's stories. idk.

i appreciate this book as a means to aquire knowledge (i learned many women's names that i've never even heard of), but as a novel it was mediocre at best.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infidelity and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, and Rape

sareidle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

It took a little while to get into the structure of the book - the chapters switch between different women affected by the Trojan War - but it built momentum by the halfway point. There are moments of humor to lighten the tragedies described.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Abandonment, Murder, Child death, War, Rape, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual content

allie2ley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

Very compelling and well researched profiles of women in the trojan war. The portraits are moving and each chapter captures a different story beautifully. Haynes proves her case - women are equally heroes in a war, though the battles they face are not often retold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Blood, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, and Slavery

sofireads8's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Rape and Death