Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

44 reviews

itshowyoulive's review against another edition

informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

Really enjoyed this book, far more than I anticipated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death, Murder, Child death, and Animal death

Minor: Rape and Murder

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective 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

4.25

this was a great retelling of the trojan war/post-war events. it was easy to keep all the different characters in your mind and you switched from different perspectives. i liked the non-linear format of the story and Calliope's hard hitting sentences about the impact of war (lots of parts underlined). i liked that helen wasn't protrayed as the evil woman. just an overall great read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Sexual assault, War, Child death, Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, and Vomit

marareading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book is a beautiful retelling of the Trojan war from the women's perspective.  It is a very unique retelling, and I love that the author took the time to write a book that left out all the stories we don't normally get in history. This is one of the few books where I recommend reading the afterword. It is short, and packed with information about how and why this book exists. 

I did love this book. given that the women weren't actively fighting the battles, it means that the stories are more disjointed, so it almost feels like short stories put together.  It all does come together in the end. It is beautifully written. You can feel the wrath, pain, and intensity through these stories. 

If you love retellings, this is a must read for a new take on a traditional story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, War, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and War

thegr1mreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Grief, Animal cruelty, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Animal death

rd77's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

A very interesting read. The author was able to make you sympathize for each woman very quickly, and it was interesting to think about the impact of the war on women, since it’s not talked about nearly enough. The only thing I didn’t like was Penelope’s chapters- for anyone who has read The Odyssey, it’s a tired retelling of it, with little actual insight to Penelope’s side of the story until her last 2 chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, War, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Death, Slavery, and Sexual violence

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. I absolutely adore greek retellings and this women based greek retelling was beautiful. It reads in chronological order with some chapters involving the writing process of the book from a perspective of a man and letters from Penelope. It was beautifully written and so enlightening. I would 100% recommend anyone to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Cursing, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Child death, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, War, Abandonment, Abortion, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Rape, and Self harm

hmatt's review

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Wow. This book is structured in such a neat way and the stories are compelling and empathetic.

I think you probably need about as much knowledge of the Iliad as I have to appreciate these stories, though. There is some internal explaining, but most are told in a way that inserts the reader right into the scenes without a lot of context. I think this adds to the telling, overall, but I can see how it might discourage readers who don't have the Greek myth 101 primer handy. 

I'm a little wishy-washy on whether I enjoyed some of the more self-indulgent stories in the collection. I do think it was a smart choice to keep Calliope's and the Goddesses' chapters brief, though. They felt more shallow than the stories from the "actual" women, and Calliope's kind of just seemed too on-the-nose. But I'm not familiar enough with the customs of Greek literature to know if these sections were meant to echo existing conventions, so.

A note on the audiobook: it was certainly a choice for the author to also narrate. I actually think they did a great job, though a few times here and there I felt they were too emphatic. Mostly I took issue with some strange pronunciations of Greek names... and, again, I don't actually know enough about the topic to know if there is debate over these pronunciations. They were just different than what I have heard before. Also, in the Afterword, the author pronounces "quasi" really strangely...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Animal death

CWs not exhaustive

poppyamber's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

marianneiriss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Rape, War, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Child death, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Xenophobia, War, Torture, Slavery, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Incest, Abandonment, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm