Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

44 reviews

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

 

“When a war was ended, the men lost their lives. But the women lost everything else.”

Homer’s <i>Iliad</i> has inspired generations of epic tales: tales of war, rage, violence, and glory. But these tales have been told primarily by and about men. In <i>A Thousand Ships</i>, Haynes asks: What about the women? Many of their stories have been told, yes, but as footnotes or backstories for the “real” heroes: the men. But why should heroism be confined to the battlefield? The women of Troy lose everything, but must find the courage to continue. Penelope waits for her husband for 20 years, but uses her wit to escape her suitors and stay loyal and true to her husband. 

As a rule, I prefer my stories with happy endings. I went into this book knowing that I wouldn’t get one, and worried that that would ruin the story for me, but it didn’t. The stories were told so beautifully and the endings so inevitable that I loved each one of them (even as I cried for the lost). I’ve read a lot of really incredible mythology-inspired books this year, and this was definitely one of my favorites!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Incest, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide

camsara99's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-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

5.0

A Thousand Ships focuses on the women who played a role in the legendary Trojan War, and all of the heroic and tragic roles they played before, during, and long after. 

This book is one of the most beautifully written I have read in a long time. The prose itself completely sucked me in, not to mention the incredibly well-constructed story. Natalie Haynes did a phenomenal justice to all of these characters who always seem to come second to their male counterparts, if not just ignored completely. 

I particularly loved the chapters about Cassandra. Haynes wrote her with such care and intelligence, while still keeping the youth of the character clear. I was happy to see in the afterword that this character was her favourite as well.

I also strongly recommend listening to the audiobook for this. It is narrated by the author so you hear everything exactly as it was intended, and the performance is phenomenal. I can’t wait to read more from Natalie Haynes going forward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

abeeeeee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, and War

hannahhansa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Sexual violence, Child death, Murder, and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, and Gore

kiandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Minor: Animal death

sarah984's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

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

3.0

I liked the idea of this book, focusing on war’s effects on women and a sort of discussion on the meaning of heroism, but the execution just felt really weak to me. The muse character basically outright states the book’s theme at least three times, in case I somehow missed it, the overpopulation motif with Gaia is boring and ridiculous, and the tone of some parts is really weird (Penelope’s letters at times feel like a comedy sketch). The book also mostly focuses on noblewomen and goddesses which I feel is a missed opportunity in a book about women and war.

The chapter about the Amazons was interesting though and I found Cassandra’s point of view compelling, so three stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Rape, Pregnancy, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, and Infidelity

Minor: Cannibalism, Eating disorder, and Incest

oliverlang's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional relaxing sad slow-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

5.0

I adored The Song of Achilles when I read it last year and this book picked up almost where that one left off, with a bit of an overlap and I loved every second of it. The two compliment eachother wonderfully despite being from different authors. I loved stepping back into that world.

Read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

augustinecarmichael's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

all i wanted was a book that didn’t focus on men in its story, and this has been marvellous. i feel like i read this at exactly the right time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, and Rape

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.75

I love a good mythology retelling and this one is excellent. I thought I would find it jarring, jumping back and forth between so many different characters with so little time between them, but it works so well. And Haynes just renders each part of the war so heartbreaking. The strong points definitely revolve around the human women, with the parts about the goddesses being interesting and fun to read, but not nearly as compelling. I loved how the solemn nature of the book is broken with Penelope's wry humor in her letters to Odysseus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Grief, and Genocide

Moderate: Suicide and Blood