4.35 AVERAGE


reread 3: so i have made a habit of rereading this yearly, and every time the childlike joy of reading it for the first time reawakens in me. i bought the special 10th anniversary hardback edition and attempted to annotate it, but in the end i only ended up highlighting quotes as once i got started i realised i needed to be more detailed. so maybe i will do that next year. although i find it marginally less impressive than the first time i read it (i am much more well read now) it is still beautifully written.
adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous emotional informative inspiring 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: Complicated

I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.

He is half of my soul, as the poets say.

I’m so glad I finally got around to reading this book. I absolutely love retellings from Greek mythology and this one was soooo well written. The pacing was perfect, never any unnecessary slow points that I felt like could have been left out. My only complaint would be the part where Iphigenia is sacrificed to appease Artemis’ rage and bring the winds back to help them sail to Troy.. given what Artemis is known for I doubt she would be happy with such a sacrifice but I know there are many differing stories on whether or not she was indeed happy with it and some even saying that she replaced Iphigenia with a deer at the last moment, and overall it didn’t seriously affect the way I felt about the story altogether (I just had to vent and mention this 😂).  I had tears in my eyes by the end- a great read that I would definitely pick up again in the future.

If you read one book this year, it should be this one

6/1/19 -
FUCK

I ugly cried through the last 15% of this novel. This is my new favorite book of all time.
________
6/4/25 -

since the last time i read this, it's been unseated as my most favoritest book (beartown), but no doubt it's still hanging out in the top 3.

top 2, maybe.

okay, okay, they can share.

i doubted whether the audio could make me cry, and i was a fool. i sat in the dark, transfixed, staring at a wall and leaking steadily for over an hour at the end of this stupid fucking book.

crying screaming throwing up at "I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world."

absolutely never getting over it.
adventurous emotional sad 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
adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i’ll never not think about this book on a weekly basis

reread!

i am still unwell