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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed the alternative viewpoint this book brought to light about the women who would have faced hardship during this war yet this aspect is easily overlooked when it comes to the story. It’s easy to lose yourself in Achilles, with his pov I found myself subconsciously getting wrapped up into his thoughts, then back to Briseis reality which shows how truly forgotten these women’s lives would have been.
This is a nice book to read but it would have been nice to read more about Briseis and understand who Briseis is. Instead, the book focuses mainly on all the men around her and what is going on in their lives.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
read this years ago and it’s still as good the second time around
2 stars. Mix of Audio and Physical.
This book....was disappointing. I certainly didn't expect a happy story, and I respect Barker's dedication to reality, but the story itself was just not good. Half of it was from Achilles perspective and I really didn't care about that at all. This was supposed to be the perspective of Brodie's, not Achilles.
One thing I will say is that this book got emotions out of me...mostly sadness and anger. Anger at the writing and at the actions of the characters, and sadness at the inevitability of the women's fates. There were a few beautifully written passages, but that's about it.
I would t say this book was bad, but I was severely disappointed.
This book....was disappointing. I certainly didn't expect a happy story, and I respect Barker's dedication to reality, but the story itself was just not good. Half of it was from Achilles perspective and I really didn't care about that at all. This was supposed to be the perspective of Brodie's, not Achilles.
One thing I will say is that this book got emotions out of me...mostly sadness and anger. Anger at the writing and at the actions of the characters, and sadness at the inevitability of the women's fates. There were a few beautifully written passages, but that's about it.
I would t say this book was bad, but I was severely disappointed.
dark
reflective
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
i didn't enjoy this as much as i thought i would sadly. i mean, it was still really good, but for a book that promises to tell Briseis story, there are quite a lot of chapters from achilles' pov. the pov's confused me anyways, sometimes it was written like a diary by Briseis, where she even acknowledges that she is telling a story from her past, and sometimes it's written like the story is happening right in that moment. then you get the chapters from achilles' pov and it's just all a little too much for me
dark
emotional
medium-paced
A different perspective on the battle of Troy and the death of Achilles. Told by Briseis, a war captive who was given to Achilles as a prize to be his wife.
[...] perhaps no kindness was possible between owner and slave, only varying degrees of brutality?
Within her story, she tells the harsh reality of war and gives a voice to the women who suffered between the lines of the most triumphant stories of Greek heroes.
[...] listening to a slave sing a Trojan lullaby to her Greek baby. And suddenly I understood [...] I thought: We're going to survive our songs, our stories. They'll never be able to forget us. Decades after the last man who fought at Troy is dead, their sons will remember the songs their Trojan mothers sang to them. We'll be in their dreams and in their worst nightmares too.
And one would think that after millennia of telling these and similar stories or tragedies, people would eventually learn from them at some point to put a stop to the cycle of dread and bloodshed.
3.5. I enjoyed it, but it didn't go anywhere for me. I could have done without Achilles perspective, maybe had another woman's pov.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No