Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

48 reviews

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

chrisarnold94's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Torture, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, War, Blood, Suicide, Slavery, Pregnancy, Gore, Murder, Child death, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

dniespal's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Deportation, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Classism, Genocide, Death of parent, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Blood, Slavery, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

annasbookreviews's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Medical content, Self harm, Vomit, and Violence

paigeforster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, War, Child death, Grief, and Misogyny

reggiethebird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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: Kidnapping, War, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Infidelity, Death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Racism, Body shaming, and Alcohol

xlivjones073's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, War, Genocide, Grief, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked this! I picked it up because of a recommendation from a friend and she definitely knew me well. I already know and love the story of The Trojan War and The Odyssey and this retelling satisfied my <i>dissatisfation</i> regarding the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of women in the ancient Greek stories. This gives those figures on the outskirts a voice and more agency. 

My favourites would be Penthesilia, Cassandra, and Penelope (oh my God, I never thought of so much of The Odyssey from her perspective and I'm hooked!). I wish we'd had a chapter from Helen's perspective, it's conspicuous that we don't. 

I think having so many perspectives did stretch the narrative a bit too thin. I would have loved a few of these culled to give more space to the others to be deepened and more explored at length. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author, perhaps with a focus on ones with fewer PoVs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Death, Violence, War, Child death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Classism, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Animal death