Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Circe by Madeline Miller

124 reviews

laurendenton's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, and Sexual content

ieryka_magic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

ridesthesun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

"'It will be alright.'

He does not mean that it will not hurt. He does not mean that we are not frightened. Only that we are here. This is what it means to swim in the tide, to walk the earth and feel it touch your feet. This is what it means to be alive."


Absolutely stunning. The brutal beauty and pain of this story and this character's life is heartbreaking, but so gorgeously, gorgeously drawn. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aardwyrm's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

 D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, Not Like Other Girls special edition. I am not a purist who requires active protagonists or that plot twists be a huge shock every time, but Circe does, chooses, and changes more or less nothing over the course of her thousands of years, and every story beat (always accomplished or at least catalyzed by someone else) is broadcast in big neon letters. 75% of the story is Circe sitting around waiting for someone more interesting to come tell her a bit about some more interesting Greek myth that's happening, at which point she will take no action. The last bit is her mildly annoying Athena, very belatedly fixing a couple of her own mistakes that she could have addressed at any time, and making it clear that being a wife and mother is the only thing an immortal, magical being could possibly be doing with her time. Like Jane Eyre before her, she describes herself at length as ugly and unloved and troublesome, and then a succession of strangers walk in to tell her she's beautiful and adored and also she never meaningfully troubles anybody. 

I don't know, the prose is pretty good. But there's no meaningful reimagining of any of the myths, or even drawing from unusual sources. Individual scenes have emotional weight, but then Circe's passive whingeing has the same stakes and pacing all through the book, so they never actually mean anything. She periodically declares herself to be much better than last time she made the same choice, which is kind of like character development. Altogether, style but no substance, the sort of thing you get when someone who doesn't know their genre reinvents the wheel and it comes out square.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

franzi_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Misogyny

thetainaship's review against another edition

sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Violence, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

tvaia's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy

annietestin's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death and Slavery

swilliams's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

the book was so well written it was really nice and interesting to read !

the incest at the end threw me off ? why ? weird but i enjoyed it nonetheless. i’m just going to pretend there was no incest because that was weird

 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

ellen_is_okay's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury