Reviews tagging 'Blood'

La canzone di Achille by Madeline Miller

1212 reviews

viaanne's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

wildflower_magic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

What a beautiful retelling of the story of Achilles. I swooned over the portrayal of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus and I think Patroclus was the perfect narrator for the story. Madeline Miller did a fantastic job of holding true to the original stories while also creating something unique and special within that story. The writing style was gorgeous: perfectly flowery and song-like just like the myths would have been told. The character development was so interesting. A month later and I still think about how this book ended! This book gives a lot of opportunities to reflect on the age-old debate: do we have control, or is it up to fate? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Transphobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

ajake's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

The book was not exactly what I expected. That being said I did enjoy the story in general. However, I found the characters to be a bit flat and to occasionally take actions which seemed to be contrary to my expectations for them given the background provided. The author forces a modern framework of how sexuality is handled or thought of on the relationship between the two main characters to create a bit of dramatic tension. This isn't a deal breaker exactly but it leads to some strange actions and interactions for the characters that doesn't fit the expectations given knowledge of ancient Greece and the character of Achilles. I don't want to give any spoilers but I was disappointed in the characters and their development.

The story would have benefited from extending the journey by introducing the characters to additional challenges and situations to develop their abilities, relationship, and reputation. A lot of what you would expect to come in the backstory of one of the greatest hero (Training, struggling, initial adventures) is completely absent. This results in Achilles being a literal Marty Stu where he is just the best only because he is the son of a god not because he learned to develop those skills or struggled at all. Later in the book he is referred to by everyone as the best of all Greeks despite the fact that nobody has any way to know this since only a few people have ever seen him fight. This breaks the realism and leaves the reader feeling like they missed something but it just wasn't written.

Despite all of this I still enjoyed the story overall and found it to be an interesting attempt to revisit a classic and show the characters in a new light. I just wish it was done a little better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Blood, and War

avaa1000's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny and Slavery

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, and Pregnancy

unoriginalusername's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I was influenced by BookTok (and partially strong armed by a friend) to read this book. 
It’s a gorgeously written story about Achilles from Patroclus’ point of view. I admire the author for putting so much love and respect into this story, giving a stellar retelling to a famous story and looking at the relationships from a different perspective. Anyone who’s read anything about Achilles or the Trojan War should know what they’re getting into with this book. The topics are heavy, potentially triggering, and altogether realistic for the setting. That being said, I’m not a fan of Greek tragedy and only enjoyed the book when I was done with it. It’s very emotionally provocative, and it does it well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

It’s a Greek tragedy. Idk what else to say, other than it’s going to happen.

chaterbox87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kfabien's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

goemonxiii's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

3.5

I don't normally read books like Song of Achilles, but it was thoroughly enjoyable for what it was. I liked viewing Greek Mythology through the lens of Patroclus, Patroclus and Achilles' relationship was interesting to read about, and I like how this book is introducing a new generation to Greek Mythology. Is this book a must read? No. Is it good? For what it is, yes. The only thing I didn't like was the "passive voice" in later chapters when major things are happening (hopefully you'll understand what I mean if/when you read it). But, for young adult fiction, the plot wasn't stupid, there weren't any glaring problems in terms of themes or messaging, and it was well-written in terms of word choices and how the story was presented.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Classism

lots of death, sad ending

, toxic parents, deals with the conflict of destiny versus identity, children being sent to war, deals with the consequences of war, passing mention of infanticide

oliviaannebennett's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Rape

rakka_y0k0's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy