Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

La canzone di Achille by Madeline Miller

71 reviews

zoemain's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

2.25

I’d like to premise my review by saying that I read this book because my friend recommended it to me, not because it appealed to me. If you’re interested in the setting (Greek Heroic Age) and Greek lore it’s likely you’ll enjoy this a lot more than I did.
I didn’t like this book mainly because an insane amount of characters are introduced. I think there’s genuinely about 60 named characters. It’s simply impossible to keep track of who’s who and it makes for a really difficult read. It’s not like I cared what the characters names were anyway, because every character was unlikeable except for Briseis. She was the only person apart from Patroclus that didn’t have an insufferable ego, and Patroclus held himself in such low regard it was annoying.
I didn’t like Patroclus as the protagonist at all. He had no actual input in the plot until the end which lead to him being a side-character is his own story. He was so inactive that I didn’t feel as though I had a grasp on his personality until halfway through the novel during the battle of Troy.
This book would have been better from Achilles’ perspective, even though Achilles was blatantly heartless.
There’s also a few specific things I’d like to critique, including the constant mentions of Achilles’ “pink soles” (it’s weird) and Patroclus randomly hooking up with Deidamia. Why did this happen and why was it never brought up again? Also, the romance between Patroclus and Achilles is almost completely forgotten in the second half of the novel. When the boys did interact it was brief and Patroclus was internally chastising Achilles. Then at the end of the novel when it suits the plot they’re very abruptly completely in love again.
The second half of the book when the war finally began was fine but the first half was torturous. I was so close to putting the book down due to the reasons mentioned above. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who isn’t quite interested in the Greek lore and Greek Heroic Age setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Trafficking, Sexual content, and Slavery

julia_rose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Gobsmacked. I haven’t read  a book like this in a long time, if ever. It manages to be so many things at once. Brutal and beautiful, sexy and gruesome, heartwarming and heartbreaking. The hype had me skeptical for the first few chapters but I quickly grew attached and can already tell these are characters that will live in me now long after reading. The plot was immaculate; executed to perfection with the reader’s  experience in mind at all times. It’s a work of genius, no exaggeration. And it is as sad as they say, but worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Blood, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Rape, and Trafficking

Minor: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Outing, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Self harm

360loverpenguin's review against another edition

medium-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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Rape and Trafficking

sealbrecht's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Torture, Murder, Trafficking, Self harm, War, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, and Slavery

fernanda_22's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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: Trafficking, Blood, Death, Murder, War, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Self harm

faitherslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Trafficking, War, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

readwithserena's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal death, Child death, Violence, Sexual violence, Blood, Gore, Medical content, Trafficking, Slavery, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Outing

officialfroggie's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

4.5

this book had me sobbing on a school night

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, and Rape

Minor: Pregnancy

sssunny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

"i would know him in death, at the end of the world"

gorgeous language, and wonderful retelling of a classic. Miller truly brought these characters and their passions back to lie. I was extremely entranced by the language Miller chose to portray Patroclus and his thoughts, I fell in love with him and was truly invested in his story. I know the Greeks and their love for tragedies, but I guess I thought this ended differently than it did, so the end really did catch me off guard (in a good way). I only give it four stars because of the rushed/slowness at the end that didn't match the energy of the rest of the novel. It is definitely up there with my favorite novels, nevertheless. I will be adding another of her novels to my tbr!

ALSO! before reading, please check the TWs and content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Slavery, Grief, Rape, Gore, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Child death, Trafficking, Abandonment, Torture, War, and Child abuse

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, War, Genocide, Grief, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, and Trafficking