Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Iliad by Homer

39 reviews

dioinysus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

This translation of the Iliad achieves one aspect of it that has long been forgotten, that the tale within it precedes writing. Oral tradition is the basis of all culture and before it was compiled and studied by the greeks themselves these were the legends told as history that were passed down through generations til they became myths. Without losing any the beauty and carnage of the poem this translation discards the "elevated language" that any "classic" story is often approached with, crafting what I believe is a version of the Iliad that is both truly engaging and exciting as well as heartbreaking but without falling into added meaning by the author. The tale is presented as was, is, and will be and it's up to the one that engages with it to do with it what they will, either as an insight on early greek culture and it's values or by grasping the human experience conveyed in it and understanding what makes this a timeless tale about grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and War

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, and Slavery

prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Animal death, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

valenwhite's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad slow-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

It was a bit too slow at times, and the fact that they'd just jump to 4-page speeches about their ancestry in the middle of the battlefield took me out of it, but the second half of the book gets more interesting and it was easier to digest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Violence, and War

Moderate: Slavery

gilnean's review

adventurous challenging dark tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Infidelity, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Genocide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Incest, Vomit, Gun violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, and Excrement

chaos_positive's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

as dense as a overbaked fruit cake but if you are willing to take the trudge, it has a lot of very poignant themes, Achilles being chronically very angry, so many different ways people get killed by spears, genuinely very impressive, and if you choice to listen to it, even the very very long lists of who killed who and who's son they were become very rhythmic almost like a drumbeat march of the dead. also if you're tired of men in media not showing emotion you best believe these murder hobos clad in bronze cry for their fallen friends. also it might even make you laugh a few times like

there is actually two ajaxes and they are by in large referred to as ajax and ajax , also my favorite quote is, "ajax, you are excellent at quarreling and terrible at thinking" an absolutely marvelous insult

you might not like it if you are really put off about women literally being treated as objects, it was written a few thousand years before the suffragettes made that unpopular. (if you want the same vibes but with women with more agency check out the odyssey, women hold more power in that one and aren't traded like baseball cards)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Grief, Blood, Animal death, Slavery, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

it's very bloody and unforgiving, nobody is spared the suffering, but it's written in a way that distances you because it is so matter of fact about these things, a "this is how things are, no point dwelling on them unnecessarily" attitude.

mkordziel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The Iliad is an epic of epic proportions. The story revolves around two conflicts: Greeks and Trojans and Achilles and Agamemnon. With interwoven themes of love, brotherhood, and honor the story still holds up thousands of years later. My only gripe with it is its abrupt ending, which left me a bit unsatisfied.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, War, Blood, and Violence

starlesssky72's review

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Rape, War, and Violence

tourmaline1703's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I did enjoy this story, and I will accredit that to the translator. As a lover of the Classical world, it's obvious I read the Iliad, following my reading of the Odyssey and Metamorphoses last year (both in translation). Whilst this has not overtaken Metamorphoses as my favourite of the epics, it was still great.
The translation was witty and funny which helped balance the gritty violence of the war ongoing in the poem. Of course there are sectios which are just lists of names, but in this story, I needed the reminders of who was who because there was such a large amount of characters. I loved the dialoue in this, the humour was great and it captured the emotions of characters so well.
What confused me about this is it doesn't tell the story of the whole Trojan War.

It stops after Hector's death

which confused me because, whilst this is a crucial emotional moment, the war continued after this and the story feels unfinished. It does feel like an abrupt end which is confusing after you have read hundreds of pages of action. Despite it consisting almost entirely of battle scenes, it doesn't feel too repetitive and the different points of view help keep the story moving and interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism and Blood

Minor: Slavery, Animal death, and Rape

delphi_oracle's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery and Misogyny

pbeeandj's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Animal death, War, and Violence