Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Circe Excerpt: The First 3 Chapters

Enjoyable read. Very nicely written. Kind of felt like an epic poem in that it didn't really focus too much on details other than Circe's descriptions of things and people, but was a pleasant read overall. Adds interesting perspective to stories and characters already rich with lore.

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miilk's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

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thalia16's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

5.0

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carlycormier_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

When I purchased this book I was excited to read a “spinoff”/“retelling” of a classic piece of literature through a feminist lens. However, after reading it I don’t feel that it was everything I was lead to believe and was hoping it would be. As a college student studying classical/ancient history maybe this is my reasoning for not loving it(?) I had to take a long pause and put this book down because 1) it felt too much like more of the same in regard to my academic focus, 2) certain sections required me to muster up the desire to keep reading (pace, plot, etc).

Miller has a lot of potential which is what excites me the most after reading this. Her mastery and deep knowledge of classical history and mythology truly shines, but that’s also the downfall of Circe. This could have been a contemporary masterpiece, a new mythological epic in its own right, but it just sort of fell flat to this. Arguably, a lot of fat could have been trimmed off this book and it would have been more intriguing and enjoyable. I expected Circe to be this wild ride of a story, but in the end it was too much of a hyper-slow burn for me. I did , however, really enjoy how Circe is a complicated character. She is multi-faceted and flawed. This is the big success with this retelling.

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