Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

871 reviews

nxpe's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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

3.0

Finding a star rating for this book is a challenge. I didn't really like the story because it was honestly so incredibly boring. It really only picked up at the 75% mark, in my opinion.

However, the writing is very beautiful, I can appreciate the story of what it is, and my god was I sad by the end of it. It genuinely ripped my heart out of my chest and proceeded to stomp on it over and over and over in that last ten percent.

I can recognise the fact that this is a very good story, but I don't think I liked it, which is why I'm landing on a three star rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

el_wheel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective 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

Madeline Miller is nothing if not a woman who can make me sob 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Homophobia, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Child death

madanxiety's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

Really rich language that skillfully encapsulates the elegance of the ancient texts about Greek stories. I'm glad I took my time with it - because it's so plot-heavy, it's important to pay attention and not miss details due to distractions. A unique problem for audiobook readers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Death, Murder, War, and Homophobia

katie0528's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

A beautiful and tragic retelling of the romance between Achilles and Patroclus, told from Patroclus' point of view, starting from Patroclus' birth through the Trojan war

until their deaths

often pondering the tug between their love and the expectations of Achilles' destiny, and whether fame and honor are truly enough to sustain us.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Rape, and Sexual assault

main character death

themoodreader's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and War

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Grief

neliasbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Death, Violence, Slavery, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Deadnaming, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Murder

joonjxne's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Rape

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I will remember Achilles and Patroclus and their love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Self harm, Violence, Murder, War, Trafficking, Sexual content, Homophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Blood, Grief, Gore, and Alcohol

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Slavery, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death

anmane's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

The book was well written in terms of language and pacing, but the subject matter - by this I mean the war, not the romance - was hard for me to stomach. The focus is on the male characters, as it is in the source material, and how women, children or indeed all humans are treated is not sugarcoated. Also, because of the subject matter, there is a lot of violence, gore and cruelty. I also hated Achilles as a character, which made the motivation of Patroclus' actions hard to understand. Will not read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Torture, Trafficking, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Pregnancy

graffitithesky's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

Through the first half of this book, I was thinking, "This book will probably be a 4 or a 4.5 rating for me, it's good but there are a couple parts that are putting me off/triggering (

Deidameia with Patroclus, the descriptions of Peleus taking Thetis

)". But I finished the book and as you can see, it earned its 5 from me. Throughout the book, the storytelling of this well-known and oft-rewritten myth was done spectacularly well. As someone who knows both Homeric epics well, I could truly appreciate the foreshadowing Miller used throughout the novel (and dear god did I want to bawl just at the foreshadowing). The characters were given new life and personalities that made me feel even more attached to them, and it allowed the tragedy I knew was coming to hit me square in the jaw.

The depictions of Achilles' grief were poignant and devastating, the despair of Patroclus watching his philtatos suffer his death and unable to join him in death was heartwrenching.

Overall, this novel was fantastic, and I absolutely loved it. Now I'm going to go ice my eyes because they're still puffy after sobbing for an hour over this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts