Reviews tagging 'War'

Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson

11 reviews

erikariehigano22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

What a retelling! I salute Rogerson in their attempt to collate and portray the various branches of Greek Mythology stories where Heracles was the centre of it. Just as their author's notes said, Heracles is "right there in the middle of it." This is an exemplary exhibit of exploring the development of a protagonist through the perspective of another character. And unlike other retellings, it involved various characters my fingers and toes could not count. Not even once did Heracles had his own chapter in his own point of view and this was the charm of this book that was unique and extraordinary despite how simple it sounded.

I also cannot believe this was my first exposure into Heracles' death LOL. Like I didn't think his death would be so.... anti-climatic? For all his glory and ambitious feats of victory, as well as the wrath and violence he had displayed, it was a curse no less casted by a centaur and administered by his own wife that finally cut the threads of his mortal life.

I had not expected for his twin brother Iphicles to pass away in battle. But I think that was the foreshadowing in Laonome's last chapter. Anyhow, I liked how this became the catalyst of their conclusion, the beginning of the end.

I would have finished this sooner if only life and adulting issues had not happen, as well as falling down from grace in uni coursework lol....

I highly recommend this book. Thank you to my friend Nathan for giving this to me on my birthday earlier this year. Although the language had some modern slang that took me off sometimes in the immersion, it was not worse and Rogerson's prose still captivated me and brought me back to the ancient world where Heracles was the centre of everyone's stories throughout ancient Greece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Sexism, Slavery, Alcoholism, Grief, Infidelity, Alcohol, Abandonment, Cursing, Misogyny, Child death, and War

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

This definitely gave a pretty comprehensive overview of Hercules and all of the people who interacted or were affected by him. It's definitely a sad story and the 1997 animation of Hercules doesn't touch the darkness at all. It was quite an easy read and I liked the structure of the stories and how they were weaved together. It was pretty easy to keep most of the names and stories straight but a few times, the I names were hard to keep track 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual assault, War, Sexism, Child death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, Animal death, Slavery, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Grief, and Alcoholism

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

siriface's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Violence, Murder, and War

megjwilde's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death, and War

meg_thebrave's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective fast-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

3.5

Rogerson put so much care into this book, which is a big strength. It wasn’t my cup of tea, only because I am not the biggest Greek mythology fan. I’m impressed with how Rogerson handled so many characters so smoothly, and how she wove together a really coherent story. Definitely a fun read if you’re into Hercules mythos. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: War, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

shaunashares's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Gore, Child death, and Death

Moderate: War and Sexual assault

imlfox's review against another edition

adventurous informative lighthearted fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, and Infidelity

danny_fox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative sad tense 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

4.5

Honestly... this book can just be described as a rollercoaster.

It was crazy funny at times when you would have characters talk in more modern ways than they are supposed to.

It would be absolutely shocking when you would have some dark scenes be described in such a way that left me actually, properly speechless.

And Herc or Herakles/Hercules as a character is just... a rollercoaster. And yet he is so amazingly written, and the fact that you never see his perspective makes the book all the more better.

Instead, you get to see how all other characters saw him, and how their perspectives are different from one another, where some see him in a more positive light and some see him as a monster. And hence there are times when you hate him, and yet when you also feel bad for him.

This book is a perfect mix of depression and happiness and joy and sadness and characters who you will love one moment and then hate (in a good way) next.

It's one of the most unique books I read about Greek mythology, and definitely one of my favorites. I had way too much reading it.

And goddamn it, it almost actually made me cry on a couple of occasions.

I'm looking forward to reading more stuff from the author, as their writing style is so unique and genuinely so nice.

I highly recommend it, but do be aware of trigger warnings, as there are some rather uncomfortable scenes.

Also, I wished there was more Hylas content (especially at the end) cause he was my favorite character, but that's just personal opinion. :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing and War

queerloras's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual violence, War, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Slavery

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Violence, War, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Slavery