Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

87 reviews

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

echolliot'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, War, Sexual violence, Grief, Blood, Sexual content, Homophobia, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Trafficking, Gore, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Classism, and Pregnancy

mconroy9137's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, War, Sexual harassment, and Rape

Moderate: Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Torture, Classism, Deportation, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Confinement, Homophobia, Vomit, Abandonment, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Cursing

reiverse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, War, Vomit, Sexual content, Torture, Slavery, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Hate crime

eliya's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

✅ sobbing 
✅ sobbing many times 
✅ yearning 
✅ i will be thinking about this book for a long time 
✅ i am a love and my love is my love we are two beams of light connected to eachother 
✅ love is beautiful 
❌ the war bit was hard for me to get through, felt really slow from that 50-70% mark but i’m so glad i persisted 

this book is so beautifully written 
i’ve discussed the similes and metaphors painted in this with friends, and we all craved figs after this 
i want to experience live with the same absolute mindfulness as patroclus does

i could re read the first 50% and the last 10% of this book over and over and over again


edit: this book = unreal unearth hozier album
specifically francesca 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Misogyny, Classism, Grief, Pedophilia, Colonisation, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Blood

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

amazelan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Child death, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

shayna14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child death, Self harm, Slavery, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Murder, Animal death, Medical trauma, Blood, Gore, Death of parent, Violence, War, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Classism, Bullying, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Vomit, Torture, Excrement, Outing, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment

bdkwjdjw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Death, Violence, War, and Kidnapping

Minor: Slavery, Torture, and Homophobia

lokioste's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

This is a slower burn with a rapid climax and finish. I think as a first book from Miller, it is solid.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Suicide, Blood, and Domestic abuse

odette_tbdk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

4.25

Tengo sentimientos encontrados con este libro, por una parte me pareció muy emocional y profunda la relación que tenían Aquiles y Patroclo, pero el ritmo de la historia no me convenció del todo. Hacia el final del libro el ritmo fluyó muy bien, pero el principio es difícil de continuar, la vida de Patroclo de niño y en sí todo el proceso que les lleva a la guerra de Troya es bastante lento y tedioso. Pero aún así, me hizo sentir muchas cosas y también me enseñó de mitología (cabe aclarar que yo no sé nada de estos temas), así que sería injusto darle mala calificación por eso.

Me faltaron personajes femeninos que no giraran en torno a los protagonistas, pero eso ya no es culpa de la autora, simplemente no hay muchos porque así es la mitología. Cuando lea Circe tendré lo que me faltó aquí.

En general, un libro muy triste cargado de mitología y de referencias muy extensas a los ornamentos, política y costumbres de la época. Tedioso a ratos pero al final te deja con un buen sabor de boca (en parte). Buena lectura.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Grief, War, Child death, Medical content, Violence, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Slavery, Xenophobia, Sexism, Death, Genocide, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Animal death