Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

1112 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.

---

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

kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Blood

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

janchamp's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Death, Gore, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

meganm1587's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Murder, Violence, Grief, Rape, Animal death, Gore, Blood, and Self harm

ruby_mae_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Rape, Blood, and Murder

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

---

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

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Yeah I cried. 

Madeline Miller is a beautiful writer and I did enjoy her retelling of this myth, but I didn't find it to be particularly remarkable. 

I think the thing I found most puzzling was Patroclus' inclination towards saving women from being war trophies when this was very much a sociopolitical norm during this period in time. Of course that's not to say I wanted to see more scenes of women being brutalized or that it's impossible for there to be any person during this period to disagree with such practices, but I think when making the decision to have that be one of the main characters in this myth for the purpose of having a more likable protagonist, it becomes a story that lacks the social and cultural context of the historical myths by changing certain themes to fit modern sensibilities. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, and Slavery

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, Abandonment, Colonisation, Infidelity, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol and Child abuse

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

---

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

tvgirl's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Blood

Minor: Rape and Homophobia