Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Iliad by Homer

42 reviews

tourmaline1703's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I did enjoy this story, and I will accredit that to the translator. As a lover of the Classical world, it's obvious I read the Iliad, following my reading of the Odyssey and Metamorphoses last year (both in translation). Whilst this has not overtaken Metamorphoses as my favourite of the epics, it was still great.
The translation was witty and funny which helped balance the gritty violence of the war ongoing in the poem. Of course there are sectios which are just lists of names, but in this story, I needed the reminders of who was who because there was such a large amount of characters. I loved the dialoue in this, the humour was great and it captured the emotions of characters so well.
What confused me about this is it doesn't tell the story of the whole Trojan War.

It stops after Hector's death

which confused me because, whilst this is a crucial emotional moment, the war continued after this and the story feels unfinished. It does feel like an abrupt end which is confusing after you have read hundreds of pages of action. Despite it consisting almost entirely of battle scenes, it doesn't feel too repetitive and the different points of view help keep the story moving and interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism and Blood

Minor: Slavery, Animal death, and Rape

delphi_oracle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery and Misogyny

pbeeandj's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Animal death, War, and Violence

foxmulders's review against another edition

emotional informative slow-paced

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

3.75

"if only i had will and heart to do it
i would carve up your flesh and eat it raw, 
for the abominations you have done me."

"my friend patroclus, whom i loved, is dead.
i loved him more than any other comrade.
i loved him like my head, my life, myself.
i love him, killed him."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Gore, War, Sexual violence, and Grief

katee17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

I fucking love the iliad which is my nerdiest opinon ever but I genuinely love it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual violence

emmonsannae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad slow-paced

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

4.5

There's not much to say about this that hasn’t already been said by someone smarter. I did enjoy seeing how this is the prototype for so many of our later stories in some form or another—war and battle, carrying the past, wrestling with fate and duty, being doomed by the narrative and fighting in spite of it. There is something uniquely enduring about these stories that has imprinted itself on our collective consciousness, in the way we instinctively recognize the heart of them even if we haven't read them before (which was a cool experience for me). I did love it. It wasn't an easy read, but I enjoyed reading it. I found Fagles' translation very readable and beautifully phrased.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence and Slavery

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Slavery and Rape

Minor: Death

kaitlyng's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Slavery, Sexism, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Misogyny

devontoia's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

A lot of Greek name dropping and gory death scenes. It is basically a lot of killing of people you don’t care much about. I can appreciate its place in history and it certainly explains why Western culture views violence as entertainment, but it is personally not to my taste.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Animal death, and Misogyny

maria_borges1507's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

Minor: Slavery