Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Iliad by Homer

38 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

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Kidnapping, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Sexism, Rape, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Trafficking, and Sexual assault

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

elunia16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Genocide, Grief, and Misogyny

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

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

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

strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad slow-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

3.5

this shit was wild my head is so fried rn, I like that Homer included a talking horse for about two lines and then immediately retconned it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Body horror, Violence, War, Animal death, Blood, Sexism, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Excrement

Minor: Ableism, Sexual content, and Abandonment

ramireads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-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

4.0

There is just something about this book. As someone who usually hates books that drone on about the fighting side of a war, I really found myself gripped in this one. The repetition really bought me back into the poetry mindset, and I think the book was well-paced and even though I knew what was going to happen, I found myself stressed, excited and on the edge of my seat. I am really looking forward to the Odyssey. 

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Content Warnings

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

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, War, Murder, Violence, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Slavery