Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Le Chant d'Achille

Finally finished reading this after having it on my physical TBR for at least five years.

The hype of this was high. Seeing great reviews and positive comments about how amazing the writing was and how sad but good it was.

I’m not gonna lie I only bought it because it was queer and it had Greek mythology in it. I thought despite the angst and it being a historical fiction that I’d like it.

The short review is that I did not like it. I wanted to DNF it so many times but thought maybe I just wasn’t giving it a chance.

I don’t know if it was because of the slower paced chapters or because it was a historical fiction but this book was so boring. I could not wait to be done with it.

There were so many moments that it was cringey or just uncomfortable to read. All the spicy moments were awful to get through. And while I understand it was back when people were a lot younger when they were married off or forced to have children but it was just so uncomfortable to read lines like: “Her body, he said, was soft and small as a child’s.” (Chapter 13, page 147)… why is that necessary?? How did that make it into the final edits??

I will say the positive about this was that through everything Achilles and Patroclus had a healthy, honest, and trusting relationship for the most part.

And while the ending was sad it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I think that what Thetis ended up doing in the end helped with that. It was the sweetest thing she had done in that whole book.

Content Warnings

m_elisabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

soshereads_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

Content Warnings

jantzi02's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It’s excellently written, but

when Achilles dies, he’s shot in the heart. Not the heel. Which is the one thing that people know about him. He’s impervious to weapons everywhere except his heel, because that’s where his mother held him when she dipped him in the Styx. And he got shot in the heart.

Aside from that, it’s beautiful. I didn’t cry, which surprised me greatly, but it’s a wonderful read, and I’m glad I’m done with it.

Content Warnings

selmge's review against another edition

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im not into graphic sex scenes of minors

Content Warnings

adelll's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

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