Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Le Chant d'Achille

What a beautiful retelling of Achilles and Patroclus. It is very humane and easy to read. I empathized with Patroclus. Something I would like to highlight is how poetic the moments of sex were written. In general the style of writing is accessible without being simple. It is easy to imagine the ancient greek beliefs as an active religion when the legends and characters are told like this.

The tale itself hurt to read. Especially the last part of the book made me want to read as slowly as possible to postpone the ending. Afterwards I grabbed my partner and hugged him as tight as I could.

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kimmy0__0's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective 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? No

3.75

I love Greek mythology/history, but this book was hard to get into at the beginning. By the end though I was really enjoying the characters and story. I think Cerce is still my favorite Madeline Miller book, though.

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reiverse's review against another edition

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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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birdieex's review against another edition

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5.0

I was glued to this book. The second I got it, I found it hard to put down. Even though the interactions between Achilles and Patroclus weren't very graphic, I felt exactly what the author was trying to portray, proving that great writing doesn't always equal extreme details.

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riv_erb's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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eryncaroline's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

I was so excited to read this book after hearing such rave reviews and that tissues are required for this one. Definitely well-written and such an interesting dive into these mythological greek characters, but the world building felt inconsistent with the way the gods play a role in the story and once the battle of troy began the number of "time jumps" really takes you out of the story waiting for the "big thing" to happen. I did really enjoy the first half of the book and I was sold on the characters and really interested in their story, but it was difficult to watch the characters change and see the fates play out. Still pondering the story and my review, but I'm glad to have read it!

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savshanae's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

I hate it. I’m also giving it a 5 ⭐️ review.
Everyone was right, it will break you. But not even for the reasons I expected! I don’t want to spoil the whole thing, but I literally threw the book after reading the final paragraph. I hate it and it was also one of the best books I’ve ever read. Proceed with extreme caution.

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queerloras's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
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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