The Women of Troy (Women of Troy, #2)
Those who loved The Silence of the Girls will love The Women of Troy, its sequel. It offers a powerful look, through the eyes of Briseis, into the aftermath of Troy’s defeat and what it meant for the Trojan women who became slaves.
Author: Pat Barker
Publisher: Doubleday
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Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
Following her bestselling, critically acclaimed The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker continues her extraordinary retelling of one of our greatest myths.
Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home victors, loaded with their spoils: their stolen gold, stolen weapons, stolen women. All they need is a good wind to lift their sails.
But the wind does not come. The gods have been offended - the body of Priam lies desecrated, unburied - and so the victors remain in limbo, camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed, pacing at the edge of an unobliging sea. And, in these empty, restless days, the hierarchies that held them together begin to fray, old feuds resurface and new suspicions fester.
Largely unnoticed by her squabbling captors, Briseis remains in the Greek encampment. She forges alliances where she can — with young, dangerously naïve Amina, with defiant, aged Hecuba, with Calchus, the disgraced priest — and begins to see the path to a kind of revenge. Briseis has survived the Trojan War, but peacetime may turn out to be even more dangerous...
TL;DR Review
Those who loved The Silence of the Girls will love The Women of Troy, its sequel. It offers a powerful look, through the eyes of Briseis, into the aftermath of Troy’s defeat and what it meant for the Trojan women who became slaves.
For you if: You like feminist Greek mythology retellings. I recommend reading The Silence of the Girls first!
Full Review
First, thank you Doubleday for the gifted finished copy! I loved The Silence of the Girls, its predecessor, and had a feeling this one would also be for me. I was right. The Women of Troy is gutting, thought-provoking, and intelligently, beautifully written. If you love Greek mythology retellings, this one’s got your name written all over it.
The Women of Troy picks up where The Silence of the Girls ended, picking up Briseis’s story at the end of the Trojan war. Briseis, who was Achilles’s bed slave while he was alive, is now carrying his child and married to one of his former counselors. We also get a few chapters from the perspective of Pyrrhus, Achille’s son, who is grappling (and cracking) with the enormous pressure of upholding a legacy.
Two big things shined for me in this story. First, the way Barker continues to give enslaved women voices, showing the unimaginable things they were expected to just absorb and live with; to go from being Trojan royalty, mothers, daughters — to bed slaves of the men who murdered everyone they loved. We already saw Briseis go through that in The Silence of the Girls, and it’s fascinating (and devastating) to see her attempt to coach her friends through it while also attempting to still protect herself and grapple with the distance her privileged position wedges between them, between her very identity as a Trojan. The gulf widens even as she grasps at it.
The second thing was Pyrrhus’s spiral. Before I read this book, I brushed up on him, and I ended up reading a two-part blog series from Madeline Miller. She says there are two famous depictions of him: the first, and most well known, is Vergil’s portrait in the Aneid of a narcissistic psychopath. The second is from Sophocles’ Philoctetes, which shows him as a child attempting to do right by his father. In this book, Pat Barker seems to have merged these two versions, showing a boy cracking and breaking under the weight of his father’s legacy.
And throughout, of course, we have Pat Barker’s beautiful prose. Read The Silence of the Girls, if you haven’t yet, and then read this!
Content Warnings
Use of the R word
Sex slavery and sexual violence
Brutal war violence (see: the Iliad/Aeneid)
Olympus, Texas
Olympus, Texas is a roller-coaster read full of heart — part contemporary literary fiction, part Greek mythology retelling. I enjoyed every second.
Author: Stacey Swann
Publisher: Doubleday
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
A bighearted debut with technicolor characters, plenty of Texas swagger, and a powder keg of a plot in which marriages struggle, rivalries flare, and secrets explode, all with a clever wink toward classical mythology.
The Briscoe family is once again the talk of their small town when March returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother's wife. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms. Her husband's own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change? Within days of March's arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold them together might be exactly what drag them all down.
An expansive tour de force, Olympus, Texas cleverly weaves elements of classical mythology into a thoroughly modern family saga, rich in drama and psychological complexity. After all, at some point, don't we all wonder: What good is this destructive force we call love?
TL;DR Review
Olympus, Texas is a roller-coaster read full of heart — part contemporary literary fiction, part Greek mythology retelling. I enjoyed every second.
For you if: You’re looking for a light read that still feels literary.
Full Review
“She hadn't yet learned that since love was the creation of two people, and people were always defective in one way or another, then the love itself was necessarily flawed. She knew that now, definitively.”
I’m a sucker for a) Greek mythology retellings, and b) poetic prose. So when I heard about Olympus, Texas, which has both, I knew I had to read it. All the praise described it as a wildly entertaining family drama, and so I saved it for a trip to the beach. Dear reader, this is the perfect literary beach read. A beach read for people who don’t typically read “beach reads.”
The Briscoe family is the most infamous in Olympus, Texas — matriarch June (guarded, sort of bitter) and patriarch Peter (a massive man, and a philanderer); their children, March (who has anger issues), Hap (a mechanic), and Thea (an attorney); Hap’s wife Vera (beautiful but jaded); and Peter’s twins by a mistress, Artie (a hunting tour guide) and Arlo (a musician). Oh, and their uncle Hayden (runs the local morgue, lives across the river). Two inciting incidents: Hap and Vera are having trouble after Vera and March had an affair, and Arlo seethes with jealousy over Artie’s new boyfriend, who (he thinks) threatens their closeness. Ringing any bells?
You definitely don’t have to be familiar with Greek mythology to love this one, but if you are familiar, you’ll love it all the more. The connections are super obvious, but well done; I found them fun without being cheesy. The characters, much like the gods they’re based on, are compelling (and make terrible choices), but Swann has done a really great job of fleshing them out, making them modern and human, giving them real, deep problems to grapple with as they struggle with what it means to love others and be loved in return.
In short, I had a blast with this book. Give it a go!
Content Warnings
Infidelity
Accidental death/hunting accident
The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo, #5)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
At last, the breathtaking, action-packed finale of the #1 bestselling Trials of Apollo series is here! Will the Greek god Apollo, cast down to earth in the pathetic moral form of a teenager named Lester Papadopoulos, finally regain his place on Mount Olympus? Lester's demigod friends at Camp Jupiter just helped him survive attacks from bloodthirsty ghouls, an evil Roman king and his army of the undead, and the lethal emperors Caligula and Commodus. Now the former god and his demigod master Meg must follow a prophecy uncovered by Ella the harpy. Lester's final challenge will be at the Tower of Nero, back in New York. Will Meg have a last showdown with her father? Will this helpless form of Apollo have to face his arch nemesis, Python? Who will be on hand at Camp Half-Blood to assist? These questions and more will be answered in this book that all demigods are eagerly awaiting.
TL;DR Review
The Tower of Nero was such a fun, resonant, beautiful conclusion to The Trials of Apollo and wrap on the Percy Jackson universe at large. I can’t believe it’s over! But my heart is happy.
For you if: You’re looking for a wholesome but deep and meaningful squeeze of the heart.
Full Review
“I was tempted to promise we’d do this more often if we survived, but I’d learned that promises are precious. If you’re not absolutely sure you can keep them, you should never make them, much like chocolate chip cookies.”
Y’all. WHAT A RIDE. This is book 15 of 15 in the Percy Jackson universe, the conclusion of Rick Riordan’s third middle-grade quintet set in this world. And…I’m not crying, you’re crying! OK yeah no, I’m definitely crying.
The Trials of Apollo quintet is about (you guessed it), the god Apollo. At the start of the series, he was cursed/punished by Zeus and sent to live as a mortal teenager with acne named Lester Papadopoulos. He must earn back his immortality and over the course of the five books, works alongside demigod Meg McCaffrey to free the world’s oracles from the control of evil historical Roman emperors under the guise of an evil modern-day corporation called Triumvirate Holdings.
These books are just so good. I want every kid to read them and experience the inclusivity, sensitivity, representation, and giant-hearted life lessons they include. Uncle Rick’s cast of characters is intentional and beautiful. He addresses some really tough stuff in a way that feels real, but through humor and relatability. His balance of jokes and heart is perfect.
And the ending of this one was BEAUTIFUL and so good and so right and ugh I have no coherent words because books like these are what school libraries were built for and I just love them so much. Everyone should read them. They’ll warm your heart and give you hope and make you a blubbering pile of mush like me.
Trigger Warnings
Emotional abuse/gaslighting of a child by a parent
The Tyrant's Tomb (The Trials of Apollo, #4)
I recommend Rick Riordan’s books to anyone who likes to guffaw, loves witty pop-culture-meets-greek-mythology humor, and wants a good ol’ tug on the heartstrings. Because that’s what he delivers, every single time.
*** Description is spoiler for The Trials of Apollo books 1–3***
It's not easy being Apollo, especially when you've been turned into a human and banished from Olympus. On his path to restoring five ancient oracles and reclaiming his godly powers, Apollo (aka Lester Papadopoulos) has faced both triumphs and tragedies. Now his journey takes him to Camp Jupiter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Roman demigods are preparing for a desperate last stand against the evil Triumvirate of Roman emperors. Hazel, Reyna, Frank, Tyson, Ella, and many other old friends will need Apollo's aid to survive the onslaught. Unfortunately, the answer to their salvation lies in the forgotten tomb of a Roman ruler . . . someone even worse than the emperors Apollo has already faced.
Author: Rick Riordan | Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Goodreads | IndieBound (buy local!) | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4.5 / 5
“Dude, this isn't cool
Dude just tried to eat my dude
That's my dead dude, dude”
I recommend Rick Riordan’s books to anyone who likes to guffaw, loves witty pop-culture-meets-greek-mythology humor, and wants a good ol’ tug on the heartstrings. Because that’s what he delivers, every single time.
Short review for this one since it’s book four of five. It picks up right where book three left off (BEWARE SPOILERS FOR BOOK 3): Apollo and Meg are returning Jason’s body to Camp Jupiter, which has just undergone serious battle against the emperors’ fleet. They arrive to find the capers ragged and exhausted, but determined as ever.
I thought the tribute to Jason by the campers was beautiful, and I was glad that we had more time to mourn him. Book three ended so abruptly that I was nervous about it, but in fact, this entire book continued to pay tribute to Jason over and over and over. Apollo, of course, continued to find his humanity, Meg continued to grow into her own, the adventure was hilarious and thrilling, and I can’t wait to read book five and see how this all wraps up.
Ultimately, this one was just as heartwarming and clever as the others. Reading it was a joyful break from a lot of the heavier fiction I usually read, but still pulled hard on my emotions. The best of both worlds.
“Have you completely made up for all the bad things you've done? No. But you keep adding to the good things column. That's all any of us can do.”
The Silence of the Girls
Rating: 5/5 | Full disclosure: Books like this were made for me. I love feminist fiction, and I really love retellings — especially Greek mythology. Madeline Miller is my jam. This book is also my jam. I loved every page. (Click the post to read more.)
The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under siege of the powerful Greek army, which continues to wage bloody war over a stolen woman—Helen. In the Greek camp, another woman—Briseis—watches and waits for the war's outcome. She was queen of one of Troy's neighboring kingdoms, until Achilles, Greece's greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers. Briseis becomes Achilles's concubine, a prize of battle, and must adjust quickly in order to survive a radically different life, as one of the many conquered women who serve the Greek army.
When Agamemnon, the brutal political leader of the Greek forces, demands Briseis for himself, she finds herself caught between the two most powerful of the Greeks. Achilles refuses to fight in protest, and the Greeks begin to lose ground to their Trojan opponents. Keenly observant and coolly unflinching about the daily horrors of war, Briseis finds herself in an unprecedented position, able to observe the two men driving the Greek army in what will become their final confrontation, deciding the fate not only of Briseis's people but also of the ancient world at large.
Briseis is just one among thousands of women living behind the scenes in this war—the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead—all of them erased by history. With breathtaking historical detail and luminous prose, Pat Barker brings the teeming world of the Greek camp to vivid life. She offers nuanced, complex portraits of characters and stories familiar from mythology, which, seen from Briseis's perspective, are rife with newfound revelations. Barker's latest builds on her decades-long study of war and its impact on individual lives—and it is nothing short of magnificent.
Author: Pat Barker
Rating: 5/5
“Great Achilles. Brilliant Achilles, shining Achilles, godlike Achilles … How the epithets pile up. We never called him any of those things; we called him ‘the butcher’.”
Full disclosure: Books like this were made for me. I love feminist fiction, and I really love retellings — especially Greek mythology. Madeline Miller is my jam. This book is also my jam. I loved every page.
The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of parts of the Illiad, the Trojan War, from the point of view of Briseis. She was Queen of Lyrnessus before Achilles et al sacked the city. Then she was given to Achilles to be his bed slave as a war prize. She also develops a friendship with Patroclus and many of the other women who were slaves.
"Yes, I watched him. Every waking minute — and there weren't many minutes I allowed myself to sleep in his presence. It's strange, but just then, when I said 'I watched him' I very nearly added 'like a hawk,' because that's what people say, isn't it? That's how you describe an intent, unblinking stare. But it was nothing like that. Achilles was the hawk. I was his slave to do what he liked with; I was completely in his power. If he'd woken up one morning and decided to beat me to death, nobody would have intervened. Oh, I watched him all right, I watched him like a mouse."
Part I of the book takes us through the events from the sacking of Lyrnessus until Agamemnon decides that he wants to take Briseis from Achilles. (The last sentence of Part I gave me literal chills.) Then Part II takes us from that point until Achilles' death, with special attention paid to the time after Patroclus died.
Throughout, the prose whacks you in the stomach again and again, giving voice and character and depth to the women of the Illiad. The women who either chose death before their cities were sacked or suffered afterward. Those women were there, in the story, but how often do we allow ourselves to pause and think about what they suffered?
Briseis' narration is really powerful. She holds no punches; her description is told with the same cold and detached feeling that she experiences daily. It's chilling.
This was also a really interesting look at Achilles. He's cold and distant and ruthless but also somewhat childish and also hungry for warmth and affection. It makes you not quite like him, but also not quite dislike him either.
All in all, this book was gripping and begs to be pondered. Read it.
“We’re going to survive — our songs, our stories. They’ll never be able to forget us. Decades after the last man who fought at Troy is dead, their sons will remember the songs their Trojan mothers sang to them. We’ll be in their dreams–and in their worst nightmares too.”
The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3)
Rating: 4.5/5 | I. LOVE. RICK. RIORDAN. Every time I read one of his books, I vow to be more critical and resist giving him yet another high-star review. I don't know why I do this. He never disappoints me. I am always entertained and even a bit moved. (Click the post to read more.)
The formerly glorious god Apollo, cast down to earth in punishment by Zeus, is now an awkward mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. In order to regain his place on Mount Olympus, Lester must restore five Oracles that have gone dark. But he has to achieve this impossible task without having any godly powers and while being duty-bound to a confounding young daughter of Demeter named Meg. Thanks a lot, Dad.
With the help of some demigod friends, Lester managed to survive his first two trials, one at Camp Half-Blood, and one in Indianapolis, where Meg received the Dark Prophecy. The words she uttered while seated on the Throne of Memory revealed that an evil triumvirate of Roman emperors plans to attack Camp Jupiter. While Leo flies ahead on Festus to warn the Roman camp, Lester and Meg must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor—and an Oracle who speaks in word puzzles—somewhere in the American Southwest. There is one glimmer of hope in the gloom-filled prophecy: The cloven guide alone the way does know. They will have a satyr companion, and Meg knows just who to call upon. . . .
Author: Rick Riordan
Rating: 4.5/5
“Jason took me by the shoulders—not out of anger, or in a clinging way, but as a brother. “Promise me one thing. Whatever happens, when you get back to Olympus, when you’re a god again, remember. Remember what it’s like to be human.”
A few weeks ago, I would have scoffed. Why would I want to remember any of this?
At best, if I were lucky enough to reclaim my divine throne, I would recall this wretched experience like a scary B-movie that had finally ended. I would walk out of the cinema into the sunlight, thinking Phew! Glad that’s over.
Now, however, I had some inkling of what Jason meant. I had learned a lot about human frailty and human strength. I felt…different toward mortals, having been one of them. If nothing else, it would provide me with some excellent inspiration for new song lyrics!”
I. LOVE. RICK. RIORDAN. Every time I read one of his books, I vow to be more critical and resist giving him yet another high-star review. I don't know why I do this. He never disappoints me. I am always entertained and even moved.
Like I did with all his titles, I listened to this one's audiobook. The narrator for Apollo is downright hilarious, and it helps that he (the character as portrayed by the voice actor) reminds me a lot of one of my friends. But also, it must be so fun to write these books, because the jokes are super clever and funny. I definitely guffawed a few times on the subway while listening!
Apollo starts this series as very cocky, out of touch with reality, the opposite of empathetic, and vain. As the story goes on, he begins to shed those labels piece by piece. By the end of this book, he is really starting to be a likable character with a big heart. Bad timing for him, because the emotional depth of the story is growing, too. This book was heart-wrenching for those who've read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and then the Heroes of Olympus series. Yes, the series is better for it, but come on, Rick. Why must you do this to us???
Adults and children alike should have this one on their lists.
The Song of Achilles
Rating: 5/5 | This review is brought to you in partnership with "I may never recover" and "Why did that have to end?" That was SO BEAUTIFUL! I finished it at 6:30 AM (I'm an early bird) and subsequently dissolved into a puddle as I got ready for work—in the best way, of course. (Click the post to read more.)
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller’s page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career.
Author: Madeline Miller
Rating: 5/5
“Afterwards, when Agamemnon would ask him when he would confront the prince of Troy, he would smile his most guileless, maddening smile. 'What has Hector ever done to me?'”
This review is brought to you in partnership with "I may never recover" and "Why did that have to end?" That was SO BEAUTIFUL! I finished it at 6:30 AM (I'm an early bird) and subsequently dissolved into a puddle as I got ready for work—in the best way, of course.
Retellings are one of my favorite types of fiction to read, and this was no exception. I picked up The Song of Achilles after reading Miller's Circe, which I also loved, and I was not disappointed.
“'Will you come with me?' he asked. The never-ending ache of love and sorrow. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone. But not in this one. He would sail to Troy and I would follow, even into death. 'Yes,' I whipsered. 'Yes.'”
The story follows the life of Patroclus, known in Greek mythology as the best friend and sworn companion of Achilles. After being exiled from his father's court, he is sent to Phthia, where Achilles is prince. They form an unlikely bond that, in time, blossoms into a true and passionate lifelong romance.
Then the Trojan War begins, and the peace and ease of their lives is changed forever. Their love never does. But prophecies and glory and war are relentless, and the way Miller spins this classic tragedy is hypnotizing and heart-wrenching and so, so beautiful.
“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”
I particularly loved how Miller characterized Patroclus. The book is written in his first person, but rarely does he describe his own facial expressions or other nonverbal details. All we get is a few feelings, straightforward dialogue, and every small piece of information about Achilles that could be imagined. The result is a true understanding of the depth of Patroclus' love and a reverberant inference of his emotions.
24 hours later, and I'm still a puddle. I am still in denial that it's over. Don't miss this one.
Circe
Rating: 5/5 | Circe was excellent. Miller's use of language is masterful, the story is unique and attention-grabbing, and the combination of the two is powerful. (Click the post to read more.)
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.
Author: Madeline Miller
Rating: 5/5
"Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep."
Circe was excellent. Miller's use of language is masterful, the story is unique and attention-grabbing, and the combination of the two is powerful.
The book is written in Circe's first person. Rather than simply starting at the beginning and moving through, her narration feels more like you're sitting beside her near a fireplace while she tells you the story of her life. Interjections along the lines of "if only I had known then what I know now" make this clear and keep you engaged, always looking out toward the end and wondering how you'll get there.
She starts the story at her birth and details a terrible childhood in the halls of her Titan father, Helios. The picture she paints of these gods is one of coldness, selfishness, arrogance, and abuse. It takes her a while to figure out that she does not need to stand for this treatment, although small events show that the strength and confidence she needs do exist inside her.
"I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open."
Eventually one of these small moments earns her exile to the beautiful island of Aiaia, where she begins to grow into herself and learn how the world can be both lovely and cruel. Interactions with both gods and mortals—including characters like Hermes, Minos, Dedalus, Jason and Medea, and Odysseus, for example—shape her, destroy her, build her back up, and more. The longer she lives, the more she comes to love the mortals she meets and the world they live in.
We are taken through so many phases of her life, from childhood to confidence to loneliness to abuse-driven cruelty to quiet acceptance to strength. The integration of so many characters and stories from Greek mythology make the book even more interesting, as we are almost getting the "true story" behind these myths—the good, the bad, and the really ugly. Throughout, her portrayal of the women is the best part. We get a side of the story that shows them as strong, fierce beings—some good and some bad, but always round and complex—rather than the edited version all the male poets have "chosen" to portray.
"It is a common saying that women are delicate creatures, flowers, eggs, anything that may be crushed in a moment’s carelessness. If I had ever believed it, I no longer did."
This book was so well-done. Because it was written in the first-person of Circe, the phrasing is god-like but also relatable, which makes it sort of hypnotizing and really enjoyable to read. I loved it.