Cover Image: Circe

Circe

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What a total joy.
It's been a long wait after reading song of Achilles but worth every month, every year.
A truly epic tale focusing on Circe, daughter of the most powerful Greek god Helios. She wasn't a character I knew anything Npbout in advance ( unlike Achilles) so it was a very different kind of read in that respect.
So many Greek myths, gods, goddesses, tales that we have all heard though the years that I spent a lot of time reminding myself of their tales as well such as Icarus, the Minataur.... etc....
Truly a book that educates as well as utterly enthrals and delights. I want to read it over and over again.

I have nothing but the utmost admiration for the author and the incredible knowledge she has that she shares with us all through accessible, commercial and pure joyous fiction.

Thanks Bloomsbury!

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I loved ' The Song of Achilles' and have always enjoyed myths and legends - even did an exam in it at school. Perhaps because Achilles was partly mortal and hence had to die, his story whipped along and was exciting. Circe, being a Goddess has all of eternity to ponder, and unfortunately that is was it felt like as I read this book.

The stories of other gods and heroes held this book together as Circe does not really get up to much. After a fit of jealousy she turns the mean girl, Scylla, into a monster, but then spends an age regretting it. She finds love a few times, but there isn't much burning desire going on. I did feel sorry for her when her son turns out to be one of those screaming all night babies, although she did note that as a Goddess she did not need to sleep. A gift that many a new parent may has desired.

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Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

If I could read Miller's classical retellings forever, I'd do it without hesitating. Actually, to call Circe and her other novels retellings greatly under praises them. Miller crafts the entire life of one of the most infamous female immortals of the Greek world; it weaves with The Odyssey but it spreads its wings much further.

Something that I loved about The Song of Achilles, Miller's first novel, was the depth of exploration in the ancient world that has the presence of gods, but from a mortal perspective. Circe does the opposite and explores the immortal side of antiquity - which I may have loved more (jury's still out on that one). Miller is a classicist primarily, so there's already a pretty solid trust of accuracy (or at least creative freedom on original information) of the ancient world when stepping into one of her books. I'm a mythology geek anyway, but walking through the halls of Oceanus' made me want to go and look myself in a room with a book of myths for the next month.

As you might imagine being a (somewhat) retelling of The Odyssey, a story in which Circe traditionally plays one of the earliest archetypal seductresses, there's a bit of romance. Romance that Miller (somehow) makes feminist and genuine, without being dominating. In fact, there are several instances of truthful events from the traditional myth that are a whole host of problematic in our modern society, that Miller twists into reality. I love how she writes in the canon that storytellers would twist events in the favour of the Greek heroes, and how those are the stories that eventually echo through time. What actually happened is therefore up to the imagination, and Miller uses it brilliantly to tell her version of the story of Circe.
There's a lot of storytelling in general, and recounting events scattered everywhere in this book. Historically, it was a key part of the ancient world and not only does it give us a wide scope of the world itself, it makes everything feel so human - even if it's the immortals speaking. It's such a human thing to do, tell stories without really realising they're stories.

Circe, who was a character I was generally apathetic to when I studied The Odyssey in college, became a heroine I could not have predicted I would like so much. She's a very developed character considering there isn't that much to go off of. Like I mentioned, this novel is about the whole of Circe's life, not just her interactions made famous through The Odyssey. The creativity and vibrancy with which Miller expanded her personality and experience was just a joy to read. She was both a gentle and fierce heroine to which I related to more than expected. I'd happily read another novel expanding on the parts of her life Miller doesn't have time to explore in depth.
I also liked how Odysseus is painted as just as much of an idiot as he is in The Odyssey. He may be the master of cunning, second to Achilles as the Greek heroes. But he is an idiot, and Circe knows it well.

I was sad to get to the end of this book, and I'm tempted to read it all over again when it's officially released next year. Do I love it more than The Song of Achilles, one of my favourite novels of all time? I actually don't know, I enjoyed them both so much, but I did like the exploration of the female experience in the ancient world in this one. Either way, I loved Circe and I don't want to have to wait anywhere near as long for the next Madeline Miller book.

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A much-loved legend, retold in an intricate, convincing, tale.

As a child, I loved the story of the Odyssey. Trojan horses, Cyclopes, evil sirens...what wasn't to like? One character always held particular fascination (and mild horror) though, and that was Circe the sorceress...who turned Odysseus' men into pigs.

When I spotted this book on Netgalley, I realised that, aside from the swine-transforming skills, there was very little else I knew about Circe...so was keen to read the story and discover more. I wasn't expecting such a rich, engaging story though, which honestly had me gripped from start to finish.

It begins with Circe the daughter of Helios, an outcast, 'low-grade' goddess, ridiculed and despised by others. Exiled from her home, she's driven to an island, where she discovers her magical abilities. Yes, Odysseus does feature, but he's merely one player in a cast of several, including the nymph/ monster Scylla, the sardonic messenger god Hermes, Odysseus's long-suffering wife Penelope and Dedalus. Yep, even the Minotaur was in there, much to my great delight, and so beautifully woven in, it left me quite staggered.

What are we left with by the end of the book? The knowledge that the legend of Circe has been fully brought to life - that she's no longer a bit-part in The Odyssey, but a strong, fearless, emotional goddess in her own right. Absolutely loved it...it's a big five-stars from me!

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I really enjoy retellings, so this book was perfect for me and this is one of the best retellings I have read. I'm now interested in reading more about Greek mythology and more by this author. I didn't necessarily think that he writing style was particularly brilliant or beautiful, but it was well constructed which made it easy to read. I think the strongest part of this book is the characters. The main character was especially well developed and believable and I kept reading because I was committed to finding out more about her. I didn't really know very much about Circe before reading this book so I found this to be a refreshing way to learn. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would recommend it (especially to mythology lovers).

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'I thought once that gods are the opposite of death, but I see now they are more dead than anything, for they are unchanging, and can hold nothing in their hands.'
5 wonderful Madeline Miller stars! After The Song of Achilles, I was intrigued to see what marvels would come next. Set in the aftermath of the Olympian victory over the Titans, Circe is a lesser daughter of Helios, the Titanic Sun God, a nymph and immortal.
I am not going to go into details of plot. When I started reading, I remembered little of Circe's story, but as I went along I consulted my old friend Wiki for background information. You will recognise many of the cast of thousands!
The writing is beautiful and evocative- it feels like easing yourself into a warm Mediterranean Sea and carries you along on its tides and currents. My heart went out to Circe time and time again. I've never actually liked the idea of living longer than anyone else, but immortality never looked so bad!
Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

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This book blew me away.

There are many ways of judging a book: the cleverness of the plot and concept; the beauty of the prose; the depth of the characters; the emotional effect it has on you personally; the importance and relevance of the themes it addresses, to name but a few. But given that I’ve never encountered a book that’s managed to cover every single category equally without stretching itself thin, I usually try to judge a book on how well it deals with the aspects it’s chosen to focus on; in other words, the extent to which it excels at being true to itself and what it wanted to be.

And Circe is a marvel, in that respect: a book which is wholeheartedly, fiercely true to itself. This tale knows exactly what kind of atmosphere it wants to invoke, what effect it wants to have on its reader, and what story it wants to tell, and is relentless in the pursuit of those goals. The result is a book which, for all that its content is almost episodic at times, and for all its links to a thousand other legends and myths, feels absolutely self-contained, fully realised, and wholly its own entity, with each and every carefully chosen word leading the reader right to its beating heart.

Honestly, this is entirely appropriate – discovering and being true to who you are is probably one of the book’s most important themes. The inexorable passage of time, the constraints and blessings of both divinity and mortality, the challenges of parenthood, and the ways women are repressed and rise up against that repression are just some of the other themes explored in gorgeous, thoughtful detail, but it’s learning how to forge your own path in the world that is the book’s guiding current, underlying each twist and turn of the plot.

Speaking of the plot, you’d be forgiven for expecting very few surprises along the way if you’re familiar with Greek mythology, but the joy of this book comes in filling in the blank spaces, the edges, the gaps between words in the epics of yore. Madeline Miller has a talent for bringing those blank spaces to such vivid life that the stories she weaves there feel almost inevitable (fated, even!) as they unfold, with the minor tweaks and changes to the myths preventing them from ever becoming too predictable – but really, the plot is not what this book is about at all.

It’s about the characters and places and times that the plot connects. It’s about women, and their children, and their struggles to carve out a place for themselves in a world dominated by men without carving out the essence of themselves in the process. It’s about a goddess who never truly feels comfortable with her own divinity, a witch who refuses to flinch from the blood that stains her hands even as she loathes it, a woman who overcomes scorn and exile and injustice and her own uncertainty to tread an uncharted path towards her truest self. This is Circe’s story, and it is breathtaking.

However, it would be remiss of me not to note just how many other characters leave an indelible mark on these pages – including, I’m delighted to say, a whole host of other women, who are variously innocent, ambitious, conniving, vengeful, wise… in short, as diverse as the real women that populate this world. Maybe someday I’ll read a book where that doesn’t come as a breath of fresh air (and really, that day can’t come quickly enough), but for now, I’m still thrilled by the sheer number of female characters drawn in such vivid detail in this book that I could practically hear their voice as they spoke.

But of course, they would never have come to life so vibrantly without the prose. I honestly can’t recall the last time I read a book so gorgeously written, where every single line felt like a perfectly sculpted work of art. But more than simply being beautiful, the prose felt almost ancient, primordial, as though the words truly were those of a divine being recounting her own story. It overflows with power, by turns bewitching and brutal, and every description of an otherworldly god or monster (and really, at times it almost feels like a ‘who’s who’ of Greek mythology, in the best of ways – with just the right number of links to Miller’s earlier work The Song of Achilles to be meaningful but not trite) somehow makes them seem both tangibly real and terrifyingly alien. It makes for an utterly bewitching read.

There’s just one more thing I’d like to mention in this absolute behemoth of a review: the ending! I have to confess, for about 3 chapters towards the end, I was feeling distinctly grumpy. Without saying too much, there was a particular route I was fervently hoping the story would go down, and in the end, it went in a completely different direction. However, the last few pages soothed every ounce of my indignation. The very last scene in this novel is one of such completely fitting circularity that I honestly think it might be one of my favourite ways a book has ever ended. I don’t think I’ll ever stop wondering what the story might have looked like if it had taken that other route instead, but the final paragraphs of this tale were so perfect that I can’t quite begrudge not knowing. I’m content to simply have had the enormous privilege and pleasure of reading this absolutely wonderful book.

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I have been waiting for this book for long that it is actually ridiculous! I fell in love with Patroclus in The Song of Achilles and I have fallen in love with Circe here.

If you are yet to read The Odyssey by Homer then I really recommend it. As a classics student it was one of the best books. I also do not feel that you can appreciate the story full without reading The Odyssey. In Circe there are so many parts missing, only so many tid-bits. This is truly Circe's story and no one elses.

While this inspired by The Odyssey, and while the story of Odysseus does take up the majority of the story-telling there are other myths and other stories woven into the telling. I loved how the all came together. And you get the sense of immortality of Circe and how time flows differently for the gods.

I loved how Circe was used as the narrator. I feel ever story she is in she is undermined and seen only as a witch. Some one who hinders and never helps. She is looked down upon by the other gods and is mocked for her human voice. Yet she is a determined, naive and sassy person. Who works incredible hard. She also does not let her divinity or her abilities make her into a bad or demanding person. Yes she goes through a stage of turning men into pigs but everyone is allowed a bad day.

I loved and adored this book - it was a fun and fast telling of all the major Greek myths. And despite being set in a fantasy Circe somehow had a human voice and human vulnerabilities.

And whether or not you know the Greek myths I can promise that this is a fantastic read.

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Meant to read a few pages of this to have a little sneak peek, before reading it the next day on the plane.. Then I ended up reading three quarters of the book till about two in the morning before my flight. Oops.

Circe is just as gripping as the Song of Achilles, I don't think I could go through this review without comparing the two, which was a book that I read in two sittings. The reason for the two sittings was that I had to stop reading as I couldn't see for the tears. Although Circe is a very different book, as this takes place from the perspective of an immortal nymph; minor goddess and witch, but Circe is as flawed as Patroclus and Achilles combined, as is most of the Gods we see or hear of in this novel. I forget who said the greater the person, the more flaws they have, but this is definitely the case for most, if not all the gods in this novel.

This is more of a story of Circe rather than a love story, and an exploration of one god than one human and one demigod, and as such, Circe does feel more fleshed out and more flawed, as she grows as a character throughout. Though she does fall in love several times throughout this book, through a period of a thousand years, each times she does grow as a person.

I do like that when Miller had the opportunity to make Circe and another female character catty over another man, she didn't take it and the two female character's actually bond over critiquing this man and learning witchcraft. As the Song of Achilles only briefly had a few female characters, who were still fleshed out and presented as human beings; Circe does take this opportunity to take female characters who are often glossed over in myths and explore their stories and their personality, as Circe goes from seeing her sister in a one dimensional way to a more nuanced perspective by the end of the book, as she does humans from the beginning to the end.

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I loved Song of Achilles and worried that this would be the difficult second book at first but I was soon swept away in the story and loved how it pulled so many strands of Greek mythology/history together via the one character..
Circe's viewpoint added so much to all of the tales and I felt I was living on her island. I stayed up all night to read this and loved it.

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