Genre: Fantasy, Mythology
My Review - 5 Stars
I was not familiar with the witch goddess Circe before reading this. And at first, I wasn’t sure what to make of her. She was passive, starved for acknowledgment from her parents, not fully aware of what was happening around her. She was naive and had a soft spot for people, even those who treated her horribly. In short, she wasn’t like any other goddess I’d read before.
But as the story progressed, I began to see what made Circe special. She wasn’t like any other goddess, yes, and that was a good thing. Her family is the worst and it would be no compliment to resemble them. She’s the black sheep of the gods, in fact. And as an Enneagram 4 who often feels like the odd one out, I could relate.
Very hard things happen to Circe. Please be mindful of the content warnings. I will say none of the depictions felt gratuitous or overly long but a couple of things were still hard to read about. We do get to see Circe fully come into her power as a witch. She doesn’t always make the right call but she continues to learn and grow and this was wonderful to see. I was fully in her corner by the book’s end.
The power in Madeline Miller’s books, for me, lies in the last couple of pages. I’ll be lost in the story and then all of a sudden I’m in tears. Somehow she manages to weave together the connections she’s been building along and I cannot help but have an emotional response. Although I’m relieved, in this case, Circe got a happy ending.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing what Miller writes next.
CW: rape, violence, detailed childbirth scenes, infidelity, physical abuse, child abuse, suicidal ideation, reference to bestiality, reference to incest, death of a child, death of a loved one, death of an animal, war
Synopsis
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.
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