Whenever I open booktok or bookstagram I always see ‘Circe” being one of the most read books and highly praised. Of course, ‘The Song of Achilles’ is the book that made me look into Madeline Miller, however, I decided to start with her second book. I have been a mythology fan since the beginning of time and it was exhilarating to experience it in a retelling.
Synopsis:
taken from Goodreads
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither 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 with the mortals she has come to love.
Review:
I will start with Madeline’s way with words which is very soft, gentle and beautiful. She describes Circe’s feelings up to the point of disturbance, she makes the reader feel everything without any compensation. From Circe’s lonely days in Helion’s hall to her first relationship betrayal to the irony that she keeps being herself undoubtedly while everyone around her is hurting her. We face a character growth which started after her banishment that in my opinion served her better than she thought. If she never got banished, she would have kept the same meaningless eternity being a shadow of herself.
If my childhood had given me anything, it was endurance.
I wish I actually liked the book more. Miller’s writing deserves more credit and definitely more plot. 70% of the book felt very dull to me I almost felt banished to an empty island myself. It lacked excitement, action and plot twists as everything was predictable and I was praying for something that will make me want to read it for a day. Unfortunately, only the end was a small compensation for the rest of the book.
It was my first lesson. Beneath the smooth, familiar face of things is another that waits to tear the world in two.
To conclude:
I would recommend the book if you enjoy a slow read because that’s exactly how it goes in this book. You will read about slow days in exile and thoughts that sometimes bother you. Thankfully, Madeline Miler’s style of writing makes the slow read pleasant. The reason I am giving 3/5 stars is the lack of events/action which is definitely more my type of reading,