4.5/5 stars

I love this book so much. There’s something about Madeline Miller’s writing that just hooked me in and captivated my mind completely. Circe is one of my new favourite heroines. She grew and evolved so much thought the book, I couldn’t help but fall in love with her resilience and wisdom along the way. This is one of those books that don’t have major action scenes or climaxes, instead every small interaction, relationship and internal discovery is captivating and interesting in their own way. Once again, I don’t know I put this book off for so long, I was really missing out on such a pleasure. This is my PSA: do yourself a favour and read this book!

Circe is a hard book to explain, there are so many aspects and notable moments that are hard to condense. Circe is born of the mightiest Titan Helios, but seems to be constantly overlooked in every aspect of her life. She has a mortal voice, is not beautiful enough for a wedding to an immortal and is constantly mocked in her court. So when she discovers that she does have some power, the powers of witchcraft, others are threatened and she is banished for eternity. But along the way, Circe crosses paths with many of the most famous personalities in Greek mythology. Her seemingly unnatural power draws in enemies, threats but also potential friends

This books is very different from the Song of Achilles, but it is still phenomenal nonetheless. There’s so much that happens in Circe, but I never realised until the end. It feels slow and well developed, but at the same time exciting and new. Unlike the first book which felt like it had one overarching storyline and direction, there were so many interesting subplots and directions that this book took. Circe met so many people and influenced many stories in small ways and big ways. I feel like I’m explaining this very poorly, but as I said before, I feel like this is a difficult book to explain. It ties together so many different stories from Greek mythology effortlessly. I’m not an expert of Greek mythology, but even I recognised some of the figures that were introduced like Prometheus, the Minotaur and Icarus.

I loved Circe as a character. She had so many flaws, but she changed and developed throughout the book. I admired her strength and persistence while still seeing how she was flawed and needed to grow. She was such a real feeling character, I was just obsessed with reading about her life. I felt like I was Circe’s number one fan and supporter right from the beginning. She was betrayed and stepped on often, but she was also sometimes the one doing the harm. Through it all, she grew into such a wise and caring character that I loved completely.