Circe
By Madeline Miller
Genre: Fantasy
Recommended For: Ages 17+ and Greek mythology fanatics
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.
The Gist:
Circe is an empowering story based on the Circe character from Greek mythology and Homer’s Odyssey. In Miller’s retelling, we meet a more dynamic force in the heroine, who is overflowing with examples of how to discover your own strength and value as an independent woman and finding confidence in who you are, not who people tell you you should be. Throughout the book, we see a shy, unimportant nymph turn into a powerful witch and strong woman. Miller did an excellent job revitalizing and crafting the character of Circe and giving the goddess more depth and complexity. At times the story lagged and felt burdened with stories and characters that felt unnecessary, but all in all it was a mesmerizing book and an intriguing look into a story we thought we all knew.
What I Liked:
From the beginning, Miller’s elegant way of telling a story drew me in. Her words felt musical in a way, like I was listening to a song at times more than reading words on a page. Her descriptions of setting and internal emotions made everything in the story seem brighter and more vivid.
Circe is really a story about a woman discovering herself and her abilities and learning to depend only on herself. We get to read about the moment Circe discovers she even had magical powers and watch her learn to use them and suffer the consequences of using them to hurt other people. But we also see what she learns from those experiences and how she uses them to grow stronger. It’s a feminist retelling without being in your face. At the end of the novel I felt like I could do anything. I truly was inspired to be more confident in my own abilities and who I am. I love the empowered feeling you have as a woman after reading this book.
As with lots of retellings from the typical villain’s point of view, I worried the justification for her actions (turning men into pigs, from the Odyseey) would come across as forced and like Miller was trying to push Circe being the real good one down our throats. But that wasn’t the case. I thought Miller handled all of Circe’s actions and the reasons behind them with tact, in a way that was relatable and not overdone. Miller also was able to extract tiny details from Homer’s story about Odysseus and use them as a thread that wove naturally through the beautiful tapestry she painted in the story.
I love Greek Mythology. It fascinates me. So having this story so rich and full of it made it particularly enjoyable for me. And Miller manages to insert bits of they mythology seamlessly into Circe’s story in a way that adds drama and tension but also doesn’t stick out as if it’s out of place.
What I Didn’t Like:
Even with the fascinating Greek mythology and relatable goddess Circe, the story still felt slow in parts. At times, it felt like Miller was trying to jam too much Greek mythology into the story to engage readers. Familiar faces and stories were introduced throughout the book that didn’t appear to contribute to the main plot and storyline, which made parts of the story feel heavy with unnecessary characters and events.
Related to the paragraph above, because so many characters were introduced throughout Circe’s journey, a lot of them get glossed over and suffer from under-development. Famous names we recognize are mentioned but never contribute much to the story, so as a reader, I was left feeling unsatisfied with one-dimensional characters. I would have preferred them not be mentioned at all so I could concentrate on the characters I did care about.
LunasLuckyRating: 4/5 Lunas
