Three Reasons to read Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe has taken the book world by storm in the year since its release. Everywhere I turn I see it advertised on Instagram, blogs, and placed on must-read shelves in bookstores. This is another beautiful Greek myth retelling focusing on the sorceress Circe from the Odyssey. If you are in the mood for a spellbinding story or you want to read another series featuring the Greek gods, you should pick this one up.


1. The Writing

The writing was my favorite part of this book. If I had one word to describe it, the word would be: enchanting. If you enjoy lyrical writing that is filled to the brim with quotable lines, then you will fall head over heels for this one. This story is a love letter to life, to endurance, and to embracing your identity, flaws included. Circe is very much a character driven book, but that does not mean it lacks a solid and captivating plot. As with all good Greek stories, there is a healthy dose of vengeance, magic, and godly interference. Madeline Miller writes Circe's island home in lush description and rich detail, filling it with wonder and magic. I am adding it to the list of fictional places I wish I could visit because it seems so alluring and peaceful. 

2. Greek Mythology Re-characterized 

Like many people my age, I fell in love with Greek mythology when I first read the Percy Jackson series as a child. I have always been intrigued by the story of Circe, a goddess and witch who was banished into isolation. This is Circe's story and hers alone. Don't expect to learn the entire anthology of Greek myths in these pages--but expect to be enveloped in them as if you were part of those intertwining tales. You witness the age-old stories unfold through the eyes of Circe and her perspective is as compelling as it can be isolating. Although she is banished to her island for a good part of the book, many of the classic heroes find their way to her and she herself is connected by family or by friend to many of the other figures such as Daedalus and his son, Icarus. 

Circe is no distant god who barely grasps the meaning of mortality. She holds more humanity within her than many of the humans she encounters. But what I love most is how Madeline Miller gives Circe a voice when she was previously just a banished evil witch who appears in other men's journey's as a plot device or a villain, but never as her own person with her own story to tell. What Madeline Miller did best was re-characterizing and reshaping Greek mythology without changing it. She stays true to the original material while simultaneously creating a new, more complex story. She doesn't alter the face of mythology, just enhances it.

3. Magic, Witches, and Spells, oh my!

If you know anything about me, you know that fantasy is my all-time favorite genre. If I had to choose only one genre of books to read for the rest of my life, fantasy is what I would choose. As such, I am a sucker for any story featuring some sort of sorcery. Circe is a powerful witch who wields her spells as if they are an extension of her. At times she is a lonely, outraged woman who seeks revenge and violence, and at others she is a kind, quiet soul who wants nothing more than to love and be loved in return. But through it all she has an unbreakable strength and persistence. Madeline Miller crafts Circe into a tangible person, someone with weaknesses and faults but also power and compassion. If you can't already tell, I loved her and think that she might be the most human character I have ever read.

but it isn't perfect

As much as I wanted to love Circe wholeheartedly and proclaim to the world that I had a new favorite book, I have to face a simple fact: no book is perfect. I adored this book and Circe as a character, but there are always a few flaws. The pacing was off at times, moving slowly in the last half and a bit too quickly at the very end. I also didn't find the story quite as gripping as I expected and was almost constantly aware of the fact that I was reading a story rather than falling into it as if I were living it.

rating

Publication Date: April 10th, 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 393
Genre: Fantasy
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. 

Have you read Circe? What did you think?