3.75 stars

Thank you @womensprize for sending me a copy of Circe to review the shortlist! I really enjoyed this one, even if it didn’t become a new favourite as I maybe hoped. May has been a weird month of work so I think that’s been affecting my perceptions of the books I’ve been reading. For instance, Circe is only 337 pages but the last 100 felt like they dragged a bit.
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Maybe that has something to do with the timeline the story spans though! As Circe is an immortal nymph, so literally thousands of years pass during these 337 pages. At some points I felt like you know when a toddler is trying to tell you a story? And then Circe met this fisherman and then she did this and then she was banished and then she learnt this and then she became a witch and then and then and then 😂 Don’t get wrong, I did enjoy the journey, just 1000 years is a long time to try to condense into a book.
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I also loved Circe as a character. I enjoyed Achilles and Patroclus in Miller’s other book so I knew I’d like her female character even more, and she didn’t disappoint. My favourite parts were Circe on her island, discovering the magnitude of her powers and accepting herself for who she was - plus the badassery that comes after 🐷
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Miller’s style is easy to get into I think, and she writes elegantly so it was a joy to read stylistically, and maybe my issue with the pacing is simply that I’m not used to these Greek epics! I learned quite a lot about different myths, legends and gods too, always a plus since I’ll probably never read the actual Greek myths 🙊
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Overall an enjoyable, sprawling read that I probably would have enjoyed even more had I been in a better headspace!