A short peek of the whole story (Disclaimer, this whole summary is a spoiler if you haven’t read the book) -
Circe is the story of the daughter of a titan. The sun-god Helios and ocean nymph Perse. The story starts with the introduction of Circe’s birth, a few glimpses of the titan and Olympians. Circe’s brothers and sisters and other such undying divinity. We also witness the great brutal punishment to Prometheus. Circe’s love for her brother Aeëtes, her other brother and sister Pasiphaë, and Perses degrading her at every opportunity. Her lover glaucus and glaucus’s lover Scylla.
And that was just her life before the island. Circe does witchcraft for the first time. God getting afraid of her power exile her to the island Αἰαία. Where she learns and discovers her power much more.
Sometime later she recognizes that in the abonnement she feels the most freed. Later she meets the master craftsman Daedalus, the messenger Olympian god Hermes. Many sailors with ill thoughts and empty stomachs come to Αἰαία whom Circe welcomes dearly, feeds them, fills their empty cups, and still, everyone and every time they attack her, try to rape her to protect herself she transforms them into pigs.
Every sailor, every man who came to the island would be eating food at Circe’s table and attack her afterwards, except for one man, Odysseus. He one of the most well-known Greek heroes, who played a major role in the war of Troy with his idea of the trojan horse.
Odysseus like every other people who come to Αἰαία, leave after a year. Soon Circe gives birth to his son. Circe names her and Odysseus son Telegonos. Athena wants to kill Telegonos. Stubborn and determined Circe makes spells and incantations to protect her son at all costs and for the next sixteen years, she does.
Then Telegonos after his sixteenth year wants to see the world beyond the island and meet his father. Putting a boulder over her heart she lets her son get far away from the island to meet his father.
Soon after Telegonos arrives with the worst announcement that his father died. And he is extremely guilty. And with him, he also brings Odysseus’s wife Penelope and his son Telemachus.
Sometime later Telegonos lives the island Αἰαία and Circe to rule an empire. Telemachus declines the offer of immortality(eternal fame) and he and Circe unite and finally, she transforms herself into a mortal.
All the characters mentioned in the book were only a drop in the vast ocean of Circe’s life. They are there and then they are not, their existence isn’t emphasized or underside. It is for us to infer as we like, whether to see them as an important character or an evil character in her story, or just a chapter of her life.
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I have heard a bit about Circe before and had the opportunity to read it prominently in Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. Where Circe transforms Percy into a guinea pig.
If you are a fan of greek mythology or if you are a fan of Percy Jackson books like me then you would enjoy this book. There are so many references to important incidents which I had read in the Percy Jackson series and I was able to pinpoint them and it made my reading of this book even more fun.
The writing style of this book is truly a masterpiece alone.
Circe’s life on the island is relevant in a way that it teaches us, that sometimes once in a while we should also just go lost in the wild and find ourselves.
How Circe dives into her hidden power and discovers more and more about witchcraft had a great lesson. She was alone on the island without anything, no guidance, no books to help her discover her true self. But she does it anyway, she touches every flower, groove, root, stem, tree on the island, she learns about witchcraft, spells, draught, pastes on her own. And she becomes more and more powerful every day.
Alone on the island, she finds companionship with lions and wolves, I enjoyed this particular part of her living with animals a lot.
I didn’t think much at the moment. My dearest friend was reading Circe and she said, Richa you should read this book. It was on my reading list and finally, I read this beautiful book. Saying I am in awe of this book would an understatement.
This book was magical in literally and figurative terms. It was enriching, divine, soothing, surprising and brilliant and so much more. I loved everything about this book.
Its writing style was as if it was a very long ago memory, heard in bits and pieces from here and there. I always remember the stories I heard and especially the ones I have read. But the most strange thing about this book was that I was already forgetting all the things I was reading. I believe that’s the style of this book unlike any other.
This book was like a travelling van with the most exotic food, you would eat from the van, and the food would taste like nothing you have ever tasted, in the best way. The van is not advertising itself or doing any show-offs cause it knows its worth. And once you have had the food the van goes away and you never find it. It’s only there in your memory and sometimes years later you wonder if that van was even real or something your memories conjured.
I am surprised at how much I loved this story. It is one of its kind.
It’s whimsical…
It’s magical…
It’s breathtaking…
It’s revolutionary
It’s all, and it’s in one book.
It’s one of those books that everyone’s should have on their bookshelf. If not for reading then surely for its beautiful cover.
I hope you try this book I promise you are gonna fall in love with it. It’s an impactful book.