Madeline Miller needs 2 give Mary Renault’s estate a cut of her Song of Achilles check because girl……

This was a free audiobook and I didn’t read any synopsis before diving in because I needed something on in the background while I’m doing this paint job. The cover was giving YA reverse little mermaid. And I — i …is she gonna fuck this fish????? Is this where we are?? No judgement—I’ve read many a Ruby Dixon—but third person POV is just so rare for this genre that I was unprepared and my paintbrush paused in mid-air as some GILL fingering action just KEPT PLAYING. Lowkey tho…the male narrator is giving the performance OF A LIFETIME. 10/10 EATING these lines up

Arden can pull off historical fiction and fantasy splendidly, but she is sTUMBLING through this romance. I think it's partly to do with how hollow the characters are? I can't help but compare Anne to the fascinating Vasya of Arden's previous trilogy, and she's just so...bland. Beautiful and virtuously self-sacrificing and intelligent and a duchess and everyone loooveeess her--really? Where's the sauce!!!?? I am vaguely aware that Anne is a real historical figure so that could be why Arden is so hesitant to take risks with her.

I've also read too many corny 'cozy' fantasies to be wooed by a suspiciously intelligent cat named Butter. You're a hollow set piece. A disney sidekick engineered to sell merch to children, crouched in the vast vast pawprints of superior magical cats (of which there are so, so many that it's basically a cliche). It's like when Frozen 2 had like three different animals to bank off of Olaf's success.

If anyone is thinking of reading this as an audiobook, dont ❤️ The narrator dramatizes sentences with strange and irregular pauses, especially towards the end of chapters, which is making this experience all the more obnoxious lol

U know when ur reading a book and realize “ha yeah this is going to stick with me forever”…oh god…KATHERINE.