What a horrifically beautiful thought experiment. I was a frog, lured into the pot by a weird premise and funny moments in the beginning, enjoying the water like a bath as it warmed up with an interesting plot and engaging mystery, completely at ease until I realized too late I've been boiled alive but am still somehow conscious, my brain a pile of mush floating around and becoming the stew. I'm in love with this book that melted my brain, dissolving what I thought I knew and changing the way I perceive life moving forward, as a liquified frog. You know that meme of two people on the bus, one on the left looking sad in the dark with a view of a rock wall saying something like, "nothing I do matters so what's the point" and the other on the right looking happy with a beautiful view and the sun shining saying like, "nothing I do matters so I get to decide what the point is"? For me, this book revealed a third perspective on this bus — someone who recognizes it doesn't matter which side of the bus you are on or how you feel about either side, because regardless you're on the bus and you aren't driving so you don't get to decide the destination. A great poet once claimed, "Life's what you make it so let's make it rock," but I would argue life is going to be what it is, regardless, and whether we feel like it's rocking or not the band is going to play. Does it even matter if anything matters? When you're serving your short stay in hell, that's up to you to decide. So I guess, in the end, I broke rule number 9, but I've decided that was the point.

Many seek power externally. Circe teaches us there is an untapped well within, and if we can learn to recognize and harness that power, often by simply shifting our perception, we can truly free ourselves from any fate we haven't chosen for ourselves. I didn't realize how much I truly needed this story in my life until it was over, and if I had I would have tried to immerse myself more in the experience — reading while listening, highlighting and annotating along the way, the works. The writing is beautiful, the audiobook truly brings it to life, and the lessons it offers are priceless. If you are feeling trapped or stuck in a rut, at the mercy of life itself instead of its captain, read this book.