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ClareR (6134 KP) rated Daughters of Sparta in Books

May 21, 2023

Daughters of Sparta

Claire Heywood | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I had read The Shadow of Perseus first, so I knew what to expect from Daughters of Sparta, and I also knew that I was going to love it!

First of all, these books read as historical fiction, NOT as myths. There are no gods or goddesses intervening in the lives of mortals, messing it all up. The mortals are all perfectly capable of doing that themselves.

Secondly, the women are strong in the context of the time they live in, not by our modern standards. Women were completely reliant on their husbands and families; sold off to the men who would most benefit their fathers. As is the case with Klytemnestra (spelt with a ‘K’ here, but it can be a ‘C’ as well!) and Helen.

To be fair, both women have a lot about them. Klytemnestra commits the ultimate two fingered salute to her husband, and Helen removes herself from the possibility of dying in childbirth. There’s also the fact that Helen seems to be constantly searching for affection and love. Denied both by her mother, she doesn’t get those things from her husband either, probably because they never get to know one another. And Paris certainly doesn’t show her love or affection once they get to Troy. She must feel supremely uncomfortable around the other women in Troy once the Greeks turn up and start killing all of their husbands.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Greek myths where the gods are involved, but I really like this version too. Really very enjoyable, I raced through this book. I’m hoping that Claire Heywood has another retelling in the pipeline!

Kudos

BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Supernatural in TV

Sep 5, 2017

Supernatural

2005 | Drama

8.8

(76 Ratings)

TV Show Rating Watch

Monsters and Man pain

Supernatural for me is really hard to rate because personally, I break it up into two:
Season 1-5 are pure just amazing the monsters of the week are all just as interesting as the main plot that starts to build-up near the end of season 1. The writers found such an amazing balance between myths and character development that you just get hooked so fast and they stay so strong for five season which is pretty hard to do in my opinion.

Now season 6 - current is an entirely different story while not completely terrible and some of the seasons being pretty good as a whole I feel like they really lost their footing after season 5 and just never really recovered all the way.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Superman (1978) in Movies

Feb 20, 2018

Superman (1978)

1978 | Action, Drama

8.6

(39 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The first blockbuster superhero movie is still one of the best, treating its subject matter as one of the great American myths (and quite right too). Benevolent father-figure somewhere in the sky sends his only son to Earth, to do good deeds with his special powers and inspire people by his example (religious subtext is not laboured, thankfully).

Not especially like the Superman comics of the time, but a classy, charming movie all the same, performed by a charismatic and rather eclectic cast. Third-billed Christopher Reeve was instantly type-cast as Superman, but then Superman was also type-cast as Christopher Reeve for many years afterwards. The ending is somewhat confused but the movie's depiction of Superman himself is so very nearly perfect that it earns itself a pass on this.

Kudos

David McK (3770 KP) rated Clash of the Titans (2010) in Movies

Dec 18, 2019

Clash of the Titans (2010)

2010 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

6.3

(17 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Remake/reimagining of the 1981 original, I remember the big thing about this at the time as the special effects. Or, rather, the post-production 3D effects added released, as this was, only a few short years after James Cameras na exceptional 'Avatar'. Whereas 'Avatar', however, was filmed specifically in and for 3D, this film owes more of a debt to the older 1980s 3D films: watching this in 2D it's quite obvious to see what scenes were added specifically for the effects (I'm thinking mainly of the attack of the giant scorpions, or the Kraken at the end),

Starring Sam Worthingon - whatever happened to him? - as Perseus, the plot of this obviously takes inspiration from Greek myths, even down to having Liam Neeson playing the part of Zeus himself, and of the Pegasus.