I am astounded by this book. What Madeline Miller has achieved in a mere 389 pages is shocking, considering both the scope of time and plot. In the pantheon of Greek mythology, Circe's prominence is few and far between. She is given brief cameos in The Odyssey and pops up in other various versions of mythological history - in all, she is the feared witch, an exile, plotting and scheming. Miller gives Circe an epic of her own, stretching her character far beyond the muddled confines of her former place in myth. Miller has shown us a Circe that is dynamic, intelligent, self-loathing, confident, and so utterly, completely human. The book is almost episodic in nature, passing through the moments in mythological history where she meets with other famous figures like Daedalus, the Minotaur, and of course, Odysseus. And yet, the story does not revolve solely around these episodes. We watch Circe grow up, and Miller's writing of this is truly what astounds me so much. The book spans literally thousands of years, but Circe's growth and maturation feels real, natural. The woman we leave at the end of the book is not the same nymph child she was at the outset, and it feels like we have grown along with her. This story is partly about gender, mostly about power, and fully about what it is to be human. Miller upends the bards' songs and legends, showing the gods in their true, childlike forms - selfish, egomaniacal, and cruel. She plants Circe as a direct foil to them: the goddess who hates her own divinity, with a human voice and empathy for humans. And in seeing this empathy, we come to empathize with Circe, as well. Though she is thousands of years old, her struggles and her griefs are real, and she is a fully dimensional character. Miller's prose is so incredibly beautiful and lyrical. Her writing upholds the integrity of the original myths while maintaining a level of accessibility and readability - and in no way does this downplay her skill with words. This is a beautiful story, and I have now come to love Circe, potentially almost as much as Miller herself does.