Author: Madeline Miller
# of Pages: 369 (ebook)
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: The legend begins... Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
Review: I finally understand the hype.
I was reluctant to read this book because I already read Miller's more recent book Circe (which was also hyped up) and thought it was...just okay. I wasn't a huge fan of how she balanced the original mythology and the fictional aspect (I actually wanted MORE of the fictionalized aspect), and Circe isn't a particularly likable nor interesting person.
ON THE OTHER HAND, The Song of Achilles has a VERY likable main character. Don't be fooled by the title, the narrator is Patroclus, Achilles's close companion (and likely lover according to the actual mythology). While Patroclus is relatively unknown (I didn't know who he was at all) and comes of as meek and uninteresting as Circe in the beginning, the reader will see that he's just a really well-intended, caring person, and faithful companion to Achilles.
I didn't know how Achilles's nor Patroclus's stories ended, and even though the ending is intentionally predictable, I was flying through this book on the edge of my seat praying for a good ending for this duo. The start of the book is way more romance heavy than I expected from Miller's writing, but this was exactly what I was hoping for so it's was very pleasant read.
The middle portion, or whenever Miller went into recounting war events/logistic/politics that are necessary for staying true to the mythology, went a bit slower for me. This is why this book is getting 4 stars instead of 5; for both Circe and The Song of Achilles, there's aspects of the myth's retelling the read more like a nonfiction recounting of events rather than something the reader can be immersed in (aka good fictional storytelling).
However, this was less of a problem in The Song of Achilles since Miller included more fictional aspects in the book (or at least I presume) with many interactions between Achilles and Patroclus (which I doubt the original myths wasted their time with). I blazed through the last half, and it wasn't even as romance focused; it was just a really gripping, fast paced story.
Achilles and Patroclus's story reminds me of the second-to-last song from the musical Hadestown (retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice) where even though we know the ending of the Greek mythology stories, we want to tell them again and again because they are so hopeful, even if they may end in tragedy. The Song of Achilles is no exception to this; I feel like sad and hopeful at the same time after finishing this book but loved the journey it took me through.
This is a solid if not high 4 star read; I would highly recommend!
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