Book & Audiobook Review: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

5/5 stars

Read for:
-#StartOnYourShelfathon
-Boybandathon

Content Warnings: Violence, war, death, exile, complicated parental relationships, discussions of rape, and kidnapping in the name of war

Official Goodreads Synopsis: Achilles, “the best of all the Greeks,” son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods’ wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to 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 cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

I’m not even sure if words can express how much I loved this book. I read it two different ways (kindle and audiobook) because I wanted to be able to consume it whenever I wanted. I’ve always been into Greek and Roman mythology. I’ve consumed The Odyssey and The Iliad several times and took whatever classes I could for it in college. That being said, I have no idea why it took me so long to pick this masterpiece up. I’ve heard great things about it, but I just never got around to it I guess. Well there’s no time like the present right?

I’m sure you know the story of Achilles and if you don’t let me give you a quick replay: Achilles was the greatest of his time. Built and bred for war, he was known as the greatest among the Greeks. His mother was Thetis, a minor sea goddess and his father was a king, though the two were not in love. Thetis has no love for mortals and so she only returned once a year to check on her son who she was determined to make a legend and immortal. There are a lot of myths surrounding Achilles supposed invincibility. The truth was, originally, Achilles wasn’t invincible, he was just agile, quick, and talented. There’s a myth about his heel (the Achilles’ heel) that says his mother blessed and dipped his body so that no harm would be able to come to him. The only part of him that could be heeled was his heel in the spot where Thetis held him to be dipped. That myth doesn’t come along until later (as Madeline Miller points out at the end) so it’s not a factor in his story here, which is fine. Achilles was still a force to be reckoned with. When it came time for the Greeks to take on the Trojans, of course they wanted Achilles in their midst. He was destined for this great glory, though the gods prophesied that should Achilles take on this task, he would gain fame and glory, but die young. That did not deter him and he indeed fought with the Greeks in the Trojan War only to, spoiler alert, die at the end. Listen….someone may think this a spoiler buuuuuuut the story of Achilles has been around for awhile so yeah, bomb dropped.

What you may not know about Achilles is his faithful companion Patroclus. He’s been portrayed as his friend, his cousin, his sidekick, but Madeline Miller dared to bring us the truth: PATROCLUS WAS HIS LOVER AND THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE. What I love about this novel was that it wasn’t told through or by Achilles. We already know his story, it’s been told. This is the story of Patroclus and how he discovered Achilles and by doing so, discovered himself. Patroclus was the young son of a king, a prince in his own right, but he was quiet, shy, and as far as his father and others are concerned, weak. After defending himself against someone, the other person ends up dead and Patroclus becomes an exile, sent to Achilles’s father’s kingdom. He hopes to just fly under the radar, but Achilles has different plans.

Seeing everything through Patroclus’s eyes was breath taking. Or maybe it was the way that Madeline described it that made it so breath taking. The writing in this novel was like poetry in motion. We weren’t just watching a love story unfold or seeing a greek tragedy come to fruition, we were seeing both happen at the same time. The love and the tragedy that is Achilles and Patroclus are one in the same, intertwined even when those around them didn’t want them to be. Even as they knew what they felt and how they were together may not have been what was expected, the basked in every moment that they could. Achilles was shown as more than just a war machine, but an unsure and naive teenager thrust into a world he didn’t completely understand all because it was supposed to be his fate. And then there was Patroclus, thrust right along side him, not because he had to be, but because he wanted to be. And you know, I know, we all know, how this story ends and what happens, but that didn’t stop me from bawling my eyes out as I was reading. Watching Patroclus and Achilles grow apart because the latter was becoming someone completely different, watching Patroclus trying to save him from himself and then only causing his own death was….HEART-BREAKING. Knowing that this happens doesn’t take away from the story because it’s a story that’s been told over and over again. I’ve read it. I know what happens. What was different wasn’t how it ended, but how it was told and the emotions that were placed in the words. This was a story of love and tragedy influenced by war, not a story about war itself.

I just…I’m still not over it and I don’t know if I’ll ever be.