The Song of Achilles Book Review

Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog! Today, I am back with another book reivew. This book has been on my TBR for years. I tried reading it years ago too, but for some reason I lost interest and stopped less than 100 pages in. But then I saw it on Kindle Unlimited and knew this was the time to read it. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. So, let's get into it!

In The Song of Achilles, we follow Patroculus as he’s exiled from his kingdom. He has been sent to the kingdom of Phthia where he meets a young Achilles. Achilles is the golden child of the king, adored by all, and said to become the greatest warrior of his generation. The two strike up an unlikely friendship. As they grow older and closer together, the lines of friendship begin to blur.

But tragedy strikes when word spreads as Helen of Troy is captured. This starts a 10-year war that Patroculus and Achilles are forced to fight in. This then brings about Achilles prophecy that if he fights in the war, he will die. He will die a great warrior. Patroculus will do whatever he can to protect Achilles, but how far is too far?

Everyone who has ever read this book has said it was sad and believe them because this book was heartbreaking. I feel like a good bit of us reading the book know what happens to Achilles. We know it’s a tragedy and that we will not be getting a happy ending.

For me, once Patroculus and Achilles meet, I feel like the book really moves along. I love seeing their friendship develop. I also really liked young Achilles. He never seemed to pay much attention to the warrior prophecy, at least when he was younger. By that I mean, it didn’t seem to loom over his head, it wasn’t a constant thought of him, and he wasn’t very into his status as a prince. As a reader, you’re rooting for him the entire time. You want him to be the greatest warrior, you want him to be with Patroculus forever, you want him to have a happy ending.

Overall, I thought the pacing of the story was perfect. Not too long and not too short. It was about 350 pages. The ending was terribly sad, but I would say once they reach the island to prepare for war you automatically have this impending sense of doom.

I gave this 4/5 stars. I would highly recommend especially if you liked Greek mythology. Madeline Miller has other Greek mythology-based books as well! One titled, Circe which I really want to read.

Alright folks, that is all I have for this week! Come back next Wednesday for another blog post. As always, thank you for reading :)