Review – Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 389 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Release Date: March 6, 2012
ASIN: B006IE2IO8
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Free for Kindle through Amazon Prime
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’ mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.”
I’ve had this book on my wishlist for a while and was excited to read it. This was a good read. It’s an interesting retelling of Achilles’ life. The story is very engaging and easy to read. The story goes through Achilles’ life but mainly focuses on his relationship with the exiled prince Patroclus.
Seeing the rise and fall of Archilles through Patroclus’s eyes was intriguing and heartbreaking all at once. I love Greek mythology and took a bunch of classes on it in college, so a lot of this story was familiar to me. It was fun to see this put into a format that is more accessible for a large audience though.
My only issue with this book was that the writing felt a bit stiff and the language a bit simple to me. At points the book really lacks in description and makes it hard to picture things. That being said, I think these factors also made it a very quick and easy read.
Overall I enjoyed this and will probably read “Circe” as well since that’s been on my wishlist for some time too. Miller does a great job of weaving an engaging tale that is very accessible to everyone (even people who aren’t all that into Greek mythology).
