Etcetera OG ✎ COMPLETE

; 'the song of achilles' book review (sort of)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

                  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.

                  The Song of Achilles was published in 2011 by Madeline Miller. I heard about it for the first time halfway through 2014, but I didn't get my hands on a copy until December of 2015. After reading the book in one sitting, less than 16 hours, I can tell you that waiting so long to purchase it was genuinely a tragedy and I may never recover (from both waiting this long to read it and also actually reading it).

                   I've never been a big fan of historical fiction, so I'm constantly surprised by how quickly I fell in love with this work of art. From the very first couple chapters, I was hooked. Patroclus was obviously an underdog right away, even before there were many other characters to outshine him, and all I wanted was for things to get better for him.

                  Enter in Achilles, a character so beautiful that I didn't have to see a picture of him to know it. It was no wonder that Patroclus was as drawn to him as everyone else was, and he has green eyes. When I found that out, I knew I was a goner.

                  But listen, here's the thing. It was a big deal for me when I discovered that Achilles had green eyes, because do you know who else has green eyes? Harry Styles. Can I tell you why this is a big deal? Because I remember reading once online (in 2014 when I'd heard of the book for the very first time on ask.fm) that someone read The Song of Achilles as a Larry Stylinson alternate universe fanfiction. So when I opened the book to finally read it for myself, I figured that thinking of it as a Larry fanfic would help me get into it more easily since I knew I didn't like historical fiction. And I wanted more than anything to like this book enough to finish it.

                  Let me assure you: it does not read as a Larry fanfic, and I'm so glad that that was the case. When I read that Achilles had green eyes, I realized that up until that point I had completely forgotten that I was going to pretend Achilles and Patroclus were Larry, which meant that Miller's characters were so strong on their own. There was no way I could read that book as a Larry fanfiction, and I'm endlessly confused about how that one person did.

                  It's also very difficult for me to do this book review without giving away spoilers, because all I want to talk about are things that I want you to be able to read for yourself and experience without me giving anything away, so I think what I'm going to do here is list the reasons why you should buy and read this book if you have not already. I also always love a good list.

01. WRITING STYLE