The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller a new favourite

 

Do you like Mythology? Beautiful writing? Complex characters? Heart-wrenching romance? Books that will emotionally destroy and/or potentially trigger a depressive spiral within you?

If you answered yes to any of these questions do I have the book for you!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles is possibly my favourite book I've read so far this year and had been added to my list of favourite books of all time, as soon as I finished it (after I eventually stopped crying) I bought myself a copy for my shelves, because I needed to have a copy that I can reread, annotate and make everyone I know read. The book follows the lives and relationship between Achilles a demigod and our protagonist: his companion and other half Patroclus an exiled prince, from their childhoods to their tragic ends. I went into The Song of Achilles knowing the basic story and the ending but somehow it still managed to demolish me so fully that I'm still recovering, and throughout the book have me hoping that it wouldn't end how I knew it would. So even if you know the story trust me it's still a compelling read.

Though Madeline Miller's writing is beautiful while also being very readable and the story is a classic, where I think she thrives best is with her characters. All her characters are fully formed and believable, with realistic motivators and massive, relatable flaws, their decisions make sense even if you are shouting at the pages that they are making a mistake and while the cast of characters is quite vast they are differentiable and their connections to other characters though complex are followable.

The book covers themes of honour, pride and legacy along with fate, control, selfhood and responsibility. It is a book that relies heavily on emotion, characters relationships and at its core: love so if that is not something you seek in books it might not be your bag but as someone who enjoys periodically destroying themself it was right up my alley.

Trigger Warnings:

Blood, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny , Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Homophobia, Animal death, Child death, and Infidelity