Title The Song of Achilles Series --- Author Madeline Miller Cover Art Allison Salztman Publisher HarperCollins - 2012 First Printing HarperCollins - 2012 Category Mythology Warnings None Main Characters Patroclus, Achilles Main Elements Gods

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful - irresistable to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from this 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.

Back in January I read The Iliad. I'll admit I wasn't too impressed with Achilles, instead of coming off as a noble warrior he behaved more like a spoiled child who didn't get what he want so he didn't want to play with others anymore. I know that honour was important and his honour had been walked all over by Agamemnon, but it didn't seem reason enough to let everyone else die out of spite.

Achilles isn't all that different in this novel, after all Miller used all her years of research to write as accurate a tale as possible. But instead of giving the hero the staring role she chose to make Achilles' companion, Patroclus, to be the narrator. I found that to have been the perfect choice because truth was, I didn't want to be in Achilles head, but to see him through the eyes of someone who loved him, who at the same time acknowledged his faults, made for a very pleasurable read.

Miller's writing was beautiful, I probably would have loved the book even if I didn't care for the characters or the plot (which of course I did), just because of the wonderful language. I wanted to rush through it, not put it down I enjoyed it so much, but I forced myself to slow down, to savour it.

She also made the Greek gods scary. I'm used to Rick Riodan's humourous take on the divine, but Thetis was absolutely scary. You are reminded they the gods were not just humans with super powers, they were entirely not human, didn't think like us, and for the most part, didn't care much for us, content to cause people all sorts of horrific ills if they were even slightly offended.

Now, it was unclear in The Iliad if Patroclus was in fact Achilles lover. He probably was at one point, as it was common for young Greeks to "experiment" but they were usually expected to take wives as they grew up. But if you've read The Iliad, you'd realized that Achilles' reaction to Patroclus' death was rather over the top. Sure, he felt guilty because Patroclus died where Achilles refused to act, but the guy wouldn't eat or sleep, he wouldn't even let the body be buried because he didn't want to be parted from it. And when he killed the man that killed Patroclus, he would tie his body to his chariot and drag it around the camp...day after day after day. I mean we're talking about taking this rather personally considering you are at war and people were dying by the heapfuls, and in fact Achilles stood by and even asked his mother to cause many of those heapfuls. So obviously Patroclus was something special to him.

I did worry because as I got towards the end of the book, I knew Patroclus, our narrator, would die. And for what it's worth, I knew that Achilles too would die (this is a several thousand year old spoiler, if you didn't already know...) so how would the book wrap up. But Miller found a way, even changing the tone of the writing just slightly, giving it an otherworldly feel. And yes, I probably did tear up a bit.

So often books with a lot of hype turn out to be disappointments. In fact my previous experience with Achilles convinced me to just borrow this from the library. But with 18 people on the waiting list, I decided fine, I'd buy it, and it was worth the investment, not sure I could have brought myself to give the library book back. I have Circe on my to-read pile, my standards are going to be incredibly high for it, will be hard to meet, so we will see! If Miller continues to write more books based on Mythology, I will definitely be snapping them up as they are published.