The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

 

"I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world."

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, is a retelling of Homer's Iliad. The story is narrated by Patroclus, a young prince who is nothing that a prince should be, undersized and seemingly untalented in every way, he begins his life as his father's disappointment. After another child dies, Patroclus is sentenced to exile; sent to live out the rest of his childhood in King Peleus' household as an orphan being trained for war. 

Young prince Achilles, is Patroclus' polar opposite. The son of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, he is his father's honor and the pride of his kingdom. He is beautiful, bold and brilliant, destined by Fate to be "the best of the Greeks," doted on by all who meet him. Everyone wants to be his friend, but Achilles only has eyes for one.

So let me start by saying this book is not at all what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a YA novel. It's not not a young adult novel? Depends on what your young adults are reading, I guess. It was way steamier than I thought it was going to be, certainly steamier than what I would have picked for myself as a young adult, but not necessarily pornographic. "Tastefully seductive" is how I would describe it.

I would also describe it as beautifully written. Patroclus was an excellent choice of narrator; a young boy who feels very much on the outside looking in, is deeply relatable. We've all felt like that at some point in our lives. With a narrator so easy to sympathize with, his first hand account of growing up in Ancient Greece in combination with the Gods and Goddesses who interfered in the peoples' day to day lives, gave the story a day-dream like quality.

Patroclus and Achilles begin their story in childhood with the mischievous arrogance of little boys, and the sweet naivety of new friendship. King Peleus is surprised by the unlikely friendship, but ultimately supportive. Thetis is offended by their companionship; Achilles is bound for glory and she views Patroclus's mortality and character as potentially tarnishing to her son's golden reputation. Achilles is accustomed to getting what he wants and he won't be denied.

The two boys grow are eventually sent to train with Chiron the centaur on medicine and war. There they grow into teenagers, passionate and carefree. There their bond grows deeper, they grow closer. Isolated from the rest of the world, they can't imagine a day when they will ever be parted.

Then Helen of Sparta is kidnapped.

Patroclus is called to fulfill an oath he made as a child and Achilles to is called to fulfill his destiny.

This book has a lot of elements that will speak to a lot of readers. Courage in the face of self-doubt. True love tested by the Fates and war, threatened by pride and ego. A relationship threatened by a mother who thinks she knows best. Madeline Miller carefully crafts and tracks evolution of characters; who they are at the beginning is not who they are at the end...They grow not like sentences on paper but like living flesh turning into the legends they were destined to become. But no matter how they grow, they still belong to each other. 

And in the end, like in life, tragedy brings out the humanity (the best of it and worst of it) in everyone. 

From the foot soldiers to the Gods.

5 Stars.