Reviews - The Song of Achilles

108k reviews for:

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

4.35 AVERAGE

hopelopez's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

toribeemakes's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nautilusxo's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The more I think about this book, the more I like it, which says a lot because I went through a deep dive in a book club just now!

At first, I really just did not vibe with it, but boy oh boy, does it really heat up, especially at about 150 pages in, and it capitalizes on the setup in a really satisfying way. With big themes like free will v. predestination, empathy and love v. fame and glory, what's not to like? Having not read Homer's classics, I really loved this interpretation and the setting of the Trojan War regardless.

I thought that the writing style was gorgeous in some places and pretty clunky in others. I think it was maybe due to the verb tense? Not sure. Overall, great read!