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A review by danny_fox
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Hahahhahahahahahhaha, I still have a headache from crying, help me.
Ahem, anyway, uhhhh, imma just get to my review, doing it same as always, 3 things I liked and 3 I didn't. This one might be a bit messier, cause I'm still recovering from this book and I cannot think.
What I liked:
- The writing style is absolutely beautiful! I had so much fun reading this book, admiring the way it was written. I was so fascinated by the author's way of writing, the way she uses comparisons and describes things, absolutely beautiful.
- The story and the characters were really fun. All the characters had interesting personalities, they didn't feel flat and the author rewrote the story in a way that made the characters be actually likeable. Since, for example, Achilles was waaaay bigger of a douche in the original story, while here I actually really liked him. The story was really interesting, and I didn't feel like I was reading a book, I felt like I was going through a journey. Plus, despite it being about Greek mythology, I feel like even people who don't know anything at all about Greek mythology can still enjoy this book and understand everything. Everyone was introduced properly and explained so you know who they are and what is their deal.
- The e n d i n g. Oh my god, the e n d i n g.I couldn't have asked for a better ending, actually, I couldn't even imagine a better and more fitting ending. It was the perfect amount of sad and happy, and I loved it so fucking much. I am always worried that I will be disappointed with endings of different stories, but this one was definitely not disappointing.
What I didn't like:
...
Nothing, I fucking loved everything. You have no idea how hard it was to find anything AT ALL that bothered me! But, since I always do my reviews for books the same way, I had to be EXTREMELY nitpicky just to find anything to write here. So yeah, 3 things (couldn't find any more even if I tried) that I didn't like. I feel bad for being this nitpicky..
- There was this one very specific scene that I really hated and made me highly uncomfortable. It's the scene involving Deidameia and Patroclus, you probably know which one I mean. While reading that... scene... I felt really uncomfortable and even sick from how it was described in such a gross way (although, I think that was intentional). I think the scene was supposed to be gross, and it was, so good job on that, but either way, I didn't enjoy feeling sick after reading that. Plus, that whole scene felt pointless, like it didn't need to even happen, since it was never brought up again later. Found it kinda... eh.
-Achilles' heel wasn't a thing and that made me kinda sad. I know that in the original the whole heel thing wasn't a... well, a thing, but still, it's what Achilles is most known for and I felt kinda disappointed about the fact that his heel wasn't his weak spot. Also, the whole scene when he died left me kinda underwhelmed, I was kinda hoping for something more dramatic, I guess.
- I cried. And oh my God, did I cry. Nothing ever made me this sad, not any book or a movie or anything that I have read before. Day later, I still have a fucking headache. I almost started sobbing, man. Is it bad that the story made me cry? Well, no, cause that just means the writing was that good to make me really feel the emotions and get invested enough to the point that I had to shed tears. But then again, now I have to go to therapy after reading this, and therapies are quite expensive, so that's not a very good thing. And now I also have trust issues when it comes to books, if that makes sense.
Bonus thing that I liked:
APOLLOOOOO!!!! I know he was a bad guy in the this story, but man, so cool that he showed up, I was so fucking excited, since he is one of my favorite Greek gods. Also, this book make me fucking love Odysseus. Love Greek mythology.
Final thoughts:
This book is absolutely perfect. As I said, it was so hard to find something that I didn't like. I enjoyed every second of it and was so inspired by the story and Madeline's style of writing. She influenced my own writing too and I learned a lot from this book as a writer. I highly recommend it to anyone. LITERALLY A N Y O N E.
Ahem, anyway, uhhhh, imma just get to my review, doing it same as always, 3 things I liked and 3 I didn't. This one might be a bit messier, cause I'm still recovering from this book and I cannot think.
What I liked:
- The writing style is absolutely beautiful! I had so much fun reading this book, admiring the way it was written. I was so fascinated by the author's way of writing, the way she uses comparisons and describes things, absolutely beautiful.
- The story and the characters were really fun. All the characters had interesting personalities, they didn't feel flat and the author rewrote the story in a way that made the characters be actually likeable. Since, for example, Achilles was waaaay bigger of a douche in the original story, while here I actually really liked him. The story was really interesting, and I didn't feel like I was reading a book, I felt like I was going through a journey. Plus, despite it being about Greek mythology, I feel like even people who don't know anything at all about Greek mythology can still enjoy this book and understand everything. Everyone was introduced properly and explained so you know who they are and what is their deal.
- The e n d i n g. Oh my god, the e n d i n g.
What I didn't like:
...
Nothing, I fucking loved everything. You have no idea how hard it was to find anything AT ALL that bothered me! But, since I always do my reviews for books the same way, I had to be EXTREMELY nitpicky just to find anything to write here. So yeah, 3 things (couldn't find any more even if I tried) that I didn't like. I feel bad for being this nitpicky..
- There was this one very specific scene that I really hated and made me highly uncomfortable.
-
- I cried. And oh my God, did I cry. Nothing ever made me this sad, not any book or a movie or anything that I have read before. Day later, I still have a fucking headache. I almost started sobbing, man. Is it bad that the story made me cry? Well, no, cause that just means the writing was that good to make me really feel the emotions and get invested enough to the point that I had to shed tears. But then again, now I have to go to therapy after reading this, and therapies are quite expensive, so that's not a very good thing. And now I also have trust issues when it comes to books, if that makes sense.
Bonus thing that I liked:
Final thoughts:
This book is absolutely perfect. As I said, it was so hard to find something that I didn't like. I enjoyed every second of it and was so inspired by the story and Madeline's style of writing. She influenced my own writing too and I learned a lot from this book as a writer. I highly recommend it to anyone. LITERALLY A N Y O N E.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, War, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, and Cursing