javafenn 's review for:

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

4.0

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was utterly heartbreaking. We all know the story of Achilles but to hear it be told from the perspective of his partner was just so tragic, as Greek myths are I suppose. Patroclus seems almost made for Achilles despite his mother loathing the very idea. The two boys meet as youths when Patroclus is essentially exiled from his kingdom and quickly form a bond that transcends the decades. Their story is beautiful and tragic and this is an excellent retelling of it. It is pretty graphic and there is the death of Hector’s family that goes into way more detail than I needed so I only gave it 4 stars for that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Rape, Outing