Book Review: “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller

By Alexis Thomas

Staff Reporter

October 2022

This novel was quite the emotional roller coaster for me. It does start very slow, but books of the romance genre always start slow. However, they also always eventually pick up the pace. Once I got to page 100, it got into more serious matters and how they would affect the characters in good and bad ways.

The main conflicts I see in this book are that Achilles and Patroclus struggle with morals, love, and choosing between emotions and feelings. Achilles is the kind of person who wants to change the course of history. He wants to change history mainly for the Gods of War, by being both a soldier and partner with the love of his life.

However, an obstacle stands in his way, leading him to still worry about the consequences of war catching up with him and taking everything away. This leads us to ponder, what will happen to Achilles?

Patroclus struggles with following his heart and overcoming his dark, mysterious past. Patroclus wants to be with the person that he loves. In the relationship, there are several obstacles. These things hinder his ability to be with the person he loves due to his fame as a War God. Subsequently, he starts to lose more and more time to spend with them.

The story has a lot of emotions and plenty of conflicts. I won’t lie, sometimes I wanted to throw this book, or cry, or even smile because some moments in the book brought out my emotions and made me feel sad about this character or what happened to them or happy because something good happened, and I think that’s why it’s such a good book. It makes you feel all these different emotions and makes your mind think one way, but the book goes the other way.

The ending was perfect for the reader and the characters because both Achilles and Patroclus got a very peaceful conclusion to this story. I would recommend reading this book if you love Greek mythology, romance, and adventure or don’t mind feeling a roller coaster of emotions.

I would also recommend reading this book if you want to find out if Achilles does become the first god to have both loves in his heart but still have fame from war and what happens to Patroclus. Will he get his happy ending with the love of his life? What will happen to their relationship? Read and find out!