Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Song of Achilles

I will never recover from this.
Some nights I wake up and think about this book and the hole it left behind.

I am a big greek mythology fan and picked this up as the first greek retelling. I was fairly familiar with the story around Achilles and Patroclus, but I do think that knowledge made it so much worse in the best kind of way.

I ugly cried, sobbed all night long, and sat in class with burning eyes the next morning but when I tell you it was so worth it - it was.

A piece of me left after flipping that last page and I feel like I will never get it back.

No book has ever touched me as this one has and I feel like no book will ever amount to what this made me feel. I have been empty ever since finishing this story, but I wouldn't want it to be any other way.
If you decide you want to read this be prepared to pull an all-nighter and make sure that you are comfortable with a bunch of tissues ready. When I tell you I have never cried like this in my life - I was screaming, crying. Literally. (And I am not a crier whatsoever so let that be a warning.)

The prose is certainly its greatest strength; It is fairly simple yet immersive and emotional. It never tells too much or too little and it flows nicely. One of the first English books I read at the time and it was easy to go through.

It got me out of a reading slump and put me back in because I could not bring myself to pick up something else after the greatness this was. I could not put this down. I will never read something as beautiful ever again.

I can see why people would not enjoy this story as it is not for everyone, but for fans of Greek mythology and especially for fans of Achilles, I highly recommend checking this one out.

Content Warnings

ambert's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

malloray's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

odette_tbdk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Tengo sentimientos encontrados con este libro, por una parte me pareció muy emocional y profunda la relación que tenían Aquiles y Patroclo, pero el ritmo de la historia no me convenció del todo. Hacia el final del libro el ritmo fluyó muy bien, pero el principio es difícil de continuar, la vida de Patroclo de niño y en sí todo el proceso que les lleva a la guerra de Troya es bastante lento y tedioso. Pero aún así, me hizo sentir muchas cosas y también me enseñó de mitología (cabe aclarar que yo no sé nada de estos temas), así que sería injusto darle mala calificación por eso.

Me faltaron personajes femeninos que no giraran en torno a los protagonistas, pero eso ya no es culpa de la autora, simplemente no hay muchos porque así es la mitología. Cuando lea Circe tendré lo que me faltó aquí.

En general, un libro muy triste cargado de mitología y de referencias muy extensas a los ornamentos, política y costumbres de la época. Tedioso a ratos pero al final te deja con un buen sabor de boca (en parte). Buena lectura.

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