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hayreading's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was honestly expecting it to devastate me more. Very enjoyable book, I was always wanting more. Loses points because I hated Achilles in the last third so much I lost a lot of emotion around him dying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War
p3tt1tt's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: War
Minor: Sexual content
lovelikethiswillendintragedy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
My tears :,)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Animal death, Medical content, and Pregnancy
minnow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As a huge fan of Greek mythology, and after hearing all of the praise for Circe, I expected this to be a 5-star read for me. I was pretty disappointed in this novel. It's just too heavy-handed with the descriptions. Every single thing is described in minute detail. I don't need to know every time the character has the tiniest feeling. I don't need a paragraph-long description of an item that has no importance to the story whatsoever. I don't need to know the hundred tiny gestures or expressions a character is making when those emotions are then repeated in the dialogue. It creates redundancy and weighs down the story. There are scenes stretching over chapters that could have been reduced to a few paragraphs, improving the pacing of the story. There's a time and place for heavy descriptions and I did not feel that discernment was exercised here.
I did, however, feel that this story did a fantastic job of portraying love in a way that was intense but not cringey.
I did, however, feel that this story did a fantastic job of portraying love in a way that was intense but not cringey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment
qnnelies's review against another edition
this book is basically smut of young teenagers (12-15), and one of them has a foot fetish, oh and they normalize having sex with slaves… this story is way too overrated and i could not continue, the characters are also really bland
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Slavery
magimiel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape and Sexual content
cats33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Oh my heart always has space for Achilles and Patroclus. Gosh I love these two. Beautiful story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
ly6's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
I don't think there's ever going to be a book that's better than this one. Holy fuck.
The prose is absolutely beautiful—there's a reason there's so many iconic quotes. I ended up loving Achilles, Patroclus, and their relationship so much, which is a feat because I normally don't care about book characters. The hundreds of parallels and foreshadowing, which makes me die even more inside when I realized the book is Patroclus recalling his memories to Thetis. How the book shifts from past to present tense after his death. How the book is called "The Song of Achilles" despite his love for music rarely getting brought up after the first half, and how the wooden sculpture of a boy playing a lyre that Patroclus made for him gets lost too.
I know some people have their criticisms about how they toned down the horrible things Achilles did and instead added them to other characters in order to glorify their relationship, but I understand why Miller had to do this. I don't think a main character in a book intended for the average and modern audience can ever get away with SA. Achilles is still almost a morally black character with that removed.
Ah, Achilles. I have never felt as mixed of an emotion about a character ever, but he's both incredibly infuriating and so interesting to study under a microscope. I understood why he chose to be remembered after death by strangers over his life because he was brought up to be the <i>Aristos Achaion</i> his entire life. You can see the impact of this since the very first page he was introduced, since we even knew his name. I was also intrigued by how he was grieving over Agamemnon killing his daughter in front of him but the second he kills his first Trojan, he was loving it. It's like he always had an inner monster, his killing machine self inside of him, just waiting to be unleashed despite his cheerful exterior. The way his father told him to dehumanize his victims to kill them but he didn't think at all when he did. How he casually talks about killing Briseis' and Hector's wife's family and how he pressed against Patroclus after he killed 12 people on his first day. It's like his body moves without thinking. But then he sits out of the war and purposely urges the gods to help the Trojans' side because Agamemnon insulted his pride. I'll admit, that's because I want their bad decisions to be mainly their fault. If I pick his brain a little bit, I can sympathize with how he was promised that the war wouldn't go on for too long and that he would be the judge of himself, but then Agamemnon fucked it all up. I think it's interesting how he defended Patroclus against those who don't think he's worthy but then he starts getting more and more egotistical because of praise.
But that's the thing, isn't it? It was always doomed to happen, unless they were different people completely. They would always make the same decisions, no matter how dumb they would be.
Some of my favorite moments:
- Their first kiss and how Patroclus described it as "the fat bodies of bees"
- "Is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?"
- Patroclus kissing a bloody Achilles to let Briseis know they won't hurt her because of the language barrier
- Patroclus begging Achilles and pulling out the "if you loved me" card but Achilles loved his pride more than Patroclus
- Their last interaction was a goodbye kiss and handhold
- Patroclus almost becoming Achilles' alter ego when he donned his armor, maybe because he used to be jealous of him and watched him from afar
- Patroclus climbing the walls of Troy like Sisyphus out of sheer determination to end the war and save Achilles' life, even though he once said it looks so high, nobody could possibly ever climb it
- Achilles' first instinct to realizing Patroclus died was to cut his throat and rip his hair out
- Achilles wrapping Patroclus' corpse in a blanket and putting him on their bed despite them both smelling
- Briseis cleaning Patroclus' corpse, Achilles getting possessive, and him yelling at her
- "There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw."
- Achilles wanting to die but his body wouldn't let him until he finally did, smiling as his face struck the earth
- Patroclus haunting everyone's dreams and Achilles' grave because sleep is so similar to death
Thanks to this book for making me fall back into my Greek Mythology phase and consuming every possible media of them. I truly will love them in every universe.
The prose is absolutely beautiful—there's a reason there's so many iconic quotes. I ended up loving Achilles, Patroclus, and their relationship so much, which is a feat because I normally don't care about book characters. The hundreds of parallels and foreshadowing, which makes me die even more inside when I realized the book is Patroclus recalling his memories to Thetis. How the book shifts from past to present tense after his death. How the book is called "The Song of Achilles" despite his love for music rarely getting brought up after the first half, and how the wooden sculpture of a boy playing a lyre that Patroclus made for him gets lost too.
I know some people have their criticisms about how they toned down the horrible things Achilles did and instead added them to other characters in order to glorify their relationship, but I understand why Miller had to do this. I don't think a main character in a book intended for the average and modern audience can ever get away with SA. Achilles is still almost a morally black character with that removed.
Ah, Achilles. I have never felt as mixed of an emotion about a character ever, but he's both incredibly infuriating and so interesting to study under a microscope. I understood why he chose to be remembered after death by strangers over his life because he was brought up to be the <i>Aristos Achaion</i> his entire life. You can see the impact of this since the very first page he was introduced, since we even knew his name. I was also intrigued by how he was grieving over Agamemnon killing his daughter in front of him but the second he kills his first Trojan, he was loving it. It's like he always had an inner monster, his killing machine self inside of him, just waiting to be unleashed despite his cheerful exterior. The way his father told him to dehumanize his victims to kill them but he didn't think at all when he did. How he casually talks about killing Briseis' and Hector's wife's family and how he pressed against Patroclus after he killed 12 people on his first day. It's like his body moves without thinking. But then he sits out of the war and purposely urges the gods to help the Trojans' side because Agamemnon insulted his pride. I'll admit, that's because I want their bad decisions to be mainly their fault. If I pick his brain a little bit, I can sympathize with how he was promised that the war wouldn't go on for too long and that he would be the judge of himself, but then Agamemnon fucked it all up. I think it's interesting how he defended Patroclus against those who don't think he's worthy but then he starts getting more and more egotistical because of praise.
But that's the thing, isn't it? It was always doomed to happen, unless they were different people completely. They would always make the same decisions, no matter how dumb they would be.
Some of my favorite moments:
- Their first kiss and how Patroclus described it as "the fat bodies of bees"
- "Is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?"
- Patroclus kissing a bloody Achilles to let Briseis know they won't hurt her because of the language barrier
- Patroclus begging Achilles and pulling out the "if you loved me" card but Achilles loved his pride more than Patroclus
- Their last interaction was a goodbye kiss and handhold
- Patroclus almost becoming Achilles' alter ego when he donned his armor, maybe because he used to be jealous of him and watched him from afar
- Patroclus climbing the walls of Troy like Sisyphus out of sheer determination to end the war and save Achilles' life, even though he once said it looks so high, nobody could possibly ever climb it
- Achilles' first instinct to realizing Patroclus died was to cut his throat and rip his hair out
- Achilles wrapping Patroclus' corpse in a blanket and putting him on their bed despite them both smelling
- Briseis cleaning Patroclus' corpse, Achilles getting possessive, and him yelling at her
- "There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw."
- Achilles wanting to die but his body wouldn't let him until he finally did, smiling as his face struck the earth
- Patroclus haunting everyone's dreams and Achilles' grave because sleep is so similar to death
Thanks to this book for making me fall back into my Greek Mythology phase and consuming every possible media of them. I truly will love them in every universe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Pregnancy
davidalanyoung's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
As a long time fan of Greek mythology, I was a bit nervous to pick this book up. Gay literature is usually hit or miss and I wasn’t quite confident this was a hit. I am glad I did. What a delightful read. And typical of Greek stories, a tragic but beautiful one. Would recommend.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault
areadnes's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
3.75
don’t let the rating fool you — i enjoyed the song of achilles. sure, it didn’t really emotionally capture me as much as the majority of its audience, but i still had a lot of fun reading it regardless. if anything, i think it was my own expectations that dampened the experience and that’s just plainly on me. this is madeline miller’s first novel, after all, and despite whatever criticisms i have i think it’s still a feat to have something like this be your debut novel. achilles & patroclus’ relationship is very touching and there is no shortage of side characters to keep things interesting (love you odysseus <3). all in all, a good read and an emotional ride.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and War
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, and Murder
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault