The Song of Achilles

Name one hero who was happy...They Never let you be famous AND happy... I'm going to be the first

I had a good time with this one. I think the best choice that Miller makes is definitely centering the book on Patroclus rather than Achilles. Doing so means we get this lack of understanding of Achilles himself which results in a sense of otherness from him giving him that feeling of being “more than” and slightly above humans like Patroclus. This choice did surprise me at first as I had assumed it would’ve been from Achilles POV and then towards the last few chapters was surprised that we stuck with the Patroclus POV.

Another benefit to the focus on Patroclus for me was that when you get to the section of the book that focuses on the battle of Troy, it’s a lot more grounded and smaller scale that you’d expect, focusing more on individuals at camp rather than the battle itself which I appreciated.

Following the stubbornness of Achilles and watching him struggle with the idea of his death and being remembered could be frustrating at times but you always understood where is was coming from and it kept things compelling throughout for me.

It’s impressive just how quickly Miller was able to make me hate Pyrrhus though. Pops up for the last chapter or two and is insufferable the whole time.