By Madeline Miller

This is a book that I came to sideways. For the last few years, I have been on a bit of a mythology kick. One of the ways that this came about was the YouTube channel Overly Sarcastic Productions, and the podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby. So I heard about this book. The one Christmas my uncle sent me Song of Achilles and Circe, at the time I only read Circe and Song of Achilles went on a shelf. This was the first time I have read this book. And some housekeeping next week I will review Circe.

“Greece in the age of heroes. Awkward young prince Patroclus has been exiled to the court of King Peleus. Despite their differences, Peleus’s golden boy Achilles befriends the shamed prince. As they grow into young men, their bond blossoms into something deeper- despite the displeasure of Achilles’s mother, the sea goddess Thetis.

But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him.”

This book is an interesting take on The Iliad and the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. Something you should know, we don’t get to that until we are two-thirds into the book.

For this book, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, I would like to talk about inevitability. One of the tropes of Greek mythology and plays is a person being told their future and then doing everything they can to avoid it, only to meet that fate. A perfect example is the story of Oedipus Rex, a man who is known to have killed his father and slept with his mother. But this cursory glance misses a lot. (Before going on, a spoiler for a play that dates back to the Colosseum.) When Oedipus was born, his parents asked the oracle what his future was.

They were told that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. They did the natural thing and tried to have him killed off by abandoning him in the wilderness. That didn’t work; he was found and raised by a different king and queen. When he grew up, he went to the oracle to confirm the rumor that he was adopted. He was told that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Naturally, he ran away from his parents. On his way, he kills an old man in an episode of old-fashioned road rage. He then saves a city from a Sphinx and is rewarded with being named king marriyng the newly widowed queen.

As you can see, if they hadn’t reacted to the prophecy, it wouldn’t have happened. Also Freud did not know crap. Just like this Greek play, most people who will read this will know that Portcullis and Achilles will die. But just because you know the end of the story….

Secondly, I would like to talk about Thetis. This is one of the few completely non-human characters. When we first meet her, her response to Protoculas is that he will die soon and Achilles is going to become a god. Throughout, you can see how she tries to do what she believes is best for his son, including kidnapping him so he can’t join the war for Helen. But throughout all this, she feels so disconnected from her child. After all, she didn’t ask for him, but this she doesn’t mean she doesn’t care for Achilles.

Thirdly, I would like to talk about Achilles and Patroclus. The one thing I knew about this book was the fact that it was a romance. But they don’t seem to actually love each other. By this I mean whenever Patroclus talks about Achilles, he just describes how perfect Achilles is. There is no point where either of them says why they love each other. There is a time skip, and they are suddenly in love. I can’t tell if that is on purpose.

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed it most of the time. If you love Greek mythology, then you might have already read it. If not, this might be right up your alley.

Happy reading to all, and to all a good night.