Title: The Song of Achilles
Author: Madeline Miller
Rating: ⅗ stars
Favorite Quote: ?
Review:
WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD
There was a lot of hype surrounding this book. And I can’t say that I disliked it. There were moments that I was intrigued, moments that kept wanting more, and moments that I understood why this book was a favorite of many. It’s well written and well paced.
But -
There are many things I look for in a novel, but two elements that often make or break a story for me: characters and an incredible ending. And those were my two problems with this book - Achilles’ character and the ending.
Instead of exhibiting character growth and character development, if anything, Achilles backslid - starting off the book as a willful, interesting character, and becoming a single-minded one that became less dimensional as time went on. He started off the book as so much more human than warrior, and by the end, was significantly more warrior than human. He could have been both. And his last acts of heroism were of course rooted in his love for Patroclus. But overall, he proved himself to be cold, at times cruel, and with a single-minded focus on his own legacy that ultimately seemed to contribute to his downfall.
And - that ending. Oh that ending.
Book endings that jarringly shift perspective (including the perspective of a once living character to an ultimately not living character) rarely work for me. And this one was no exception. I understand that, having been told from Patroclus’s perspective throughout, the ending being told from anyone else’s perspective would also have been jarring. But when it came to be told from a deceased Patroclus, I was completely drawn out of the story and I couldn’t get back into it. With the aforementioned Achilles character flaws, I already wasn’t exactly loving the book, but the ending really ruined it for me even more.
Have you read The Song of Achilles? What are your thoughts? Share below!
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