Review of AUDIOBOOK The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller #Brainfluffbookreview #TheSongofAchillesbookreview #WyrdandWonder2020

I was blown away by Circe last year, which made my list of Outstanding Reads 2019. So treated myself to the Audible edition of this offering, hoping I’d like it as much. I am including this review in the Wyrd and Wonder 2020 event.

BLURB: Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’ mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess…

I’ve truncated the blurb, because I’m not going to assume that everyone who reads this review knows the complete story of the Trojan War and if you don’t, then the second half of the blurb gets far too spoilery, in my view. I loved the narration – Frazer Douglas does a stormingly good job of depicting awkward, sensitive Patroclus, who is the opposite of Achilles in almost every way. I always enjoy a story told in first person viewpoint if it’s done well – and Miller’s writing is sublime. We see, taste and smell ancient Greece without sacrificing any of the narrative drive or characterisation. I particularly loved how Douglas portrays the other characters, such as Chiron, the wise centaur who taught the boys on Mount Peilion, and particularly, smooth-tongued Odysseus.

There was a point in the story, given it is told in Patroclus’s viewpoint, where I wondered how Miller was going to cope with taking the story forward. But she dealt with it extremely well and made it entirely believable. In short, this was another masterful retelling, that had me gripped right to the end. And given that I knew what was going to happen – that’s a huge achievement. This book has garnered a great deal of attention and praise, which is richly deserved. I’m conscious that I’m late to the party, probably only next door’s dog hasn’t yet read this one, but in the unlikely event that you haven’t yet manged to fit it into your reading schedule, I highly recommend it – whether you enjoy Greek myth retellings or not.
10/10