The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

After a book hiatus for the last few months, I decided to pick up The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I really liked her other book, Circe, so I figured I'd give this one a shot.

I got this book through Amazon Prime Reading, which I didn't even know was a thing! I get a lot of promotional emails and for whatever reason decided to open one from Amazon. It looks like now if you're a Prime customer you can borrow e-books. This is separate from the Kindle Unlimited service.

So, back to the book. Both of Miller's novels have been about Greek mythology. Even though the title of this book makes it sound like it's about Achilles, it's actually centered around his companion Patroclus. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but I was surprised that Miller took this route with the novel and I'm so glad she did. It was an interesting way to build the story of Achilles and Patroclus himself as the main character is moving.

The book starts off kind of slow and I would say for most of the book it has the same meandering pace. At a certain point though, things pick up at a wild pace and I just couldn't put it down. I don't think I get very emotional over stories - I mean they stay with me and there are some books that I have to put down to think about what happened, but I don't tear up or anything over sad books. This book made me tear up. I don't know if it's because I was finishing it at 2am and was tired or what, but Madeline Miller knows how to create a narrative that makes you really feel what the characters are feeling.

I think if you are looking for a book that will take you through a myriad of emotions then this is the one. It's not a very long book and I wouldn't classify it as a light read. I will say if you do end up reading The Song of Achilles to stick with it because the beginning can be a bit slow, but the ending is the total opposite.