“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist….A book I could not put down.”—Ann Patchett
“Mary Renault lives again!” declares Emma Donoghue, author of Room, referring to The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War.
A tale of … retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War.
A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.
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Hey. Hey, you. The Song of Achilles was really good. You should probably read it.
If you’re thinking “meh, not my cup of tea” or “this sounds good, but I’m not in the mood” YOU’RE INCORRECT, SIR. You are in the mood.
If you’re all “can’t fool me, I know how this story ends and it is one hell of a downer” — don’t worry! It’s not. To my …
I figured I’d enjoy this book, but I didn’t expect to LOVE it. I’ve longtime been a fan of Greek mythology, but had never before experienced it so richly and intimately. I wish Madeline Miller would write a novel on each and every Greek myth. I’d read them all.
I finally read this book after hearing it recommended by many, many people. It’s as beautiful and engaging as they said it would be.
I don’t have a particular interest in Greek mythology, so this is not a book I’d pick up solely based on its premise. But as @hannah mentioned in her rec, it’s more about being in love with a hero than the tale of …
Y’all, I have a massive girl crush on Madeline Miller’s brain. I’ve always been a mythology fan, so after I listened to CIRCE, it was on to her debut SONG OF ACHILLES. Holy. Cow. It’s official, I will read anything she writes.
There are over sixty synonyms for the word beautiful and I wish I could use each and every one of them in this review. It still wouldn’t be enough to show how much I loved this book
I very much enjoyed mythology while I was growing up so part of my love for Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles may be my own feeling of nostalgia for these …
Correctly hailed as the scion of Mary Renault, this is a retelling of The Iliad told in first person from Patroclus’s perspective. As I have always found Achilles’s foil the most interesting character in The Iliad, I loved the idea behind this book. I wish we had a little more insight into why Achilles loves him so devotedly, but their …
I am so completely floored by how much I loved this book. It was recommended (make that raved about) by a friend, who knows about how I love new twists on mythological characters. Well, to call this a “new twist” is only the barest beginning of a story that picked up my imagination and sculpted it into something utterly amazing–and wrenched, and …
Such beautiful writing, so evocative.
What a pleasure this book was! I fell for some of the characters, I knew many others from my own life, I loved the jaunt through Ancient Greece, and I ate up the lessons in Greek mythology.
This book takes you thru the life of Achilles from the point of view of Patroclus. It is beautifully written and I could not put it down.
“The Song of Achilles,” by Madeline Miller, is a tragic and moving historical love story set against the backdrop of Ancient Greece. The novel was published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Patroclus is a young prince, shamed in the small court of his father’s kingdom. As a punishment for his deeds, he is exiled to another of the small Greek …
Love this book. LOVE THIS BOOK. A year and a half after reading it and it still haunts me. It’s beautiful.
One of the best books EVER. I listened to the audio version and the narrator was just superb. Can’t recommend this highly enough.
Madeline Miller’s second book “Circe” was also great, especially fabulous in the audio version (different narrator from “Song of Achilles”).
Extraordinary writing and storytelling and drama… An important work.
About four years ago, I emerged from a years-long reading slump, and The Song of Achilles is one of the books responsible for the end of that slump. I’ve been a fan of Greek mythology since I discovered Bernard Evslin’s Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths when I was 12 years old. Madeline Miller’s novel reminded me why I loved the myths …
This book is hands down the best book I have ever read, this is saying a lot considering I read about 50 books per 5 months. The characters in this book were so well detailed and at the end of the book you felt like you had been friends with Achilles and Patroclus for years. The descriptions and word choice made you feel like you were reading …
A very beautiful book. Miller’s contemporary writing style adds a new viewpoint on the Greek hero Achilles and his loyal friend and comrade in battle Patroclus. Miller is a scholar. She takes evidence of their love for each other from many sources of Greek literature, and weaves a haunting story of this doomed relationship. Recommended.
I adored Miller’s Circe and was hesitant to read this, afraid it wouldn’t be as good. It’s marvellous! Full of her gorgeous prose and her gift for getting characters onto the page in such a way that the reader loves them, cries for them and doesn’t want to ever close the book on them.
Achilles is probably my least favorite Greek Hero in the Iliad – but this novel made me see him in an entirely different light, and it is a great story.
I liked this. You kind of cringe though knowing what is going to happen. If you liked the books by Mary Renault you will like this one.
Stunningly gorgeous novel. Unexpectedly romantic and so beautifully done. One of my faves. Madeline Miller rock stared this one.