Book Review: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a modern retelling of Achilles, specifically the age-old speculation about the relationship between him and Patroclus, which is actually a little more than I knew about the book going in. This is a quick, entertaining read, though not without its flaws, and I appreciate how Miller made the ancient tale more accessible for modern readers. This is a great way (if embellished and not as accurate) to consume ancient tales without having to read heroic epics, so we can skip the lengthy speeches, one-dimensional arrogance, and lack of agency. But without the connections of the Iliad which tested my memory of when I read it in college, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much, since this is definitely a romance novel, and I didn’t buy into the relationship for reasons outlined below.  

I was impressed by how closely Miller followed the source material of Homer’s Iliad when describing the events at Troy. I don’t have any basis for the first half of the book which follows Patroclus and Achilles’ childhood, but the ending events were fairly faithful (though there was obviously creative license and I don’t remember that unnecessary fight with the river god before killing Hector, but that’s getting nitpicky. There were probably other deviations, but that’s the one that took me out of the story, maybe because I was itching to get to Hector, who is by far my favorite Ancient Greek figure). 

I will say that the characters of Patroclus and Achilles were not as faithful to the source material as the events. The Iliad portrays Patroclus as a fierce warrior, and he can’t fight at all in The Song of Achilles. Miller made him much softer, I guess to portray him as Achilles’ equal opposite and the more “conventional” love trope of opposites attract. Patroclus is definitely a passive character, but I really don’t mind passive characters as long as they have dimension, which I felt Patroclus had. But Achilles was a bit bland till the end of the book, though Miller’s version of Achilles is much better than the arrogant, angry, spoiled brat in the Iliad. I would have liked to know more about why Achilles was drawn to Patroclus in the first place in order to actually buy into their relationship. I think Miller tried to sum up his attention in a one-liner that basically said Patroclus was surprising, but I still didn’t know how. Patroclus seemed rather unsurprising to me. It was a bit too insta-lovey and relied too heavily on prior knowledge of the ancient tale to treat their relationship as a given. Sure, everyone knows about the speculation resulting from the Iliad, but within the context of Miller’s characterization, it didn’t make much sense. 

I did like that Miller didn’t write a toxic romance or insert unnecessary drama into the narrative, though. What tension there was in the relationship arose from actual issues rather than overblown problems they fabricated themselves. The angst and drama arising from lack of communication in modern romance novels are just tiring, so that was refreshing. 

I went into the book only knowing that it was an Achilles retelling and that a lot of readers found it heartwrenching, but I wasn’t devastated by the book, because I knew how the story ends and because I wasn’t terribly invested in the romance. But it was still a fun light read.