Well Read Company Book Reviews: The Song of Achilles
The Song of Achilles has remained one of our most requested designs, which is why we’re so excited to bring it to you! The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the Iliad, particularly the story of Achilles and his best friend, and in this case lover, Patroclus. A story of love, death and the tragedy of war, the novel has become a BookTok sensation and remained firmly fixed in bestseller charts over ten years after its publication.
Achilles is the son of spiteful sea goddess Thetis, a strong, beautiful figure who is beloved and admired by all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his home and friendless. The two men form an inseparable bond despite Thetis’s warnings that they will bring about each other’s ruin. The novel follows the young men from their training by the centaur Chiron, where their friendship develops into something more, to their call into battle. Once word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, they must leave their idyllic existence to join the battle, where Achilles becomes an army leader and a much darker fate awaits them both.
“I could recognise him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”
Readers have fallen in love with the tender, doomed relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, and their wishes to be together despite the knowledge it will bring about their downfall. Miller takes a story cemented in bloodshed and war and reveals the tender heart at the core of it, of people forced to make sacrifices in the face of the Fates. It is a fascinating look at ancient Greek legend and society, breathing a fresh voice into stories that have been told for thousands of years.
“He is half of my soul, as the poets say.”
Our pretty patterned design brings homage to this wonderful story, featuring a gold Trojan helmet. Our Song of Achilles accessories are the perfect gifts for bookworms and fans of Greek Mythology. Treat the reading lover in your life!
