The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Millerfantasy historical fiction mythology
Reviewed on: 23rd March 2025.
This modern retelling of Greek mythos narrates the lives of Patroclus and his closest companion Achilles—Aristos Achaion, best of the Greeks—spanning their upbringing in Pththia, their training by famed centaur Chiron, up to the events of the Trojan war. I don’t really much more to say, other than this book is beautiful. The writing is engaging, the characters are well-developed, and the story is legendary, evergreen. As I discovered, in opposition to my starting assumptions, the narrative remains very close to the original mythos, with only few (to my understanding) minor deviations. As someone who is not particularly well versed in Greek mythology, this was a great venue to learn it. I highly recommend it.
Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. "No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from."
"But what if he is your friend?" Achilles had asked him, feet kicked up on the wall of the rose-quartz cave. "Or your brother? Should you treat him the same as a stranger?"
"You ask a question that philosophers argue over," Chiron had said. "He is worth more to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else's friend and brother. So which life is more important?"
We had been silent. We were fourteen, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are twenty-seven, they still feel too hard.
He is half of my soul, as the poets say. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. It is his child, his dearest self. Should I reproach him for it? I have saved Briseis. I cannot save them all.
I know, now, how I would answer Chiron. I would say: there is no answer. Whichever you choose, you are wrong.
— Patroclus