The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

                  Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful – irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

                  They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

                  The Song of Achilles was published in 2011 by Madeline Miller. I heard about it for the first time halfway through 2014, but I didn't get my hands on a copy until December of 2015. After reading the book in one sitting, less than 16 hours, I can tell you that waiting so long to purchase it was genuinely a tragedy and I may never recover (from both waiting this long to read it and also actually reading it).

                   I've never been a big fan of historical fiction, so I'm constantly surprised by how quickly I fell in love with this work of art. From the very first couple chapters, I was hooked. Patroclus was obviously an underdog right away, even before there were many other characters to outshine him, and all I wanted was for things to get better for him.

                  Enter in Achilles, a character so beautiful that I didn't have to see a picture of him to know it. It was no wonder that Patroclus was as drawn to him as everyone else was, and he has green eyes. When I found that out, I knew I was a goner.

                  But listen, here's the thing. It was a big deal for me when I discovered that Achilles had green eyes, because do you know who else has green eyes? Harry Styles. Can I tell you why this is a big deal? Because I remember reading once online (in 2014 when I'd heard of the book for the very first time on ask.fm) that someone read The Song of Achilles as a Larry Stylinson alternate universe fanfiction. So when I opened the book to finally read it for myself, I figured that thinking of it as a Larry fanfic would help me get into it more easily since I knew I didn't like historical fiction. And I wanted more than anything to like this book enough to finish it.

                  Let me assure you: it does not read as a Larry fanfic, and I'm so glad that that was the case. When I read that Achilles had green eyes, I realized that up until that point I had completely forgotten that I was going to pretend Achilles and Patroclus were Larry, which meant that Miller's characters were so strong on their own. There was no way I could read that book as a Larry fanfiction, and I'm endlessly confused about how that one person did.

                  It's also very difficult for me to do this book review without giving away spoilers, because all I want to talk about are things that I want you to be able to read for yourself and experience without me giving anything away, so I think what I'm going to do here is list the reasons why you should buy and read this book if you have not already. I also always love a good list.

01. WRITING STYLE

                  Madeline Miller writes like she is a drop of sun, glittering honey, and a Van Gogh piece. While the book is obviously a modernized version of Achilles' and Patroclus' story, there is an old style to the way that Miller words things, and I'm almost positive she doesn't use a single contraction throughout the entire book, which is noticeable but incredible. It'll be one of your favorite things about it. But despite that old style I sensed, it's undeniable that this is a piece for today's adults. It's beautiful, honestly. Both new and old.

02: CHARACTERS

                  Listen – every character is likeable. This bewilders me even now, because obviously Thetis (Achilles' sea-nymph/goddess mother) is the worst. She is literally a monster-in-law, as far as poor Patroclus is concerned, and toward the end her intentions are so crazy and confusing that you feel bad for even Achilles, who at first seemed like the only person she cared about. But in the end, it's just like...she's such a well-written character. It's no wonder where Achilles must get his beauty from, because again, you can almost picture her without an actual image to go off of. Everything from the sound of her voice to the earth's response to her presence is described in perfect detail, and you can't help but love her. And then there's Chiron, the centaur who trains Achilles and Patroclus to fight and about medicine, and he's honestly my favorite. He's like that uncle in your family that your best friend thinks is stand off-ish and cold but is actually genuinely kind and good-hearted and accepting. Odysseus was one of my favorite characters, I think. I'm not sure why. He just always seemed so sure of himself and sort of cocky and could always spin a good tale. You'll know what I mean when you read it.

03: PACING

                  I feel like Miller handled the time span of the story very well. You begin when Patroclus is five years old and you'll end when he's twenty-eight, and a lot happens in that time. Sometimes she'd transition from one point in time to the next with paragraph breaks, and other times she'd do it right in the middle of a section, but no matter how she did it I never had to reread anything or pause and think about it. It just worked, and I appreciate that so much.

04: POINT OF VIEW

                  For some reason, I didn't expect the book to be told in Patroclus' perspective. Maybe it's because the title name drops Achilles or because of something I read on ask.fm when I was first hearing of it, but I totally thought I'd be reading from Achilles' point of view. Regardless, I'm glad it was told the way it was told. I don't know that we would have properly understood Patroclus' character had the story been told by anyone else, even Achilles. He doesn't always speak many of his thoughts or concerns out loud, and some of the things he feels are just...they make him so relatable, and I find that especially important when reading about younger Patroclus. We also probably wouldn't have properly understood Achilles' beauty or what drew everyone to him had it been told by Achilles, so. I'd definitely say Patroclus was the perfect narrator.

                  I also found Miller's choice to write in both first and third person a fantastically unique choice that worked surprisingly well. Both perspectives were necessary, I think, especially for the ending, and I'm so impressed. You'll find that happening a lot with me...everything about this book impresses me; I can't help it.

05: THE LOVE STORY

                  I can't say much here because I don't want to ruin the experience for you all, but just know that the love story between Achilles and Patroclus is as beautiful – if not even more so – as the one between Harry and Louis, and I will lose sleep over how much I hope to someday share what these two shared (...except maybe with a different outcome).

06: THE STAND-OUT LINES

                  Though the perspective and time transitions in the story never made me pause and reread anything, certain quotes definitely did. The first one happened toward the beginning, around when Achilles and Patroclus were first becoming acquainted with each other, and it is by no means the best one (I'll italicize the part that gets me, but I've included a couple sentences that occur right before it because I think context is important): "I stopped watching for ridicule, the scorpion's tail hidden in his words. He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?" God. So pretty. I'll also include this gem because I'd be surprised if you haven't seen it online somewhere at least once: "I could recognize 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." Believe me, people, they get better from here even still! You'll just be reading a paragraph and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there's this stunning line that will make you have to set down the book and stare blankly at your wall for at least five minutes while you think about how your life will never be the same after The Song of Achilles, and I think that's amazing.

07: THE VERY LAST PARAGRAPH

                  Whatever you do, if you are one of those people who likes to read the last page of the book before starting it, don't do it this time. The last paragraph – the literal last paragraph of the entire story – is heart-wrenching and painful and absurdly beautiful and it will give away what happens shortly before it. When you do finally read it, you'll understand why I've included it in this list. I had stopped crying by that point, but as soon as I read it, I began weeping all over again. I just...this book. It's out to kill me.

                  Okay, so, that's about all I can say without giving more away. Since I finished it I have been at war with myself, because all I want to do is start it over and read through it in one sitting again (which I don't have the time to do) so if that tells you anything... I honestly have no idea when the last time I read a book that I wanted to immediately reread was, or if that's ever happened at all, but I truly don't want to spend my time doing anything else right now.

                  The best thing that's come of reading The Song of Achilles, I think, is that now when a professor or a family member or a friend asks me what my favorite book is (since apparently this a thing that has to be asked of English majors at least twenty times in a year) I can tell them it's this one. Whether it actually is or not, I have no clue, but I'd say it's definitely up there. I have a hard time deciding what my favorite book is for some reason; it's nothing like choosing a favorite song, which is generally pretty easy as long as someone specifies whether they're asking about favorite song of all time or favorite song at the moment or favorite song by a specific artist, etc. You know? That's not how it works for books. I read a lot, but I swear I love everything I read so much that I'm afraid to choose a favorite in fear of, like, insulting the others. Maybe this book is it, though. Again, I've never wanted to reread something so quickly, so...

                  If you guys have read The Song of Achilles, what did you think? Did you cry? Try not to spoil anything, if you can help it! And for those of you who haven't read it, do you plan on it? (Listen, you'll be a better person if you do. Trust me. I don't know why, but you just will be.)

                  Have a lovely Christmas if I don't post anything before then, guys! Take care. Thanks for reading! x