📖 The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4,5 stars Another one of Madeline Miller’s books that I absolutely devoured. Her writing style is so unique and captivating, and she has an incredible ability to transport me straight into the story and the world of Greek mythology. This novel follows Prince Patroclus and Prince Achilles and tells a story of friendship, war, love, and sacrifice. I have to admit that the beginning felt a little slow, as not much seemed to happen at first. However, everything changed around the 30–40% mark, and from then on I was completely invested. Patroclus was by far my favorite character, and I loved watching his growth throughout the story. While I initially liked Achilles as well, my feelings toward him changed significantly as the book progressed. By the end, I found it difficult to sympathize with him at all. As always, Madeline Miller’s writing is absolutely beautiful. Her storytelling is immersive, emotional, and unforgettable. I would highly recommend her books to anyone who enjoys mythology, historical fiction, or simply exceptional writing.

Eine sehr schöne Geschichte 🏛️

this is not fun if you can’t memorise Greek names

‚Ich würde dich in völliger Dunkelheit erkennen, wenn du stumm wärst und ich taub. Ich würde dich in einem anderen Leben vollständig wiedererkennen, in anderen Körpern, zu anderen Zeiten. Und ich würde dich in all dem lieben, bis der allerletzte Stern am Himmel in Vergessenheit geraten würde.‘ Eine besondere Geschichte über tiefe Liebe & Freundschaft, bis über den Tod hinaus.

This review is very difficult to write, because I am gonna try to explain, why I cried in the end even though I didn't like the characters that much and couldn't emotinally connect with them. Lets start with the characters. Achilles was very likeable in the beginning, because he didn't want glory and wealth, but love and friends. He didn't show off his abilities and put himself before others, but beside them as an equal. He seemed like someone you should have as a friend. This is when he met Patroclus for the first time and who can blame the guy to fall for this perfect Achilles? He was drwan to him as anybody else was and I totally got that and loved to see their relationship evolve with them. With Patroclus I had a whole other experience than with Achilles. I didn't like him in the beginning, because he seemed to care so little about himself and cowered before others. He gave up so early in his life and just didn't fight back. I was so frustrated with him! When Achilles took an interest in him he didn't even change. He still didn't quite like himself and wanted to be left alone by everybody other than Achilles. Even knowing this about the boys, I couldn't connect with them, because everything was described and written so distantly. I knew what they wanted and sometimes what they felt (mostly of Patroclus though), but couldn't feel it. I had problems understanding why they chose to do what they did, sometimes it was totally unreasonable (chapter 13!) Then the war came and everything changed - including the characters. Firstly, there were now more characters to consider, which helped the story to develop further, beyond Achilles and Patroclus. I liked the story in the second half of the book a lot better, because there just happend more and I am a big fan of action. I didn't need a conection to the characters to understand the war and the decisions made. But Achilles changed for the worse, while Patroclus grew into a role where he saw more to himself and defended his relationship with Achilles and other he bonded with. I just couldn't understand what he still saw in Achilles. But sometimes love is not reasonable, so I won't critizise it (I just didn't get it). The writing style was exquisite if a little distant. Perfect to describe the story and the war and to make me feel like I lived thrrogh Troy. But not perfect to describe a realationship on an emotional level. The End made me cry a lot. Because I didn't see it coming. Knowing the story of Troy I should have, but I didn't. The last few chapters took me apart, because it felt so real to me and I didn't have to understand all of the characters decisions to understand this one. I would recommend this book only to advances english readers and to lovers of greek gods and their legends and heros.