To anyone who is like me and keeps telling themselves that they will read the Iliad when they are fully aware they will probably never do so then this book is for you. You can think of Song of Achilles as the fanfic version of the Iliad. It follows Patroclus and Achilles through their childhood all the way to young adulthood and parts of the Trojan War. You get cameos from our favourites like Odysseus and our not so favourite Agamemnon and Hector. Unlike the Iliad the book is not heavily focused on the Trojan War and only mentions it in the last 10 or so chapters of the book, instead focusing on the life of Achilles and Patroclus and how their relationship develops. Depending on what side of historians you are on, one topic that has been debated is whether Patroclus and Achilles where just close friends or actual lovers. Miller takes the side of them being lovers, and the fangirl in me was all for that.

This book is written beautifully, it’s simple to read, is fast paced and is full of good ol Greek Drama! I loved that this book was from the view point of Patroclus, because to me Achilles was what he was because of Patroclus.I also think Patroclus is not given enough credit for how bloody badass he was, this boy literally went out to battle when he knew he could not fight for shit just to preserve Achilles honour. I loved reading this book from his perspective .

I think the book was great, it was not a copy of the Iliad which I imagine to be long and boring, and was more of a YA spin on the tales of Achilles, Patroclus and parts of the Trojan war. I loved watching these characters grow up, and it was pure agony seeing it all go to shit. We know there is no happy ending for our two main characters, but for some reason I still convinced myself that there would be, only to have my heart broken all over again. I would have liked to see more Greek god involvement within the tale, but other than that I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in Greek Mythology, my fellow romance lovers and just anyone who likes their heart broken and then dashed into the bin.