oh god where do i start- 

first of all, i didnt cry. And i clearly don’t understand *why* there was a need to cry?? 

like okay fine, if you liked this book i won’t judge you for it because that’s your choice and your way of taking this book in.

but for me, I’m so very disappointed. Mainly, because this book is overhyped and makes you have so many expectations that after reading it’s basically ruined. It was so bland. There was no plot except that the godly prince and exiled prince cannot for the life of them live without each other and on top of it add a war so the book can go on (and it lasted for what? a decade?)

Occasionally, the fluff scenes were good. I smiled but honestly it lasted for less than 2 seconds due to the lack of character personalities and the realism. OKAY ITS FICTION I UNDERSTAND BUT WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE OBSESSION PATROCLUS AND ACHILLES HAVE WITH EACH OTHER. OK, i get it; Patroclus likes Achilles’ hair, his skin his whatever MAN I GET IT you don’t have to JUST like the physical appearance of someone. What about the PERSONALITY which may i add was non-existent. And Achilles’ turning into a selfish prick in the end leading to deaths of so many just because of his honour was my last string. 

I did not see ANY change in personalities of both the main characters throughout the book. And the fact that the 9/12 year old them has *exactly* the same thinking + manner of speaking as the “adult” them *bangs her head in the wall* The dialogues were SO bland. I absolutely hated the misogyny, the “dull” plot and the undeveloped characters. There was literally no requirement of some characters in this book. God, why did i read this again?

https://imgur.com/a/534CHoS

There was no depth in their relationship. It wasn’t interesting, lacked any originality. It was so flat and the book was so so dragged. WHY DID THE AUTHOR WRITE IT-

I’m so disappointed CAN YOU HEAR ME? 

I’m not saying don’t read the book but if you’re not into character driven, dull relationship books then this is not for you. Thank you, i still have more to say but I’m controlling it.🧍🏻‍♀️

https://imgur.com/a/XPCoRjA

 Hahahhahahahahahhaha, I still have a headache from crying, help me.

Ahem, anyway, uhhhh, imma just get to my review, doing it same as always, 3 things I liked and 3 I didn't. This one might be a bit messier, cause I'm still recovering from this book and I cannot think.

What I liked:

- The writing style is absolutely beautiful! I had so much fun reading this book, admiring the way it was written. I was so fascinated by the author's way of writing, the way she uses comparisons and describes things, absolutely beautiful.

- The story and the characters were really fun. All the characters had interesting personalities, they didn't feel flat and the author rewrote the story in a way that made the characters be actually likeable. Since, for example, Achilles was waaaay bigger of a douche in the original story, while here I actually really liked him. The story was really interesting, and I didn't feel like I was reading a book, I felt like I was going through a journey. Plus, despite it being about Greek mythology, I feel like even people who don't know anything at all about Greek mythology can still enjoy this book and understand everything. Everyone was introduced properly and explained so you know who they are and what is their deal.

- The e n d i n g. Oh my god, the e n d i n g.

I couldn't have asked for a better ending, actually, I couldn't even imagine a better and more fitting ending. It was the perfect amount of sad and happy, and I loved it so fucking much. I am always worried that I will be disappointed with endings of different stories, but this one was definitely not disappointing.

What I didn't like:

...

Nothing, I fucking loved everything. You have no idea how hard it was to find anything AT ALL that bothered me! But, since I always do my reviews for books the same way, I had to be EXTREMELY nitpicky just to find anything to write here. So yeah, 3 things (couldn't find any more even if I tried) that I didn't like. I feel bad for being this nitpicky..

- There was this one very specific scene that I really hated and made me highly uncomfortable.

It's the scene involving Deidameia and Patroclus, you probably know which one I mean.

While reading that... scene... I felt really uncomfortable and even sick from how it was described in such a gross way (although, I think that was intentional). I think the scene was supposed to be gross, and it was, so good job on that, but either way, I didn't enjoy feeling sick after reading that. Plus, that whole scene felt pointless, like it didn't need to even happen, since it was never brought up again later. Found it kinda... eh.

-

Achilles' heel wasn't a thing and that made me kinda sad. I know that in the original the whole heel thing wasn't a... well, a thing, but still, it's what Achilles is most known for and I felt kinda disappointed about the fact that his heel wasn't his weak spot. Also, the whole scene when he died left me kinda underwhelmed, I was kinda hoping for something more dramatic, I guess.

- I cried. And oh my God, did I cry. Nothing ever made me this sad, not any book or a movie or anything that I have read before. Day later, I still have a fucking headache. I almost started sobbing, man. Is it bad that the story made me cry? Well, no, cause that just means the writing was that good to make me really feel the emotions and get invested enough to the point that I had to shed tears. But then again, now I have to go to therapy after reading this, and therapies are quite expensive, so that's not a very good thing. And now I also have trust issues when it comes to books, if that makes sense.

Bonus thing that I liked:

APOLLOOOOO!!!! I know he was a bad guy in the this story, but man, so cool that he showed up, I was so fucking excited, since he is one of my favorite Greek gods. Also, this book make me fucking love Odysseus. Love Greek mythology.

Final thoughts:
This book is absolutely perfect. As I said, it was so hard to find something that I didn't like. I enjoyed every second of it and was so inspired by the story and Madeline's style of writing. She influenced my own writing too and I learned a lot from this book as a writer. I highly recommend it to anyone. LITERALLY A N Y O N E. 

[read in the German translation by Michael Windgassen]
As I feel like this myth is sufficiently common knowledge, I will not use the spoiler tags, so if you do not know the myth, proceed with caution.

This was a very interesting read, though off to a bit of a slow start. The story offered background information and cultural details which deepen your understanding of the actual myth, such as the fact that the theft of the slave which causes Achilles to stop fighting alongside the Greeks actually was a grave insult to his personal honour. It also put (at least my understanding of) the myth into a different light by not Patroklos not being an accomplished fighter in his own right. I always pictured him as being a slightly weaker fighter than Achilles, thus enabling him to impersonate him without anyone noticing. The twist that

Patroklos could not fight at all and only managed to accomplish his feats because of divine intervention

was surprising, but welcome, even though I definitely understand some readers being disappointed - the story is not a good power fantasy anymore.

I was a bit disappointed by the ending, however. Before you ask, yes, it did make me cry, that's not the problem. During whole sections about the Trojan War, Agamemnon and (to a lesser degree) Odysseus and Diomedes are made out to be the antagonists. Agamemnon kills - sorry, sacrifices - his daughter, using marriage to Achilles (who is unaware of the duplicity) as the pretense to lure her to the altar he kills her on. During the war, he uses every available chance to slight Achilles in some way. He refuses to return his own slave Chryseis, a priestess, to her father even though every rule of Greek culture literally tells him to do it, which in turn brings a deadly illness/an irate Apollo shooting deadly arrows to the Greek armies. Achilles, with the help of his godly mother, manages to avert the crisis by returning Chryseis to her father. In turn,  Agamemnon takes his slave Briseis, which apparently is a grave insult to him and against basically every rule of conduct. Of course, Achilles would then stop fighting for a man who slighted him like this.

It is true that both Achilles and Patroklos are, after their deaths, insulted and separated by Achilles' son and he is made into an antagonist by that. That's why we learn that he died as a result of his greed and hubris - his "karmic" punishment. But if Miller had the time to explain Phyrros' end, why did she not mention Agamemnon's death? (His wife and her lover kill him in revenge for him killing his daughter.) It would have punished the main antagonist of the whole novel, if I might call him that, and would have been more fitting than Phyrros' story, I think.

I missed Achilles' invulnerability, leaving only the Achilles heel as his weakness. But I actually have no idea if this is in the Iliad or originates from some other myth, so maybe it actually is accurate.

Something else that could be criticised, but that I actually appreciate, is that Achilles and Patroklos have been turned into completely 100 % gays who therefore did not systematically rape and abuse female war slaves (= innocent farmers' wives and daughters who had the misfortune of living in villages too close to Troy) like all the other Greeks nor come into any situation where they might be forced to participate in other similarly sexist, but normal and commonplace practices which we today would call (war) crimes. I also liked that Miller pointed out the inherent sexism and misogyny of Ancient Greece and how no woman at all was safe from sexual violence, not even goddesses (see: Thetis).

Over all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Greek mythology or knowing more about Ancient Greece. It offers a believable glimpse into the past (with the odd interference of gods) while providing background information dearly needed to actually understand what is happening. The myth is told with enough twists to the original that it does not simply copy the original into a different POV and modern language and so that it stands on its own feet.

"i would know him in death, at the end of the world"

gorgeous language, and wonderful retelling of a classic. Miller truly brought these characters and their passions back to lie. I was extremely entranced by the language Miller chose to portray Patroclus and his thoughts, I fell in love with him and was truly invested in his story. I know the Greeks and their love for tragedies, but I guess I thought this ended differently than it did, so the end really did catch me off guard (in a good way). I only give it four stars because of the rushed/slowness at the end that didn't match the energy of the rest of the novel. It is definitely up there with my favorite novels, nevertheless. I will be adding another of her novels to my tbr!

ALSO! before reading, please check the TWs and content warnings!

i feel demolished by this book oh my god