Song of Achilles (Miller) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Only the finest of historical novelists are able to adequately convey the sheer strangeness and otherness of the past, particularly the ancient past. By this criterion alone, Madeline Miller shows exceptional promise...a remarkably fresh take on one of the most familiar narratives in western literature.... It is quite an achievement.
Nick Rennison - London Times


Miller draws on her knowledge of Classical sources wisely….[she] is particularly good at characterization…The novel is well paced, engaging and tasteful. For a writer of Miller’s training and talent, the characters of the Iliad and the Odyssey offer a wealth of further story-telling possibilities.
Carolyne Larrington - Times Literary Supplement (UK)


Miller’s prose is more poetic than almost any translation of Homer… This is a deeply affecting version of the Achilles story: a fully three-dimension man—a son, a father, husband and lover—now exists where a superhero previously stood and fought.
Guardian (UK)


For a whistlestop tour around the life and times of Achilles, you’d be hard pressed to find a better guide than Madeline Miller…This accomplished and enjoyable novel…is original, clever, and in a class of its own…an incredibly compelling and seductive read. Her skill is considerable: she has to make us believe in Achilles and Patroclus almost as if they were modern-day characters in a Hollywood movie…It’s an entirely successful piece of writing, sitting comfortably between literary and commercial genres. It does what the best novels do—it transports you to another world— as well as doing something that few novels bother to: it makes you feel incredibly clever.
Vic Groskop - Independent on Sunday (UK)


Extraordinary… Beautifully descriptive and heartachingly lyrical, this is a love story as sensitive and intuitive as any you will find.
Daily Mail (UK)


You don’t need to be familiar with Homer’s The Iliad (or Brad Pitt’s Troy, for that matter) to find Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles spellbinding....her explorations of ego, grief, and love’s many permutations are both familiar and new....[A] timeless love story.
O Magazine


(Starred review.) [S]urefooted....  [A] novel that combines the poetic drama of The Iliad with a 21st-century understanding of war, sex, sexual politics, and Trojan War heroism.... [Miller] breaks new ground retelling one of the world’s oldest stories about men in love and war, but it is the extraordinary women—Iphigenia, Briseis, and Thetis—who promise readers remarkable things to come as Miller carves out a custom-made niche in historical fiction.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Debut author Miller has chosen to retell [The Iliad] from the point of view of Patroclus, an exiled Greek prince who is taken in by Peleus, the father of Achilles. It isn't long before the lonely boy is befriended by Achilles. Over the years their tentative friendship grows into a deep and passionate love that stands firm in the face of the disapproval of their elders, dire prophecies, and the wrath of the gods themselves. Miller skillfully weaves tender scenes of the boys' relationship with breathtaking descriptions of battles and their bloody aftermath.... [A] masterly vision of the drama, valor, and tragedy of the Trojan War.  —Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage P.L., AK
Library Journal