Jane
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’ll start this by saying that this was not how I pictured Robin’s story to go. In my head, I always pegged her as a bit alternative for no other reason than because she liked that style and liked to be contrary. In a way, I saw her as a bit like Eddie but not as extreme or so in your face.
Given that, I can’t say I disliked this. There were certainly aspects here that I loved.
1. It was interesting to see how her parents were such free spirits and yet they produced a child that was quite anxious.
2. I thought it was quite apt that the AIDS epidemic was brought up and how that affected Robin’s thoughts on how she will be perceived.
3. I especially loved the arc with her teacher, Mr. Hauser. It was both aspirational but realistic.
That scene, when Robin was lamenting how could he go now when she just realized she needs a mentor on her sexuality, was heartbreaking.
What took away from my enjoyment of this were the small inaccuracies either from the era or from the show.
1. Printers/photo copiers were not really readily available to students unless they were for school activities such as clubs. So, Robin couldn’t have been able to use one to print her resume.
2. During the 80s resumes weren’t needed for blue collar jobs. People filled out job applications and gave references.
3. Tammy Thompson was not a red head in the show. But this issue, I blame on the fact that the book came out before Season 4.
4. Steve was never mentioned as having been in the football team. If he was, then he shouldn’t have been so salty about how the Scoops Ahoy hat was ruining his best feature (his hair). Football helmets would flatten his hair more than the sailor hat.
5. While I get that Robin’s goal of seeing Tammy Thomson at the prom was needed in the plot of this story, it also went against how Robin was in the show. Robin couldn’t even handle seeing Vicki with her boyfriend. She couldn’t possibly have ever thought about going to the prom just to see Tammy. But again, I blame this on the fact that the book came out before Season 4.
What added to my enjoyment of this were the slight digs at Steve. The guy was just living his life and there he was, catching strays from Robin.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’ll start this by saying that this was not how I pictured Robin’s story to go. In my head, I always pegged her as a bit alternative for no other reason than because she liked that style and liked to be contrary. In a way, I saw her as a bit like Eddie but not as extreme or so in your face.
Given that, I can’t say I disliked this. There were certainly aspects here that I loved.
1. It was interesting to see how her parents were such free spirits and yet they produced a child that was quite anxious.
2. I thought it was quite apt that the AIDS epidemic was brought up and how that affected Robin’s thoughts on how she will be perceived.
3. I especially loved the arc with her teacher, Mr. Hauser. It was both aspirational but realistic.
That scene, when Robin was lamenting how could he go now when she just realized she needs a mentor on her sexuality, was heartbreaking.
What took away from my enjoyment of this were the small inaccuracies either from the era or from the show.
1. Printers/photo copiers were not really readily available to students unless they were for school activities such as clubs. So, Robin couldn’t have been able to use one to print her resume.
2. During the 80s resumes weren’t needed for blue collar jobs. People filled out job applications and gave references.
3. Tammy Thompson was not a red head in the show. But this issue, I blame on the fact that the book came out before Season 4.
4. Steve was never mentioned as having been in the football team. If he was, then he shouldn’t have been so salty about how the Scoops Ahoy hat was ruining his best feature (his hair). Football helmets would flatten his hair more than the sailor hat.
5. While I get that Robin’s goal of seeing Tammy Thomson at the prom was needed in the plot of this story, it also went against how Robin was in the show. Robin couldn’t even handle seeing Vicki with her boyfriend. She couldn’t possibly have ever thought about going to the prom just to see Tammy. But again, I blame this on the fact that the book came out before Season 4.
What added to my enjoyment of this were the slight digs at Steve. The guy was just living his life and there he was, catching strays from Robin.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As much as I don’t shy away from Celebrity Gossip, which should have made this right up my alley, I am not raving about this book. It’s a good book, don’t get me wrong. But it just wasn’t for me.
Why it wasn't for me?
For some reason, I felt no connection to the main characters. They were boring to me with the exception of their douche dad. We were given their sob story, which made me feel sorry for them, but I just could not get invested in them.
Maybe it’s because there was no clear goal in the story. To me, this was like having a friend who just wanted to rant but you thought they were asking for advice. So, for most of the time they’re talking, you’re wondering what exactly were they asking you to do. That’s basically how I felt when I was reading this.
Why did I give it this rating?
Well, as I said, this was still a good book.
1. The pacing was good.
2. The characters, though flawed, were not annoyingly contradictory which was something I’ve seen in the past books I’ve read (cough - Of Jade and Dragons - cough).
3. The party in the story really captured the 80’s vibe. The cocaine being offered around in serving trays was exactly what you’d picture you’d see in those kinds of shindigs.
Other notes
These aren’t bad for the story but if the story/characters were real, I’d be concerned.
1. As a person who struggled to buy their own place, reading the house burn down, messed me up. I know this fiction and plot wise, the house burning down was very symbolic of leaving your past behind, but it was so upsetting to me.
2. There were so many beautiful women in Malibu but Hud could only fall in love with his brother’s ex? Really? Did he not have eyes? Was he just that lazy in finding a partner?
3. Jay was, in some ways, becoming like his dad. His interest in women were fleeting. He didn’t even like his ex, Ashley (the woman Hud fell in love with) that much. He was just hurt she broke up with him. Then he’s pursuing this woman, Lara, who he didn’t really think was that attractive. He seemed to be pursuing her because she wasn’t throwing herself at him and was, therefore, a challenge.
4. Their mom, June, was selfish and a hypocrite. She had too much pride to go after their dad for child support but named the diner after him to make money from his name. She should have swallowed her pride and went after Mick. The child support would have spared the children hardship and Nina wouldn’t have had to drop out of school.
Maybe an Unpopular Opinion
Casey was an unnecessary addition to the story. There was no real purpose to her that I could see. She wasn’t even needed to give Nina an incognito car to the airport. Nina could have just taken any of the other cars left parked at their house since so many party guests got arrested.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As much as I don’t shy away from Celebrity Gossip, which should have made this right up my alley, I am not raving about this book. It’s a good book, don’t get me wrong. But it just wasn’t for me.
Why it wasn't for me?
For some reason, I felt no connection to the main characters. They were boring to me with the exception of their douche dad. We were given their sob story, which made me feel sorry for them, but I just could not get invested in them.
Maybe it’s because there was no clear goal in the story. To me, this was like having a friend who just wanted to rant but you thought they were asking for advice. So, for most of the time they’re talking, you’re wondering what exactly were they asking you to do. That’s basically how I felt when I was reading this.
Why did I give it this rating?
Well, as I said, this was still a good book.
1. The pacing was good.
2. The characters, though flawed, were not annoyingly contradictory which was something I’ve seen in the past books I’ve read (cough - Of Jade and Dragons - cough).
3. The party in the story really captured the 80’s vibe. The cocaine being offered around in serving trays was exactly what you’d picture you’d see in those kinds of shindigs.
Other notes
These aren’t bad for the story but if the story/characters were real, I’d be concerned.
1. As a person who struggled to buy their own place, reading the house burn down, messed me up. I know this fiction and plot wise, the house burning down was very symbolic of leaving your past behind, but it was so upsetting to me.
2. There were so many beautiful women in Malibu but Hud could only fall in love with his brother’s ex? Really? Did he not have eyes? Was he just that lazy in finding a partner?
3. Jay was, in some ways, becoming like his dad. His interest in women were fleeting. He didn’t even like his ex, Ashley (the woman Hud fell in love with) that much. He was just hurt she broke up with him. Then he’s pursuing this woman, Lara, who he didn’t really think was that attractive. He seemed to be pursuing her because she wasn’t throwing herself at him and was, therefore, a challenge.
4. Their mom, June, was selfish and a hypocrite. She had too much pride to go after their dad for child support but named the diner after him to make money from his name. She should have swallowed her pride and went after Mick. The child support would have spared the children hardship and Nina wouldn’t have had to drop out of school.
Maybe an Unpopular Opinion
Casey was an unnecessary addition to the story. There was no real purpose to her that I could see. She wasn’t even needed to give Nina an incognito car to the airport. Nina could have just taken any of the other cars left parked at their house since so many party guests got arrested.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been stressed these past 2 months so I picked this as one of the last things to read this year because I needed something easy to read.
It might seem weird that I rated this higher than some books that were objectively better. But it’s about expectations.
From the summary of this book and the reviews I’ve read, I knew that this wasn’t something deep and meaningful. I have been forewarned on the problematic scenes scattered in the story. I also went into this without expecting a lot of character development or world building.
This was supposed to be a fairly run of the mill fantasy. It will have some monster fighting. It will have “spicy” scenes (some of which are questionable by today’s moral standards).
So given those, I can say that my expectations were met. There were no surprises. There were no unexpected disappointments. What edged this to a 2.5 instead of a 2.0 was because it didn’t have any weird and annoying contradictory actions from the characters (cough – Of Jade and Dragons – cough).
Would I recommend this to others? Probably not especially if I don’t know them well. I also won’t recommend this to the younger audience. However, this does fit a certain niche of interest and I don’t see a problem with reading this book or books of the same ilk. I mean, we don’t always have to read award winning books. As I said to the girl who rang this book up for me in Coles: We don’t always have to eat vegetables. It’s ok to eat some junk food. And this the equivalent of junk food in the literary world.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been stressed these past 2 months so I picked this as one of the last things to read this year because I needed something easy to read.
It might seem weird that I rated this higher than some books that were objectively better. But it’s about expectations.
From the summary of this book and the reviews I’ve read, I knew that this wasn’t something deep and meaningful. I have been forewarned on the problematic scenes scattered in the story. I also went into this without expecting a lot of character development or world building.
This was supposed to be a fairly run of the mill fantasy. It will have some monster fighting. It will have “spicy” scenes (some of which are questionable by today’s moral standards).
So given those, I can say that my expectations were met. There were no surprises. There were no unexpected disappointments. What edged this to a 2.5 instead of a 2.0 was because it didn’t have any weird and annoying contradictory actions from the characters (cough – Of Jade and Dragons – cough).
Would I recommend this to others? Probably not especially if I don’t know them well. I also won’t recommend this to the younger audience. However, this does fit a certain niche of interest and I don’t see a problem with reading this book or books of the same ilk. I mean, we don’t always have to read award winning books. As I said to the girl who rang this book up for me in Coles: We don’t always have to eat vegetables. It’s ok to eat some junk food. And this the equivalent of junk food in the literary world.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was really stressed during the time I was reading this but couldn’t take my sweet time to read it because it was due to be returned to the library in just 2 weeks. I supplemented my reading with text – to – speech to finish it because I was too tired to “read” it. Given the circumstances, my rating of this book could go up or down later after I do a re-read.
This was the 2nd Emily Henry I’ve read and I can’t help but compare them. Overall, this was a better read than Book Lovers. Here, it’s more believable that they fell in love with each other.
1. The characters of Poppy and Alex were more fleshed out so we could see what about them made the other person fall in love with them.
2. Their affection for each other was cultivated through years. It wasn’t something that happened suddenly.
But despite the fact that this story avoided what I consider the major flaws in Book Lovers, I still felt like something was missing. That, while I could see them falling in love, I felt like it was wrong for them to get together that quickly after such a big conflict. The conflict being, Poppy basically asking Alex to perform boyfriend duties when he wasn’t her boyfriend, causing problems in Alex’s own relationship because he failed to set boundaries with Poppy.
There was so much time spent telling us about the different vacations they went to. Which was ok because it laid the groundwork for their bond. But I would have loved it if the story showed us how they repaired their relationship after Poppy made the grand gesture of coming back to her old high school and professing her love for Alex. I wanted to see what happened immediately after that. But what we got was them months later, happily living in New York. It seemed too convenient and I felt robbed of the angst I was looking for in this book.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was really stressed during the time I was reading this but couldn’t take my sweet time to read it because it was due to be returned to the library in just 2 weeks. I supplemented my reading with text – to – speech to finish it because I was too tired to “read” it. Given the circumstances, my rating of this book could go up or down later after I do a re-read.
This was the 2nd Emily Henry I’ve read and I can’t help but compare them. Overall, this was a better read than Book Lovers. Here, it’s more believable that they fell in love with each other.
1. The characters of Poppy and Alex were more fleshed out so we could see what about them made the other person fall in love with them.
2. Their affection for each other was cultivated through years. It wasn’t something that happened suddenly.
But despite the fact that this story avoided what I consider the major flaws in Book Lovers, I still felt like something was missing. That, while I could see them falling in love, I felt like it was wrong for them to get together that quickly after such a big conflict. The conflict being, Poppy basically asking Alex to perform boyfriend duties when he wasn’t her boyfriend, causing problems in Alex’s own relationship because he failed to set boundaries with Poppy.
There was so much time spent telling us about the different vacations they went to. Which was ok because it laid the groundwork for their bond. But I would have loved it if the story showed us how they repaired their relationship after Poppy made the grand gesture of coming back to her old high school and professing her love for Alex. I wanted to see what happened immediately after that. But what we got was them months later, happily living in New York. It seemed too convenient and I felt robbed of the angst I was looking for in this book.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As much as I don’t shy away from Celebrity Gossip, which should have made this right up my alley, I am not raving about this book. It’s a good book, don’t get me wrong. But it just wasn’t for me.
Why it wasn't for me?
For some reason, I felt no connection to the main characters. They were boring to me with the exception of their douche dad. We were given their sob story, which made me feel sorry for them, but I just could not get invested in them.
Maybe it’s because there was no clear goal in the story. To me, this was like having a friend who just wanted to rant but you thought they were asking for advice. So, for most of the time they’re talking, you’re wondering what exactly were they asking you to do. That’s basically how I felt when I was reading this.
Why did I give it this rating?
Well, as I said, this was still a good book.
1. The pacing was good.
2. The characters, though flawed, were not annoyingly contradictory which was something I’ve seen in the past books I’ve read (cough - Of Jade and Dragons - cough).
3. The party in the story really captured the 80’s vibe. The cocaine being offered around in serving trays was exactly what you’d picture you’d see in those kinds of shindigs.
Other notes
These aren’t bad for the story but if the story/characters were real, I’d be concerned.
1. As a person who struggled to buy their own place, reading the house burn down, messed me up. I know this fiction and plot wise, the house burning down was very symbolic of leaving your past behind, but it was so upsetting to me.
2. There were so many beautiful women in Malibu but Hud could only fall in love with his brother’s ex? Really? Did he not have eyes? Was he just that lazy in finding a partner?
3. Jay was, in some ways, becoming like his dad. His interest in women were fleeting. He didn’t even like his ex, Ashley (the woman Hud fell in love with) that much. He was just hurt she broke up with him. Then he’s pursuing this woman, Lara, who he didn’t really think was that attractive. He seemed to be pursuing her because she wasn’t throwing herself at him and was, therefore, a challenge.
4. Their mom, June, was selfish and a hypocrite. She had too much pride to go after their dad for child support but named the diner after him to make money from his name. She should have swallowed her pride and went after Mick. The child support would have spared the children hardship and Nina wouldn’t have had to drop out of school.
Maybe an Unpopular Opinion
Casey was an unnecessary addition to the story. There was no real purpose to her that I could see. She wasn’t even needed to give Nina an incognito car to the airport. Nina could have just taken any of the other cars left parked at their house since so many party guests got arrested.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As much as I don’t shy away from Celebrity Gossip, which should have made this right up my alley, I am not raving about this book. It’s a good book, don’t get me wrong. But it just wasn’t for me.
Why it wasn't for me?
For some reason, I felt no connection to the main characters. They were boring to me with the exception of their douche dad. We were given their sob story, which made me feel sorry for them, but I just could not get invested in them.
Maybe it’s because there was no clear goal in the story. To me, this was like having a friend who just wanted to rant but you thought they were asking for advice. So, for most of the time they’re talking, you’re wondering what exactly were they asking you to do. That’s basically how I felt when I was reading this.
Why did I give it this rating?
Well, as I said, this was still a good book.
1. The pacing was good.
2. The characters, though flawed, were not annoyingly contradictory which was something I’ve seen in the past books I’ve read (cough - Of Jade and Dragons - cough).
3. The party in the story really captured the 80’s vibe. The cocaine being offered around in serving trays was exactly what you’d picture you’d see in those kinds of shindigs.
Other notes
These aren’t bad for the story but if the story/characters were real, I’d be concerned.
1. As a person who struggled to buy their own place, reading the house burn down, messed me up. I know this fiction and plot wise, the house burning down was very symbolic of leaving your past behind, but it was so upsetting to me.
2. There were so many beautiful women in Malibu but Hud could only fall in love with his brother’s ex? Really? Did he not have eyes? Was he just that lazy in finding a partner?
3. Jay was, in some ways, becoming like his dad. His interest in women were fleeting. He didn’t even like his ex, Ashley (the woman Hud fell in love with) that much. He was just hurt she broke up with him. Then he’s pursuing this woman, Lara, who he didn’t really think was that attractive. He seemed to be pursuing her because she wasn’t throwing herself at him and was, therefore, a challenge.
4. Their mom, June, was selfish and a hypocrite. She had too much pride to go after their dad for child support but named the diner after him to make money from his name. She should have swallowed her pride and went after Mick. The child support would have spared the children hardship and Nina wouldn’t have had to drop out of school.
Maybe an Unpopular Opinion
Casey was an unnecessary addition to the story. There was no real purpose to her that I could see. She wasn’t even needed to give Nina an incognito car to the airport. Nina could have just taken any of the other cars left parked at their house since so many party guests got arrested.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know that The Song of Achilles is a well rated book but never had the urge to read it immediately. However, I saw a 1-star review that basically said that Patroclus was a “Bella” to Achilles’ “Edward”.
As a person who has vowed to avoid anything resembling Twilight, I was disappointed because that meant the book was not something I’d like. But then I was intrigued. Can The Song of Achilles be that bad? How can it be rated that high but still have Twilight vibes?
I resolved to borrow it from my local library and find out for myself.
So, was it true that Patroclus was “such a Bella”? In a way, yes. But at the same time, no.
Patroclus was very much in love with Achilles. He followed Achilles even when it was more convenient, and safer, for him not to do so. But his devotion was more understandable compared to Bella’s. The relationship between Patroclus and Achilles developed through time. This was not a high school crush that speed up from interest to full on obsession in a matter of weeks. There was also a clear advantage to being with Achilles. Patroclus was an exile. He was sent to be soldier for a king when he has no aptitude for it. His life would have been worse if he wasn’t with Achilles whereas if Bella wasn’t with Edward, her status in life wouldn’t have been altered at all.
As much as my opinion of this book is the opposite of that person, who inspired me to read this, I totally appreciated that review. It got me to check out this book. It also gave me a good laugh.
Now that we are done with whether or not Patroclus is like Bella, let’s move on to the rest of my thoughts on this.
Based on my rating, yes, I LOVE this book. Below are my reasons.
1.
As a person who loved reading Greek mythology as a kid, I appreciated the prose. It was very much in line with how I remember those stories were written.
2.
The characterizations were also, in my opinion, on point. Yes, a lot of the characters here were awful, awful people. Including Achilles. But, again, it was in line with how those characters were portrayed in Greek mythology. They were kings, princes, and/or demigods of an ancient time. Of course, they were filled with hubris and ambition with little to no regard of others.
3
The romance here was top notch. The romantic build-up between Patroclus and Achilles was very much the type that I love.
I am a firm believer that love stories are better received when the readers feel that aspects of that romance are something that they can experience themselves. It’s a lot easier to picture someone falling for your smile than someone killing a horde of monsters for you. And as much as Greek mythology is very removed from a casual life of modern times, there were enough non-epic, simple, and normal scenes between Patroclus and Achilles that made their love very real and relatable.
One such scene was in Chapter 15 - Page 182, where Achilles was telling Patroclus how much he likes Patroclus’ hair, chest, etc. while touching said body parts. That was probably the one of the best foreplay scenes I’ve read. And I say this as a person who has read a good number historical romance books. It was so romantic and goddamn hot.
I loved the romance here so much that I wanted to highlight passages in the book. Unfortunately, the copy I had was from the library. As such, I cannot deface it. However, I will share a couple of them here.
Chapter 10 - Page 102: It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.
Chapter 15 - Page 183: I think: This is what I will miss. I think: I will kill myself rather than miss it. I think: How long do we have?
I do recommend listening to the audiobook while reading the book just to know how the places and names are pronounced.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
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I know that The Song of Achilles is a well rated book but never had the urge to read it immediately. However, I saw a 1-star review that basically said that Patroclus was a “Bella” to Achilles’ “Edward”.
As a person who has vowed to avoid anything resembling Twilight, I was disappointed because that meant the book was not something I’d like. But then I was intrigued. Can The Song of Achilles be that bad? How can it be rated that high but still have Twilight vibes?
I resolved to borrow it from my local library and find out for myself.
So, was it true that Patroclus was “such a Bella”? In a way, yes. But at the same time, no.
Patroclus was very much in love with Achilles. He followed Achilles even when it was more convenient, and safer, for him not to do so. But his devotion was more understandable compared to Bella’s. The relationship between Patroclus and Achilles developed through time. This was not a high school crush that speed up from interest to full on obsession in a matter of weeks. There was also a clear advantage to being with Achilles. Patroclus was an exile. He was sent to be soldier for a king when he has no aptitude for it. His life would have been worse if he wasn’t with Achilles whereas if Bella wasn’t with Edward, her status in life wouldn’t have been altered at all.
As much as my opinion of this book is the opposite of that person, who inspired me to read this, I totally appreciated that review. It got me to check out this book. It also gave me a good laugh.
Now that we are done with whether or not Patroclus is like Bella, let’s move on to the rest of my thoughts on this.
Based on my rating, yes, I LOVE this book. Below are my reasons.
1.
As a person who loved reading Greek mythology as a kid, I appreciated the prose. It was very much in line with how I remember those stories were written.
2.
The characterizations were also, in my opinion, on point. Yes, a lot of the characters here were awful, awful people. Including Achilles. But, again, it was in line with how those characters were portrayed in Greek mythology. They were kings, princes, and/or demigods of an ancient time. Of course, they were filled with hubris and ambition with little to no regard of others.
3
The romance here was top notch. The romantic build-up between Patroclus and Achilles was very much the type that I love.
I am a firm believer that love stories are better received when the readers feel that aspects of that romance are something that they can experience themselves. It’s a lot easier to picture someone falling for your smile than someone killing a horde of monsters for you. And as much as Greek mythology is very removed from a casual life of modern times, there were enough non-epic, simple, and normal scenes between Patroclus and Achilles that made their love very real and relatable.
One such scene was in Chapter 15 - Page 182, where Achilles was telling Patroclus how much he likes Patroclus’ hair, chest, etc. while touching said body parts. That was probably the one of the best foreplay scenes I’ve read. And I say this as a person who has read a good number historical romance books. It was so romantic and goddamn hot.
I loved the romance here so much that I wanted to highlight passages in the book. Unfortunately, the copy I had was from the library. As such, I cannot deface it. However, I will share a couple of them here.
Chapter 10 - Page 102: It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.
Chapter 15 - Page 183: I think: This is what I will miss. I think: I will kill myself rather than miss it. I think: How long do we have?
I do recommend listening to the audiobook while reading the book just to know how the places and names are pronounced.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
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Given that this book was about one of the most engaging characters in the MCU, it’s really boring.
I get that Loki lost his ability to sew chaos while in exile, but he would still have his usual charm and wit. Those were sorely lacking here.
Tony’s descent into obsession with avenging Happy was also not great. Plotwise, it would have been fine however I don’t think it was well executed. I believe he can get obsessed but not to the point that he’d kidnap a kid. He’s a douche but he’s not totally depraved.
The timeline was also problematic.
The whole thing happened in just a few months. The significance of Loki’s “redemption” is undermined given how he was only exiled for a few months. Heck, it hasn’t even been half a year. How changed could he be in just a few months?
On top of all this, we don’t even find out the identity of the person who tricked Loki and masterminded Thor’s death.
The only saving grace here was the scene between Loki and his mother, when he asked how could he hold up his arms to receive his parents love when his arms were loaded with the feeling of shame.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
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Given that this book was about one of the most engaging characters in the MCU, it’s really boring.
I get that Loki lost his ability to sew chaos while in exile, but he would still have his usual charm and wit. Those were sorely lacking here.
Tony’s descent into obsession with avenging Happy was also not great. Plotwise, it would have been fine however I don’t think it was well executed. I believe he can get obsessed but not to the point that he’d kidnap a kid. He’s a douche but he’s not totally depraved.
The timeline was also problematic.
The whole thing happened in just a few months. The significance of Loki’s “redemption” is undermined given how he was only exiled for a few months. Heck, it hasn’t even been half a year. How changed could he be in just a few months?
On top of all this, we don’t even find out the identity of the person who tricked Loki and masterminded Thor’s death.
The only saving grace here was the scene between Loki and his mother, when he asked how could he hold up his arms to receive his parents love when his arms were loaded with the feeling of shame.