The Song of Achilles, written by Madeline Miller, became a BookTok craze and swept the platform. If you’re not one for books or audio books, this book is sure to change that!

The Trojan War is arguably one of the most memorable wars in Greek Mythology. This is where our story ends — the most tear jerking of many other tear jerkers. Our story follows the lives of two people to the very end, Achilles and Patroclus.

In Greek tales, Patroclus became one of Achilles’ childhood friends, but he lacked the honor of nobility. However, this didn’t phase Achilles, and they became the greatest companions and presumed lovers. This beautifully written and poetic book describes their upbringing and downfall, leaving you with the comfort of a bittersweet end. Most prophecies don’t tend to end well, and if you know anything about the course of the Trojan War, you know where this book may lead However, nothing will ever tear you to shreds in such a beautiful way as this book does.

So much of the credit must be given to not only the writer, but the audiobook reader, Frazer Douglas. He reads for us 11 hours and 15 minutes of passages in such a beautiful, witty, and immersing tone that makes the often hard to comprehend poetry of Madeline Miller easier to understand. Listening to the audiobook is the way to go for the utmost immersive effects, and even if you don’t prefer audiobooks, you may find that this book may change that. I ask you to give it a try.

The Song of Achilles is beautiful, and that is no secret to the public. The book has been around long before Tik Tok had gotten ahold of it, and in 2012, it was awarded the Orange Prize for Fiction. Madeline Miller had created a New York Times Bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2012 Stonewall Writer of the Year. The fact that Tik Tok was able to pick this book back almost a decade later just shows that the incredible writing of Madeline Miller was not lost after time.

This book, I will warn, isn’t very proper for the younger ages. It is deemed appropriate for YA and up, and I agree with that. There are moments that serve to be awkward, as most romances, and the inclusion of Greek Mythology doesn’t make that better. There are also many moments that may be hard to listen to because it is a story of Greek Mythology. As you may know, the actions one may take in Greek Myth ends up being very questionable at times, but that will never make the beauty of what was written falter.

This book will make you feel every emotion at some point; awkwardness, anger, sadness, happiness, hopefulness, bittersweetness, and whatever else you can think of. In 11 hours, of course, you can get very attached to characters and a story, and I will never be able to read this book again for the first time. That may be the saddest thing about this book that I can think of.

If you’re up for the challenge, fluctuating emotions, and difficult scenes, as well as the beautiful love of Achilles and Patroclus and the tragedy that plagues them, then you should read this book. Madeline Miller did not fall short in the slightest, and listening to the audiobook narrated by Frazer Douglas will not disappoint you. This poetic tragedy still didn’t fail to make me smile and feel. Sometimes we need that.