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The Song of Achilles Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Madeline Miller (Author), Frazer Douglas (Narrator), Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (Publisher)

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in Ancient History Fiction

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Bloomsbury presents The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, read by Frazer Douglas.

The international sensation.

Winner of the Orange Women's Prize for Fiction.

A Sunday Times and New York Times best seller.

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son, Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Listening Length

11 hours and 14 minutes
Author

Madeline Miller
Narrator

Frazer Douglas
Audible release date

15 July 2021
Language

English
Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ASIN

B099FFP1LQ
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	11 hours and 14 minutes
Author	Madeline Miller
Narrator	Frazer Douglas
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	15 July 2021
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B099FFP1LQ
Best Sellers Rank	378 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in Ancient History Fiction 16 in Gay Romance 26 in Romance (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		56%
4 star		32%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Karly Martin

Devastatingly good

Reviewed in Australia on 13 August 2021

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I can’t put into words just how much I absolutely love and adore this book. It has catapulted its way to being my favourite book of all time. I didn’t expect to be so taken by it, as mythology is not something I go out of my way to learn about. But that did not matter at all! The story centres around Patroclus and Achilles love for one another. We witness their unbreakable bond, despite every thing their twisted world of gods and kings throws their way.

“We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we cold see nothing else but each other.”

I bawled my eyes out like a little baby throughout so many chapters, and even after it ended. This is also the slowest I’ve read a book I loved, because my little heart couldn’t bear the devastating effect it had!! I will forever think about The Song of Achilles and the impact it has had on me. Thank you, Madeline Miller.

2 people found this helpful

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Nick_Melbourne

A readable version of Homer's Iliad

Reviewed in Australia on 1 March 2020

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If I had not previously read Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, I probably would have loved this book. It gives a fine readable version of the Iliad with extra emphasis on the relationship between the hero Achilles and his friend and lover Patroclus. However, having read the other book I knew the outline of the story and so little annoyances (at least to me) came to the fore. Among these were the narration near the end of the book, for which the author uses a trick popular in some recent books, but still disturbing. And I did not like having the Greek gods explicitly take part in the action; I would rather have them in the background just as possibilities in the minds of the characters. Those who, like me, loved the author's later book Circe should read this first and then the Silence of the Girls.

One person found this helpful

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I was transported to the time of the ancients, and I loved every moment of my journey!

Reviewed in Australia on 19 November 2016

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From the very first page I was transported to a vivid, very real and believable time, and I couldn't stop reading. The writer clearly knows her classics, being a scholar and teacher of it. I loved this interpretation of the story of Achilles, told through the voice and eyes of his companion Patroclus. Written in clear, everyday language this story is highly readable, and tells of the ancient gods, giants and men, battles and mythical creatures like Chiron the centaur. Names are vaguely familiar but appear fresh and new, being brought to life again by a vivid, cleverly woven tale. I loved it.

3 people found this helpful

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Sam M

Lets make it clear - this is a love story!

Reviewed in Australia on 31 July 2021

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You need to go into this book knowing it isn't an interpretation of the story like we saw in Troy - the movie. The entire focus of this book is the life story between Achilles and Patroclus. I felt that parts of this story were overdone and that this took away from story rather than add to it. Nevertheless it is a well written book that I enjoyed reading but I went into it with slightly different expectations!

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Jayne

Ohhh, this book!

Reviewed in Australia on 4 October 2021

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This book is Devine. Madeline has an excellent knack for weaving greek mythology/classic tales into stories that can be read by all. I was heavily invested in this love story and felt ALL the feels. Please, please read. Also, have a crack at CIRCE - the author's other TERRIFIC novel.

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A classic story retold with a gentler voice

Reviewed in Australia on 17 April 2020

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Thank you Angela Cooney for leading me to this book!

It's a familiar story, told with a gentler voice. Patroclus, paramour of the great Achilles, narrates Achilles' story. The prose is economical with not a wasted word and yet is none the poorer for it.

Five stars for anyone who likes Greek myths, four stars for everyone else (who doesn't like a cracking tale?).

👍🏼

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freelunch

"The best the gods have ever made"

Reviewed in Australia on 31 March 2019

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So much I didn't know about Achilles and Patroclus and the Trojan War.

This was a great read that brought made the characters feel alive and relatable. Really looking forward to reading more from Madeline Miller, and on this era of history/folklore.

"You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature."

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Maali Pilli

This. Book. 5/5 stars, it was PERFECT.

Reviewed in Australia on 24 August 2021

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The Song of Achilles was an absolutely incredible book that I will NEVER stop recommending. This book broke me in ways no book has every broken me before. It ripped out my heart and tore it into a thousand pieces.
The author's writing style is beautifully poetic and lyrical, and this tale brims with tragedy, love, hope, and loss. This book is a true work of art and had me speechless.
It is heart-achingly beautiful in the way it's composed, and it is guaranteed to make you sob.

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Theo

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 March 2019

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I’m going to assume that you’re familiar with the Iliad because it’s been out a while, so, Spoilers, I guess?

The Song of Achilles is a retelling, one which takes the myth and runs with it. Here Achilles really is the son of a sea nymph, he is trained by a centaur, and gods play their part in the lives of man.

I used to know my Classics a lot better that I do now - Roger Lancelyn Green’s books were a staple of my childhood library - so this was a book which unfolded for me. I remembered each plot point as we hit it, so I’m entirely the wrong person to ask if it makes any logical sense. It probably doesn’t. It certainly could have done a better job of selling ancient motivations to a modern audience.

The story is told by Patroclus, a prince and, when he begins this story, unlikely candidate for Helen’s hand in marriage. I am super here for a room full of men deciding what will happen to a teenage girl, as you can imagine. This is a male story, though, and Miller doesn’t attempt to change that.

However, when Patroclus inadvertently kills another boy, he is exiled to the court of Peleus where he falls swooningly in love with Mary Sue Achilles, who’s super perfect at everything (as one expects from a demi-god). Thetis, Achilles’ mother, really hates Patroclus. The boys go off to learn things on a mountain. They are swoonily swoony. They come back. Thetis hates Patroclus. Then she hides Achilles because she doesn’t want him to go to Troy as he will be killed.

Once the war actually begins, a good half way through the book, things improve, in part because there’s actually things happening. There is air of inexorability to the whole thing which really gets into its stride in the last third as we make the drive towards what is fated to happen (and we’re no longer reading rambling scenes about how swoony teenage Achilles is).

When Miller hits the predetermined narrative events, she’s good. When she’s making her own way between, she’s… less good.

For a book which treats the gods as real, there’s an awful lot of “something’s happening because the gods are displeased” conversations, followed by “here’s the solution to that” conversations. Obviously there’s no one correct version of many of the myths, but sometimes Miller takes the path of most boredom, such as the demand for the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Apollo’s appearance on the walls of Troy especially charmed me, so the omission of the gods involvement in other ways, even as a background, felt disappointing.

I am also critical of the characterisation. Odysseus is great, true, but everybody else? Eh.

Achilles lives his whole life chained to the prophecies made about him, but whatever this does to him remains unexplored. He’s just some guy. Admittedly one who is super good at everything and jolly good looking. And when we’re reading the narrative of a boy, then man, who is in love with him, I’d really have preferred to grasp the appeal.

Thetis is especially poorly done. Like her son she is chained to the pronouncements of the Fates, but here she is a pure JustNoMil. She’s such a central figure in the original myth - the Trojan war begins because of a prophecy made about her: the son of Thetis will be greater than his father, hence “marriage” to Peleus, hence somebody not doing the invitations right, hence golden apple etc etc etc

I was also unreasonably annoyed that Miller chooses to not use the one thing everybody knows about our demi-god: that he really should have invested in some foot armour. Google assures me Homer doesn’t include the story of Thetis’s attempt to make her son invulnerable and immortal, but Homer doesn’t include Achilles’ death, either. Or the romantic relationship between him and Patroclus. It felt like a massive oversight rather than a deliberate decision.

The beginning was interesting if not grippy. Then it got a bit dull. Then a bit duller. Then, by the end, it was very good indeed. I don’t rule out reading Circe, Miller’s second full length novel, but I could just as easily not. Overall?

3 stars

135 people found this helpful

H J Mac

I can't gush enough about this book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 July 2018

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OMG, I held my breath for the second half of this book. My memory of the events was enough to know what had to happen, but that simply doesn't spoil a thing.
She's managed to take everything we know of the story from the existing texts and build a world that is thoroughly absorbing and beautiful. It's a story of epic soul binding love, so beautifully rendered.
I really enjoyed how there was no modern lens put onto the story. She just tells it. Ideas and concepts that mean something to us would have been meaningless to the ancients, and behaviours we find unacceptable were normal. So some bits are difficult, there's human sacrifice, and slavery including sexual slavery, but nothing is gratuitous or too graphic.
Just read it it's beautiful.

78 people found this helpful

READ IT

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 August 2016

Verified Purchase

A very short review, I'm afraid. Not worthy of this book.

Does this count as historical, or mythological, or pure fantasy? Don't care - brilliant, brilliant book. It was positively painful to read it if I'm honest but I couldn't put it down. One of those books that I felt a true and consuming sense of loss for a few days after reading it. Recommended to EVERYONE.

119 people found this helpful

Trish Pea

I wasn't looking forward to reading this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 October 2018

Verified Purchase

I didn't choose to read this book. It was chosen for me as a book-club read. I don't like books about mythology (school in the 1960s put me off for life.) Or ancient history, or wars in any period of history, apart from maybe the two world wars. So, I bought this book with trepidation, not knowing what to expect. I didn't quite believe all the good reviews, and thought I would hate it.

I actually loved it. This is a beautifully-written, very descriptive book. It was easy to read, and a real page turner. I felt that I learned a lot about ancient Greece and the Trojan war. I can't fully remember the story of Achilles from school (it has been erased from my memory, along with Jason and the Argonauts, and the Minotaur) but I loved this re-telling and couldn't put the book down. The simple, striking cover is beautiful too and I would thoroughly recommend this book. A wonderful read.

49 people found this helpful

comm88

Utterly unreadable!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 February 2019

Verified Purchase

How is it that really crappy books are garlanded with "incredible" awards and lavished with undeserved praise???? This thing is really, really crappy. It is puerile in its writing style and it is sooooo boring!! I couldn't stomach it, let alone finish it. Life is way too short to waste on such hollow and unrewarding nonsense. It's a book that leaves you feeling: "Frankly, I really, really don't care!!" I didn't care about or for the characters. I didn't care for the plot, such as it is. I don't care about the author. And I sure don't give a tinker's cuss about the content. Yep. Really that bad. Honestly, do not waste your time on this garbage. Or your money. Go for a walk. Go to the gym. You could even go shopping. But give this book as wide a berth as you possibly can. You will, I guarantee, be far happier with any other choice you care to make!!

24 people found this helpful

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The Song of Achilles Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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