start date: 20/07/2021 | end date: 24/07/2021

summary: achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess thetis and the legendary king peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath

memorable moments: [spoilers ahead] if you don't know anything about greek mythology"

• thetis & patroclus remembering achilles for what he was. thetis visiting achilles' grave
• achilles motives and ambitions changing throughout the course of the book
• patroclus presence even after death
• as for the goddes' answer, i did not care. i would have no need for her. i did not plan to live after he was gone.
• had she really thought i would not know him? i could recognise him by touch alone, by smell, i would know him blind, byt he way his breath came and his feet struck the earth. i would know him in death, at the end of the world.
• page 171-172
• chapter 26 stressed me out so much
• zeus beating up patroclus

thoughts: ah! what a painful ride. i liked this retelling of achilles since it was done through the eyes of his best friend/lover. the entire time i pictured achilles and patroclus from hadesgame, which is just more pain and suffering since the game takes place after they died.

anyway, that aside. i thought thetis was such an interesting character. an overbearing mother who wanted nothing more than the world for her son but inadvertently made him a ~monster~ in the process. achilles was a good man, person, and he really only did have the eyes and heart for patroclus despite everything--which also made it more painful when he (patroclus) died. i remembered crying and taking photos of myself because i thought it was funny (it still is). breiseis, another character i enjoyed. she was characterised quite well, and i felt sad after her death.

to be honest, i didn't know much about patroclus prior to playing hades so i guess you could say i went into this a little bit blind. ive always loved greek and roman mythology, but this interest had been dormant for a number of years.

anyway, these bitches gay.

would i reread this?: there are some parts that i really liked and would probably revisit, although i don't know if i would read the ENTIRE book again. i might just visit the ao3 tag instead, to be honest.

would i recommend this book?: absolutely! i think anyone who enjoys greek mythology and romance would enjoy this. the spicy sences--if you will-- are done mostly non-explicitly, so for those of you that don't necessarily enjoy slash fiction, this is a good starting point!