Jude1111

All the Stars! One of favourite books this year.......

I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth.(...)

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I confess to knowing virtually nothing about Greek Mythology.I had,however,heard of The Trojan War and Achilles but that's about as far as it went.Throughout the whole book I was desperately trying to resist googling this myth....was it accurate? And after finishing it I couldn't read the myth fast enough,and from what I read the Author seems to have nailed it.There seems to be some debate about whether Achilles and Patroclus were actually lovers or just friends...I'm firmly in the former camp.


This book is a Masterpiece.I'm pretty sure it must have been a labour of love for the Author,after all it took her ten years to write it and I'm so glad I've read it.


This is a beautifully written love story...


Friendship,a deep love,war,gods,demi gods....my emotions were all over the place throughout this epic story.Told through the voice of Patroclus it traces the two men's lives from young boys into adulthood.If you know the myth you'll know what happens but you won't be prepared for how beautifully,how poignantly the Author tells their story.There are already loads of fantastic reviews out there....but if you don't know the story I would try and avoid reading any because a lot contain spoilers and trust me,go in blind and enjoy this truly special book,


Favourite quotes,

We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.


I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.
If I had had words to speak such a thing, I would have. But there were none that seemed big enough for it, to hold that swelling truth.
As if he had heard me, he reached for my hand. I did not need to look; his fingers were etched into my memory, slender and petal-veined, strong and quick and never wrong.


Achilles was looking at me. “Your hair never quite lies flat, here.” He touched my head, just behind my ear. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how I like it.”



He is half of my soul, as the poets say.(...)


The way his hair looked in summer sun. His face when he ran. His eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. This and this and this. So many moments of happiness, crowding forward.


In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.

Highly Recommended....my hangover is going to be just as epic as this book.