Song of Achilles served with a Greek Chicken Meatball Gyro

 Song of Achilles by Madeline MIller 

This was my last book to listen to on Audiables for 2021 and it was a good one.  I had read Circe 2 years ago and loved it and kept hearing about her other book.   This is the story of Achilles and Patroclus.  The story is told by Patroclus and takes us from his life as a prince to being banished by his father and raised by King Peleus.  It is here that he meets Achilles the son of Thetis the sea goddess.  Achilles is close to perfect.  The golden boy who knows his destiny is to be the greatest warrior ever.  Through Patroclus we see Achilles for all of his beauty and his flaws.   The 2 grow close and eventually become lovers.  I thought Miller handled this so well.  I thought their love story was wonderful and believable.  

The book takes us into war and we see our hero fulfill his destiny.  They stay at war for a very long time!  There were times I was frustrated with Achilles and times i wanted Patroclus to smack him.  But, love makes us do funny things.   If you know your greek history you know this won't end well.  I'll save the spoiler but it's a heartbreaker.   Really enjoyed this.  Didn't love it quite as much as Circe but still really, really good.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.  (Probably more like 4.5 because it is a bit long but i'm feeling generous!) 

The narrator was great on Audibles.  A great narrator makes such a difference.  I did buy this book and did a bit of a joint reading.  I few times i went back to something i heard in the book and reread it.  Plus the book was helpful because in the back is a summary of the Gods and main characters.  

I wasn't sure what to pair this with.  I ended up making greek meatballs.  I found a recipe on Skinnytaste for greek turkey meatballs but my grocery store is totally out of all the stuff!  They did have ground chicken so I decided that would have to do.   I also really wanted a Gyro so i followed the meatball recipe and put these in a pita with tomato and cucumber.  I also made the Tzatziki on the website.  So good!    

I did find a greek Orange cake that I might need to make so there just might be a 2nd recipe following!

https://www.skinnytaste.com/greek-turkey-meatballs/