Oh, this book. Are our hearts ready for the dark academia adjacent title for season 3? Unsure, but we’re doing it anyway.

We put the book for this episode to a vote by your guys, our lovely listeners, and this novel won by a landslide! ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller retells the kind of story from the worlds and legends that captivate the protagonists of dark academia novels, and it’s the type of novel that they would become obsessed in a moment.

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's 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.

It’s such a different novel to our usual picks, so how will it fare against the dark academia checklist?

In this episode we discuss:

• What characters of dark academia would be reading

• The portrayal of women in Greek mythology and retellings

• The balance between Patroclus and Achilles’ personalities

• ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

If you’re yet to discover ‘The Song of Achilles’ and cry over Patroclus and Achilles, we’d love it if you would considering purchasing a copy from bookshop.org. They support independent bookstores and us too with our affiliate link.

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