"I will wait for you among the shades."

My heart might actually be broken. The last 20% or so of this book destroyed me. Honestly I was hoping for something a bit less tame, but it was beautifully written and full of wonderful lines. "Somewhere his soul waits, but it is nowhere I can reach." / "I would know him in death, at the end of the world." I really loved Patroclus, seeing him grow from being so downtrodden to how he ends the novel. I can understand why people might dislike Achilles but I thought his narrative remained true to his character throughout the story.

The only downside was that I felt like the romance between Achilles and Patroclus was pushed aside a little too much from the time the war began. How many years pass while they're in the camp - a decade? But a lot of the emotional weight rests on what they had as teenagers, which I feel like was a bit of a missed opportunity. I do think you're meant to see them as good for each other and an OTP, but I think there needed to be more from Achilles' side during those war years for that to have the desired impact.