Ask r/books for the novel that emotionally destroyed them and Song of Achilles is in nearly every thread. It's the Iliad retold from Patroclus's point of view, an awkward exiled prince who falls into orbit around the golden, impossible Achilles, and the devotion between them becomes the whole story. You already know how the Trojan War ends, and Miller makes you fall in love anyway, which is exactly why it wrecks people. You don't need to know any Greek mythology going in; readers say the prose teaches you everything you need. The most common piece of advice in the threads: do not read the last 50 pages in public.
Curated from real reader threads on Reddit (r/Romantasy, r/RomanceBooks, r/Fantasy) and cross-referenced against Goodreads and BookTok. Updated regularly.
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by Madeline Miller
Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios, discovers her gift as a witch, and spends centuries navigating gods, monsters, and mortals in a world that would prefer she didn't exist. Mentioned in 18 of 20 "books like Song of Achilles" threads on Reddit (278 comments, massive signal). Same author, same luminous prose, same Greek mythology reimagined with emotional depth.
by Hanya Yanagihara
Four friends meet at a small Massachusetts college and follow each other to New York, where one of them, quiet, damaged, extraordinary Jude St. Francis, carries a childhood no one is allowed to ask about. 6 of 20 TSOA threads on Reddit. One of the most emotionally demanding novels ever written.
by TJ Klune
4 of 20 TSOA threads on Reddit. A caseworker investigating a magical orphanage discovers found family in the most unexpected place. Same heart, lighter weight.
by Donna Tartt
Richard Papen transfers to a small Vermont college and falls in with an elite, secretive group of classics students who seem to live by rules only they understand. The novel opens with a murder, the mystery is only why. 4 of 20 TSOA threads on Reddit. Dark academia at its finest.
by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi lives in a vast, impossible house of infinite halls where statues fill the upper tiers and tides pour through the lower ones. He believes only two people exist in the world. He is wrong. 2 of 20 TSOA threads on Reddit. Quiet, profound, devastating in its own way.
by Sally Rooney
3 of 20 TSOA threads on Reddit. Connell and Marianne orbit each other from school to college. Same painful intimacy in a contemporary setting.
No. Miller assumes nothing. If you've heard of the Trojan War vaguely, you're overqualified. The book teaches you what you need to know.
Yes. This is universally agreed on r/RomanceBooks and r/books. Have tissues. Don't read in public. The last 50 pages are particularly brutal.
No, they're companion novels set in the same mythological world. Read in either order. Many readers prefer reading TSOA first because Circe's prose feels even more luminous in comparison.
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