I enjoyed this book more than Circe, which I gave it the DNF mark. However, I had some difficulty engaging with the story during the first part of the book, but I got hook at the part where Achilles is introduced in the story. Then during the middle section, the pacing became too slow and tedious for me. I was close to DNFing the whole thing. Fortunately, the story's pacing improved when the Trojan War began. The Trojan War parts were my favorite because it combined the right amount of action, drama, and romance for me. Even though TSOA has much better pacing than Circe, it still has some problems of explaining stuff instead of showing thing happens. But, it didn't detract my enjoyment. I find the ending to be satisfying and avoids being too cheesy.
Despite her small role, I enjoyed reading about Briseis and I felt sad when she died. Patroclus and Achilles's characters were hard to get into at first, but they eventually grew on me. It was the same for Thetis as well. It was heart-warming to read about her helping Patroclus reunite with Achilles after death.
As a stand alone romance book, I liked it. I don't think the story was mind-blowing, but it was a nice read to pass time during recess.
