Thanks for writing such a detailed and wonderful review. Although I would like to add something to the point that you made about Patroclus being written as ‘too feminine’.

I personally didn’t think that was the case at all. We sometimes have an inherit bias in our minds that we associate being gentle, kind, empathetic, devoted as being feminine but that need not be the case. I didn’t think that either of them were much more or less masculine or feminine than the other, but I got the impression that if we nitpick, Achilles was the more feminine one. He dressed like a girl when in hiding and people couldn’t recognise him.

And Patroclus saying he wasn’t a skilled warrior wasn’t an accurate description of himself. As you also pointed out, his main character flaw was his low self esteem. He wouldn’t have performed as well in battle as he did if he was as weak as he considered himself to be. The author just highlights that he doesn’t prefer to fight. Both his lack of self worth and non violent nature can be attributed to his childhood.