Reviews

Jennifer Saint has done it again. Atalanta is another hard hitting, beautifully written retelling.

Atalanta is only a baby when she is left on a mountain to die. Despite the odds, she’s survives and is rescued by a bear and her cubs. Raised as of her own, Atalanta has a life unlike any mortal. This unconventional upbringing continues when she is taken in by Artemis and her nymphs. Atalanta is trained by Artemis herself and soon becomes something closer to a Goddess than a mortal. We follow her as she boards the Argo setting out alongside some other famous mythological heroes. We watch her navigate the Greek world after only ever knowing the forest in which she was raised and we follow her as she deals with the consequences of her new life. This book has many familiar names and stories, all told from new perspectives.

Prior to reading this I knew nothing of Atalanta and her story, and I knew very little of the Argonauts. This made the reading experience different from other retellings I have read. I had no idea what would happen and I enjoyed following the twist and turns and being able to go on this adventure with Atalanta.

Following the book I researched Atalanta.
I think Saint did and excellent job of portraying her story. As always, she has taken a lesser know woman from Greek mythology and created a beautiful book that allows a whole new side of this story to be told.

This book retains all the amazing writing and themes of the author’s previous book, whilst simultaneously feeling new and different. The writing is excellent and it is an easy to read book.

I did. find myself getting a little bored in the middle. I kept waiting for more action and it never really came. Whilst I appreciate the author was trying to keep the story about Atalanta and not the Argonauts, I would have liked to have see. more on their journey. To see some of the places the visited more in depth, or to have some of the fight scenes feel more dangerous.
The journey they took seemed a little anticlimactic and some of the sub plots felt like loose ends, and others just felt unnecessary.

However, I mainly just enjoy being in the Ancient Greek world, surrounded by familiar and unfamiliar names, so these extra sub plots were still interesting.

Overall, I didn’t like is as much as other retellings, or as much as her other books, but I still enjoyed reading it and I would definitely recommend it!