I had not heard of Atalanta until I read this book. Very well written. I really enjoyed this story.
Atalanta was left in the forest by her father - abandoned upon birth to Nature. Adopted by a bear mother, she grew up among cubs. As a young child, taken in by Artemis. Living in Artemis' forest with nymphs, Atalanta grows up shielded and naïve among the nymphs.
Artemis sends Atalanta into town to join Jason and his Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece.
Atalanta learns women carry it all - the punishment for rape; raising children after sex with men; men continue on quests while women are stuck home with the children.
Atalanta struggles to be her true self - discovering her own wishes and wants.
Highly recommend.

For anyone looking for a retelling of The Argonauts that writes Atalanta back into the narrative, this one might be for you. I would say particularly if you haven't really come across her before, you will enjoy this book. It retells the life of Atalanta from her perspective - her life in the forests of Arcadia as a follower of Artemis, being second guessed as a great hero of the age because she's a woman, journeying on the Argo and hunting the Calydonian Boar.

I was excited to read this one because, put simply, Atalanta is a badass. She is second only to Artemis in her skills as a hunter, she beat a man capable of holding down a sea nymph in a wrestling match and she was generally just running around making arrogant men look like right fools. And not just Jason either, he always looks useless, she makes actual capable heroes check themselves.

This book really shows that, we see her frustration as they don't take her seriously and as she slowly but surely proves her strength, skill and worth to them.

For me though, this book missed the spark of the retellings I really enjoy - Saint's Ariadne among them. The characterisation of every background character just let them all blend into a mix of "there's men around" and Atalanta's left little room for nuance. I wanted to read a feminist retelling thst really centres her agency and marginal view of the world and I just didn't get that from this book. That said, I think that's something you want if you already know this story and most readers won't because Atalanta is relegated to passing mentions in most retellings. It's great to finally see her name emblazoned on the cover. Because SERIOUSLY who on earth would prefer JASON? What a wet lettuce.

If you take anything from this book let it be this - women have been bad ass warriors since the dawn of time.

Atalanta, under the instruction and watchful eye of the goddess Artemis, is sent on a quest to join the Argonauts. Their mission is to obtain the Golden Fleece - and it is in this, Atalanta will truly prove that she is as good as any hero.

I'd never read a retelling, or even a myth, that involved Atalanta before, so I was excited and grateful to be given a Netgalley ARC for Jennifer Saint's new book. I'd read her previous two novels with mixed results. I loved Ariadne, but found Elektra more difficult to enjoy. But I was hopeful that given I knew very little about Atalanta or her place with the Argonauts, this should give me plenty to sink my teeth into.

Overall, it is a decent book. But for me, it wasn't a great book. I found it slow to start, and the middle was incredibly episodic which led to it feeling a bit meandering. I appreciate this may be an author's attempt to mimic how the characters felt, but it is always a risk and it didn't pay off for me here. The book really seemed to lack a dramatic climax, and although it picked up again in the last fifty pages, it felt a little too late, and left me with a rather flat impression overall.

I did appreciate the character of Atalanta and her own confidence in her abilities and skills. It was great to have a female protagonist who knew her worth and owned all that she could do and wasn't afraid to show it. However, I felt Atalanta was undermined by her own lack of internalisation - her motivations in her personal relationships weren't always clear or consistent, and because of the large cast of side characters, very few of them really came away with significant depth.

That said, it was very readable, and if you enjoy retellings and are after something different than the usual Trojan arena, this is a great alternative. I just think that because the Greek retelling genre is so crowded right now, a book really needs to offer something different to stand out, and while this had the chance, it didn't quite reach that bar.

Atalanta has long been my favourite mythological figure, ever since I was a kid. It always saddened me that she wasn't talked about enough, because she's amazing, but hopefully that will change with this book.

It might seem a bit odd, but whenever I've faced hardships in my life I would think about Atalanta, her strength, and that would help me get through whatever it was that I had to face. I can't even explain how much she means to me.

She, along with Artemis, is probably the person/character I've related to most out of anyone I've ever read about and I'm very glad that it hasn't changed here either. I love how both of them were represented.

At certain points the story was so emotional for me that it made me cry, THANK YOU FOR THAT, JENNIFER SAINT!! I was actually expecting to cry, I had tissues ready and everything.

The only thing that I slightly minded was that it seemed to end so fast, when the rest of the story was drawn out.

But still, I had so much fun reading this, seeing not only my baby Atalanta shine, but other mythological figures too.

I'm new to Jennifer Saint's books, I've heard of her before and I know her book about Ariadne was translated to my language, but I haven't picked it up yet. I definitely will after this though, and the Elektra book as well.

I think Saint was the perfect choice of author to bring Atalanta's story to life. Her writing style is beautiful, and pulls you right into the action so you feel like you're really there. I love it.

This is probably up there with the most feminist retellings I've read, if not the most feminist one. So if you're into that (and Greek myths) then read this book.

Even if you aren't into that you should still read this, so Atalanta doesn't get forgotten again. And also because I said so, and I'm right. You know I am, READ THIS BOOK!!!!

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did, and in a way I really did like it. I think Jennifer Saint has a brilliant prose, a beautiful way with words that made me fall in love with Ariadne. I enjoyed her remaining faithful to the fact that greek mythology is inherently always a tragedy and mostly at the detriment of women.
However, it saddens me that where the myths offer many variations, she always chooses the one where it is women (godesses of mortal) hurting women. I have a few criticisms but I want to start with the good:

- The writing is obviously amazing. The beginning and the end were impossible to put down, I loved it, it made me feel like I was there, with the characters.
- Friendships between the romantic leads is well done and feels organic (it is the transition to romance which did not work for me)
- There is more character development in Atalanta than I saw in Elektra, and for me that was a good sign.
I loved the parallels between Atalanta's upbringing and how she is herself by the end of the book.

I also have two sets of issues: my issues with this book, and my issues with the pattern in Jennifer Saint's books:

The story itself:
While I understand that the Arganaut's story, the the way Jason ended up actually winning doesn't seem very exciting in hindsight, but it baffled me that it was a succession of arriving and leaving islands and then a quick 3-4 pages to get the price.
We are giving a mountain of characters barely introduced until they say something or do something, which made it feel constantly as if "well if they don't matter for this scene, they don't exist" which isn't great for the reader. I feel like many events were thrown in a succession in the middle, with great scenes like harpies wolfing down on a blind prophet being fixed up in a couple paragraphs. it was both too slow and too rushed and I didn't like that at all.
Now my main issue is the romance. Both of them actually. I got intense whiplash from the transitions to romance because they came out of nowhere. While the friendships were set up great, the sudden switch to "okay let's kiss now" each time came out of nowhere, with little indication that the FMC was going to pursue a romantic relationship, aside from maybe two lines here and there clearly only written to guide the reader, which again, is more telling than showing. The entire first relationship was baffling, the characters behaved in jealous manners out of nowhere, nothing was clear, their entire romance felt bland and like an afterthought and it was so jawring that I actually considered DNFing. There is literally no proper character thought process to make the virginal hero of Artemis decide on a whim to abandon and risk her entire life for a married man. This isn't even counting the number of times characters seemed to disappear from scenes out of nowhere which was incredibly confusing.
The ending romance was just the same, we go from a soft "well this is nice, they have an intimacy, a beautiful friendship that could blossom into love" to BAM they are KISSING. Like, Atalanta appreciates a guy, is good friends with him, and yes it's very clear he likes her, but then she decides to save his life, and all of a sudden is kissing him and running away with him...and again, WHIPLASH.
I could spend hours on this but I'm not entirely sure it's worth it since people loved it and it's not like after 3 books any review is going to fix the issues of pacing. I love greek mythology retellings, and I don't always mind slower pace novels, but when there is a constant disconnect between fast scenes and slow scenes, and a feeling that character's decisions switch out of nowhere, or too abruptly, it makes the experience unsettling. Character's deaths felt like they held no emotional weight, important events happen so quickly it's almost too easy to miss out, and crucial events are written in a way that I had to pause several times to wonder "is she implying this or am I imagining it"

My issue with this book also confirms a pattern i've noticed so far: being a good writer is essential and that, Jennifer Saint is, however when you take a story that already exists from beginning to end as Greek myths do, it is disappointing that nothing is added to it. This is as Ariadne and Elektra were: a novelization of the greek myths to the T without adding depth to the characters. That's an issue because the myths as they existed were told orally, which means that motivations and character development weren't that much of a factor, but in writing, if nothing is added to it, it makes the character dull and empty, and the story nearly cartoonish. It's made even worse by the fact that other events and characters backstories are dumped unceremoniously in the story to make sense of it, which means that even the fantastical stories behind the myths aren't really important for the author. There are few greek mythology books out there that are purely greek mythology, and while i dont mind the modern retellings, my first love is the faithful retellings, which is why it breaks my heart to see that while this is a beautifully written book with many, many, MANY good aspects to it, it doesn't feel as if it has any desire to go deeper into the characters and the story than the superficial aspects of it.

So yes, I enjoyed this book despite it all, but where i was sure throughout the beginning of the book that it would be a 4 star, i couldn't get over the fact that there was clearly no intent on adding much to the myth, and that the pacing was so harsh and abrupt that scenes meant to be emotional severely lacked the gravitas they were clearly meant to have.

I think the beginning and the ending of the book show very well what the book could have been but fell short of.


Review to be posted on April 3rd 2023 on Instagram and Goodreads.

Atalanta; left to die on a hillside as a baby, raised by bears and grew up to be a champion of Artemis, (Goddess of hunting), joining the Argonauts on their famous quest for the Golden Fleece.

It is no mean feat to take a black/white mythological being and craft her into a multi-dimensional, strong and compassionate woman but Jennifer Saint has absolutely achieved. Just wow! What an epic retelling, I loved it.

Thank you to @headlinebooks and @netgalley for my advanced review copy.

Atalanta is a woman of Greek mythology who is hardly ever talked about, and so Jennifer Saint writing a beautiful, authentic retelling of her story to recover her voice meant so much to me!

The way in which Saint brings to life such vivid characters is amazing, and every single one is incredibly complex in their emotions, thoughts and desires. They all felt so real and I really enjoyed Saint's interpretations of them!
Atalanta as a character is such a unique one. She's wily, incredibly strong-willed, ambitious and entirely independent from the expectations of the societies surrounding her.
Artemis too is expertly brought to life in this book exactly how I have imagined her character to be. She's strong, independent but merciless and tough where she needs to be. I really loved reading Saint's interpretation of her character and found it one of my favourite parts of the book.

My most favourite part was definitely the atmosphere Saint creates in her writing; and this for me was the best thing that carries this book through to being so wonderful. Time and time again she creates such gorgeous atmospheres of the Greek world, and it makes me wish I could just crawl through the book and walk round in ancient Greece myself!
'Atalanta' had an infectious air of adventure and a desire for glory throughout the whole book (especially when with the Argonauts!!) which swept me away entirely into my imagination. I loved every second of it. <3

I'm so incredibly excited every time I delve into a new book by Jennifer Saint because for me, she captures the world of ancient Greek myth like no other!
I can't wait for my physical copy to arrive after publishing on the 13th of April (UK), and I am so grateful to the teams of @netgalley and @headlinebooks for granting me an e-ARC.

Atalanta is finally recovered, and given a voice in this beautiful, rich and immersive book which everyone needs to hear.

This is a fantastic, beautifully written story focusing on a little known figure from Greek mythology. I knew very little about the Argonauts before reading this book, and absolutely nothing about the wonderful Atalanta. A great read with unforgettable characters. Highly recommended.

I love Greek mythology retellings, mostly because I find myself learning every time I read one with Atalanta being no different. Atalanta is the third book in Jennifer Saint's mythological retellings, following Ariadne and Elektra, with Atalanta being my personal favourite of the bunch. The story follows Atalanta, raised under the wing of the goddess Artemis, as she yearns for adventure and becomes the only female member of the Argonauts, the world's fiercest group of warriors. Atalanta must battle between heeding Artemis' warning of never marrying whilst carving her own well-deserved place in a world of men and ultimately following her own heart's desire.

The plot was smoothly unravelled, easy to follow and was gripping from the very first page. Atalanta's strongest point is definitely the lyrical and mystical prose, I found myself underlining snippets on almost every page. However, the characters themselves were the weakest points with not much character development or distinct voices throughout. However, the story definitely prioritised the adventure itself and was captivating enough to keep you swiftly reading forward.

This was a well written book by an author who clearly knows her stuff when it comes to mythology! I knew nothing about the main character or the myth really. I liked that it was from the female perspective again but this just didn’t hold me for some reason and I struggled to get into it.

With beautiful writing, lyrical prose, and thrilling adventure following the life of the only female argonaut, this may have just become one of my favourite greek mythology retelling books.

I loved discovering a less well known heroine in greek mythology who not only drives the action in this book, she actively participates in the fighting and is a skilled warrior. Atalanta is a well crafted and enjoyable character with a fascinating backstory as a princess left for dead by her father who wanted a son, raised by bears, and then taken under the wing of the goddess Artemis. Jennifer Saint also exhibits amazing description and scene setting in her writing which makes for an atmospheric and engaging story.

If you love Greek mythology and amazing female characters, then I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you so much to Headline and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

"Atalanta" broke me a little bit... Then put pieces back together to break them again and heal them once more. This is a beautifully written retelling, with all the hope and despair, gentleness and harshness, that turns a myth into something that feels like history. Jennifer Saint makes it hard to believe that Atalanta (probably) never existed. More and more and more, please.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

While mythology retellings tend to not be my favorite genre, I did really enjoy this one!
I don't know much about Greek mythology other than the basics, so I was not familiar with Atalanta or the Argonauts at all, but this might be one of my favorite stories so far.
I struggle with the power dynamics and intrigues that are often at play in Greek mythology (at least in the retellings that I have read so far), so I loved that this felt more like an adventure.

Atalanta is amazing, she's such a strong female character and even faced with the misogyny coming from the Argonauts, she did not back down.
The plot was intriguing, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their journey.
I adore Jennifer Saint's writing, it is so beautiful and lyrical. This was my first book by the author, but I am looking forward to reading more of her work, she manages to make Greek mythology accessible.

I wasn't super captivated by it, which is an issue I generally have with these types of retellings, but I think if you're a fan of the genre, Atalanta is a book you should definitely have on your radar!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an e-ARC for this book

This was a very well written rendition of the story of Atalanta - very adventurous.

Overall this was well written, but not for me. It felt very episodic, with not much of an overall narrative arc or a sense of direction (and a completely random ludicrous ending, no matter how close it was to the actual original myth). Characters felt very unidimensional, starting from the Wonder Woman Atalanta, who is good at everything (except motherhood, but we don't talk about that), and goes about self-righteously judging everyone else. In her defence, most of the others are reasonable horrible, in the "heroes in mythology" fashion, except the love interests, who had no chemistry with her, but at least were good guys (no distinguishing one from the other though).

It is very well written, and it captured my attention throughout, and it was very adventurous, so readers who like adventure and plot more than character development will enjoy this.

This was incredible! I have read so many greek mythology books but this has to be one of my favourites. The tale of Atalanta's journey was amazing, interlocking with other tales from greek lore. The writing was so good and I was captivated throughout the entire book. It is definitely a girl power book which is so rare in Greek mythology! 💪

I have complicated feelings about this one. It is extremely well-written and engaging and Atalanta is an intriguing and personable narrator but I just felt a little hollow in parts of it. There were many plot points and offshoots that were brought up and then glanced over.

I have always liked the greek story about Atalanta and I do think this is a remarkable retelling of her story and does a good job interweaving the politics and social issues of the time into what is also a fantasy adventure. The way the Gods (particularly Artemis) are handled is refreshing and works very well for the story and what it is trying to portray.

I did really enjoy this one but whilst I can't quite put my finger on it, it did feel like it was missing something essential.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Headline for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely love greek mythology and retellings and Jennifer Saints writing is beautiful and so easy to get lost in! I feel even those not familiar with the Greek myths will find themselves drawn to the characters in this book.

Atalanta's story is not one I hear mentioned often enough. She is born a princess but left on the side of a mountain because her parents wanted a son. Raised by bears and then taken under Artemis' wing she grows up into a strong woman and one of the most formidable warriors and huntresses the world has seen.

I cannot wait to read Jennifer Saints other books Ariadne and Elektra I absolutely loved this!

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Headline for approving me for an ARC of this book. I have read Ariadne and Elektra so I could not wait to dive into this one.

🎶Can we first talk about how beautiful and lyrical Jennifer Saint’s writing is! Her ability to set the scene and describe picturesque surroundings is second to none.

🏹Atalanta is a formidable woman, full of strength and determination. Her unusual upbringing has shaped her into this force and whilst Artemis has inflicted her views, Atalanta certainly knows her own mind. The way everyone doubted her abilities and she constantly had to prove herself wasn’t unexpected but I loved seeing her prove them wrong.

⚡Every time I read one of Jennifer Saint’s books I feel transported back in time as if I am reliving a moment in history. Greek mythology is a new subject to me and whilst some of the myths, such as Hercules, are familiar I thoroughly enjoyed learning some of the more unusual stories.

⛵The voyage and quest for the golden fleece were entertaining and thrilling. Once again we meet so many interesting characters and Atalanta was in the thick of the action, as always. Despite not being wanted among the Argonauts she held her own and wouldn’t let them knock her bag. Her bond with Meleager was an interesting development but I was pleased with how that story turned out.

⭐ This book deserves all the stars! You need to read this if you are a Greek mythology fan or love stories about women rising up in the face of adversaries. It’s beautiful, lyrical, captivating and over far too soon. My only question is, when can I read the next book by Jennifer Saint?!

Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown books for providing a review copy

An engaging Greek mythology retelling, I preferred the first half of the story, which tells of Atalanta upbringing in the forest.
On the downside there are a lot of Greek names to keep track of, and the middle dragged for me.

4/5

I adore Greek mythology retellings, I love how they are all so interwoven. In every story you read, you inevitably encounter other great heroes you've read about before. It's fascinating to read about these well-known heroes both before and after their own great stories.
I find it incredibly interesting, when I sit down to read a retelling like this one, to discover which of these legendary figures will be painted in a sympathetic light—which will be noble and brave and compassionate—and which will be antagonised. Because, for most of them, you could argue their case for both hero and villain. It all depends on what (or whose) story you're telling.
This is only one of many factors that I adore about Greek mythology retellings. How will I encounter this hero? Who will they be in this iteration?

This retelling is one of the most blatantly feminist of the ones that I've read and I adored the themes that we explored all throughout. I loved seeing these themes develop throughout the course of the story as Atalanta, our main character, developed alongside them.

I really enjoyed reading this and (even as someone who already knew the story of Jason and the Argonauts) I loved seeing Atalanta written back into it. There were some beautiful descriptions and it was extremely evident how passionate Saint is about the Greek myths.
One of my criticisms, however, is that I thought that Saint's writing style often pulled us back to witness the story from further away, which impacted my ability to feel connected to the characters. I wish we had spent longer in each moment in order to feel them more deeply and I think that the story could have benefitted from being longer.
I also found that the voyage of the Argonauts sailed by (no pun intended) slower than I anticipated and with less stakes than other parts of the book.

Atalanta started as a story I thought I would know nothing about, yet I slowly began to realise that I knew these myths—I knew these myths without her in them. I love that Saint restored her presence in these stories as she expertly whittled at the question of why it is Atalanta, the only female Argonaut, who isn't remembered.

This was my first of Saint's retellings and I'm incredibly excited to read both Ariadne and Elektra! Atalanta is a great retelling to pick up.
Thank you Netgalley and Headline for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.