after being left on a hilltop at birth, Atalanta is raised by wolves, nymphs and the goddess Artemis. Hungering for more, she wants to make a name for herself and to do so she must leave her sacred forest and embark on a journey with Jason and the argonauts

this was a great retelling of the myth. Jennifer Saint does v well to capture the lyrical essence of these tales. I liked the independent changes she made to the story, given more nuance to our characters and their dynamics.

The narrator was fantastic. You could distinctly tell which character was who which made it all the more pleasant.

this was okay, but read very juvenile and i didn't feel connected to the characters or what happens to them at all. i can see other reader enjoying this a lot tho!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

I knew very little about Atalanta and the Argonauts, so I was excited to read this retelling. Unfortunately, it didn't really work for me and it ended up being my least favourite book by this author so far.

I think my main problem was the fact that I couldn't connect with Atalanta. I don't know why, but I never warmed to her, never found her engaging or interesting, even though I cheered for her when she proved her worth to men who underestimated her. Maybe because she never seemed to struggle for anything: things generally felt very easy for her. 

As for the story itself, it was very action-packed, and it featured a lot of different adventures and situations, but after a while I found myself a little bored and I skimmed some parts to get to the end. Again, it was probably because I wasn't invested in Atalanta, nor in the other characters. Medea was the only one I found remotely interesting, but not enough to save the book for me.

I'm really sad this didn't work for me, but it might be mostly a matter of personal preference. Anyway, I will surely check out Jennifer Saint's next novel.

I received a gifted copy of this book to listen to and read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Hybrid Read (listened to audio and read kindle ARC).
Atalanta was such a well narrated audio book and I was captivated from the first few chapters.
Atalanta was abandoned on the mountains by her father at birth and left there to die. Saved by a bear and her cubs, Atalanta was raised and taught how to survive. Artemis then took Atalanta under her wing and trained her up to become a fierce warrior, archer and huntress. When Aralanta is persuade by two Centaurs after saving a man they were hunting, she manages to not only outrun them but defeat them with her skills. This leads to her joining Jason and his Argonauts on his pursuit of the golden fleece. Artemis is forbidden from falling in love by Artemis. This leads to her going back into the sights of her father and leads to a fate foretold by the Oracle. This was such a well written and captivating book, and I was invested from the start. My heart broke for Artemis afew times during this adventure. I hope to read Elektra soon too!

Great narrator. Really brought the characters to life.

Overall I enjoyed this. Jennifer Saint doesn't write the most deep or searching versions of Greek myths but they are accessible and clearly well researched. The characters manage to be sympathetic to a modern audience without being anachronistic. For those not familiar with the story of Atalanta, she was exposed as a baby by her father, a king who wanted a son and heir. Artemis caused a she bear to rear Atalanta until she was an older child at which point, the goddess and her nymphs took over her education turning her into a fierce huntress. She sailed on the Argo - the only woman to join the quest for the Golden fleece. She also killed the Calydonian Boar.

This is a light, fast paced retelling of her adventures which doesn't shy away from hinting at some of the more appalling aspects of Greek myth. If you like retellings, especially those which focus on one of the myths with female leads, give this a try.

Another Greek mythology retelling!

I was always intrigued about Atalanta, the only woman among the Argonauts but there is very less material about her. In this book, she comes forward to speak about herself and her companions.

From being abandoned as a child by her father who wanted a boy child to becoming the most accomplished huntress and athlete, Atalanta has an interesting story. Along her journey, Artemis, Callisto, Herakles, and Jason play important roles.

My only grouch with the book was that at times, Atalanta seemed cold, distant, almost as if she wasn't feeling a particular emotion at all. She didn't seem very happy or sad at any point of time. She seemed the same when she was selected as a part of the Argonauts and when she lost the race against Hippomenes. And what the hell was happening with the Golden Fleece???

For a feminist retelling, however, I will give this book 4 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Headline Audio for an audio ARC. The narration by Beth Eyre was impeccable.

Thankyou to NetGalley for the audio experience of Atalanta in exchange for an honest review.

Atalanta is the story of a child abandoned by her parents as a baby because she was a daughter. She
is raised by bears under the protection of the goddess Artemis. She grows into a strong, fearless and fast huntress who is determined never to be bound by marriage. She jumps at the opportunity to represent Artemis on the quest for the golden fleece. With nods to the more famous Argonauts on our adventure. But will Atalanta’s prophesies come true will marriage be her undoing?


I am both a Jennifer Saint and mythological retelling lover and I just devoured this book. I had to
purchase the hard cover (I just love how the spine matches the other Jennifer Saint retelling series)
and NetGalley granted my request for the audio.

The audio just allowed for an immersive experience. The narrator Beth Eyre has done a superb job of
breathing life into Atalanta’s character. I have a real weakness for these Greek retellings, so I already knew that this was something that I was going to like…. and I wasn’t left disappointed. Jennifer Saint pulled all the strings with this retelling of a women being written out of history based on her gender and allowing the men to become the Heroes.

This was a 5* read for me.

Atalanta is a well-thought out and plotted retelling of a myth that has seen surprisingly little retelling, considering the protagonist is one of the few ancient Greek female warriors recorded, and feminist mythology retellings are so in vogue right now. Saint creates a nuanced and fascinating character through her narrative, shining a light on much of the facets of the Argonauts myth and beyond that are rarely known in modern conceptions of mythology. Atalanta herself is slightly too 'not like other girls' for my tastes, but overall I really enjoyed this book.

Beth Eyre is one of my absolute favourite VAs so I cannot be entirely biased on her involvement, but she truly brings the text to life and is easily listenable to for hours on end.

Jennifer Saint once again does not disappoint with her retelling of the story of Atalanta.

Retelling of Greek mythology and God is really having a moment making the stories accessible to a wider and new audience.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in return for a honest review

The perfect narrator for this book. I love mythology and hearing this version of Atalanta's story was consuming. There wasn't a moment I didn't want to just keep listening to this book.
The writing style made it easy to follow the flow of the plot and the progression of the relationships Atalanta has with the other characters, especially her own thoughts on her relationship with Artemis.
I can't wait to read more of Jennifer Saint's work.

I've said it before and I will say it again -- Greek mythology retellings are one of my favourite things to read about, so when my request for an ARC was approved, I couldn't have been more happy. That being said, however, the book had, unfortunately, disappointed me quite a bit.

Now, I will be honest right from the start -- I have not read the original story of the Argonauts in a very long while, but I also don't think that one necessarily has to know the original to understand the retelling -- that's kind of one of the main points of telling the same story but from a different angle. And to me, this story felt like it was pretty much about nothing. It's mostly just a recounting of Atalanta's life and throughout the entire book, she mostly just goes with the flow of that life. That's not necessarily bad but it also doesn't make for a very compelling story, in my opinion.

I have, sadly, found this book quite boring, especially in the last 30% of it, and I think that if I had a physical copy of it instead of an audiobook, I would not have made it through the 350+ pages. As an audiobook, however, it's quite easy to listen to before falling asleep or working on something that doesn't require too much attention. Thus, I would probably advise any potential reader to consume this book in audio format.

I also feel like the ending was very rushed compared to everything else. The final chapters and the epilogue cost this book 0.5 stars, as I was originally planning on giving it a 3.5. I especially hated the last sentence, it felt very pompous to me.

Overall, this isn't a bad book by any means, but I also don't think that it's good, to me it was very average. I think it would've benefited from being either shorter, more like a novella or longer, with more room for the final part and possibly more descriptions of the voyage. As it is, it, unfortunately, falls into a very grey area.

There are many other minor details that I had a problem with, but I have no desire to write a long review today. If you are reading this and trying to decide whether or not to give it a go, I would suggest that you get the audiobook and simply return it if you're not interested about 25% in.

Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and the author for proving me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for a review. My opinions are completely my own.

I have to admit, I was particularly excited about this, especially after learning that she also wrote Elektra (genuinely one of the best mythology retellings I have read). This book, however, fell completely short in numerous aspects.

One, I was hoping this would turn out to be similar to I Who Have Never Known Men (one of my all-time favourite books) because I gathered as much from the premise. But boy, I was so so wrong.

Two, I strongly dislike how Athena is depicted here. I just want to read about a huntress who isn't a total jerk. Jeez.

Three, I wanted to throw my phone across the room during all the lovey dovey kissy scenes because the romance was so awfully written. There was no chemistry between the characters.; I mean, the guy speaks like some sort of robot for crying out loud.

On the whole, it was alright but just not as good as I heavily hoped it would be.

** The narrator however, I adored. I am rating the audiobook 1 star more because I loved the narrator**

I love Greek mythology and modern retellings, and was so grateful to receive a free copy of the audiobook from NetGalley. This is a rare time that I wish I read-read the book because the audiobook narrator just did not do it for me. It's hard to differentiate between her lacklustre performance and the writing itself, but I believe it would be more exciting as a book-book that I read in my own internal tone of voice.

The story is fascinating -- I hardly knew anything about Atalanta before reading, so I had no preconceptions. I wonder if this would be better as a novella, stripping out some of the meandering stuff that detracted from the core story.

I would try more from this author, though, to see if her other books have more plot and pace.

I read Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. I liked the writing style and atmosphere, so all her books go automatically on my TBR.
I have a general knowledge of Greek mythology, as I like it very much, but I didn't even remember the story of Atalanta. So I got into this book with high interest.
Based on the plot, I could divide the book into 3 parts (The author divided it into 4 parts, but 2 and 3 are more of the same storyline for me). In the first part, we met Atalanta and are in the forest of Artemis. I really liked this part. Her writing style and the atmosphere were great. I liked how Artemis was portrayed. Cold, partly evil, partly protective "mom". There was a lot of talk about women's fate, which was very interesting.
The next part was the travelling with the Argonauts (I also count the boar hunting here). There were several things that bothered me here, which made me enjoy the book less. The author has described many times how strong Atalanta is, that she can do anything, but what did she actually accomplish? He killed two centaurs... That's all... The other heroes have much bigger deeds. And the other heroes were half-gods. Since I don't remember her when I read about the Argonauts, I don't know if it was just the writer who wanted to make Atalanta equal with the men or if it really says so in the legends, but it was very forced for me. Also, I didn't expect a love story in the book because of Artemis, and I felt that she was going against Artemis, and that made Atalanta especially dislikeable to me. I really liked Artemis.
The third part, which is listed as the fourth in the book, should not have been necessary for me. I know that her story had to be finished, and it also belongs to Atalanta's mythology, but I had a very different feel to this part, and I didn't like the plot line with her father. It had a slightly more depressed atmosphere than the previous parts. Although I really liked the end.
Overall, it wasn't a bad book, although I enjoyed Ariadne more. I will definitely read Elektra and Saint's new books, too.

I actually really enjoyed this book, despite knowing pretty much nothing about Atalanta. It was a really inspiring book and showed a strong female character breaking the mould and stereotypes. It was very well-written.

This is a perfectly narrated version of a superb novel. Told with passion and expertly switching between moods and characters, this audio book is one of the best I have listened to in a long time. I do love a good retelling, but Atalanta’s story is especially wonderfully written and the words are brought to life making it feel incredibly authentic.

Having read Jennifer Saint's previous work, I was very much looking forward to this novel. The tale is told through Saint's poetic and whimsical tone, and feels like you're stepping back in time to Ancient Greece.
Atalanta is a great main character to focus on, with so many dynamic segments of her story. She maintains her steadfast stubbornest throughout the story. I was worried that we would watch Atalanta fall to become a shadow of herself, but I was pleasantly surprised with how the story ended.
I do this that the pacing was stilted at times, and that there were sections that dragged along, but despite this, I think this is a great addition to the feminist Greek myth retellings.

"Atalanta" was somewhat disappointing: I liked the overall story, but I was still left disappointed. Atalanta just wasn't a particularly interesting protagonist, her actions didn't have a lot of impact and her motivations weren't well-developed or portrayed.

Was nervous to listen to this audio book as I'd previously finished another Jennifer Saint book and it wasn't for me. I'm glad I took a chance with this as it exeded my expectations. This was such an engrossing listen and I never felt bored. Loved the story of Atalanta and her journey with the argonauts.
Definitely recommend this!!

I enjoy reading stories of Greek mythology and hence I liked listening to this as well. What always attracts me to a book is if it tells the stories of women and I loved that this focused on Atalanta. Definitely, one I would share about. So, if you enjoy Greek mythology and audiobooks, do read this one.