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?!

I enjoyed this retelling of Jason and the Argonauts. Told from a female perspective, it adds a different depth to the heroes story. The constant sexism and misogyny of the heroes is infuriating! I didn't learn anything new in this story particularly, but I would say it's a good book for those who want to learn more about Greek mythology. The ending was a bit of a weird one for me - I didn't hate it but I was a bit gutted that there wasn't something more epic. The narrator was nice to listen to and I found her versions of different characters and emotions were very well done.
3.5 stars

4.5 ⭐️

This was a great retelling of Atalanta the only woman warrior of Jason and the Argonauts. I’m not big on Greek tales so only knew the basic stories, I thoroughly enjoyed this feminist story. The arc I got was the audiobook version and the narrator did a fantastic job, finished it around a week’s time (listen to 30mins or so daily) which is a good sign it’s a good book since sometimes I don’t 100% finish audiobooks! This makes me want to read Jennifer Saint’s other 2 books which I’ve heard of but still haven’t got round to reading. Highly recommend.

I didn't know this story well, but I am so pleased to know more about the Argonauts and Atalanta now. Every part of this felt like the magical, mythic, epic retelling I was yearning for. This audiobook was also excellent.

Sorry I cannot really give feedback on this. It starts as an interesting tale but I found that I could not get on with audio books.
I am sure I would read it in book format

Jennifer Saint's "Atalanta" is a retelling of a Greek myth about a fierce and independent woman who defies societal expectations of femininity and gender roles. Atalanta is born to a father who wanted a son and therefore abandons her in the woods. She is then raised by a she-bear and develops extraordinary hunting and survival skills.

The story follows Atalanta's journey as she enters a world dominated by men who underestimate her abilities and constantly try to control her. Despite facing numerous challenges, Atalanta remains true to herself and her values. She refuses to marry and instead chooses to participate in various competitions and battles to prove her worth.

Saint's writing is poetic, and she vividly describes the ancient world of Greece, its myths, and its traditions. The story is engaging and well-paced, and the characters are well-developed and multi-dimensional. Atalanta is a strong and inspiring protagonist who challenges gender norms and expectations.

The book also explores themes of love, friendship, betrayal, and the power dynamics between men and women. It highlights

This was by far my favourite Jennifer Saint Greek myth retelling I've read to date. Maybe because there is a lot more meat to Atalanta's story or because I only vaguely knew her story? I believe this character - who was left on the mountainside as an infant, raised by a bear then taken under Artemis's wing before heading out with the Argonauts - was one that suited Jennifer's Saint's style of writing.

Atalanta is not a girly girl. No wasted emotion, scheming or deceit for her. She is a survivor and a pragmatist. She is a doer but an honest observer, as well, which translated well in this novel. I honestly grew to know and appreciate Atalanta and her unique offering to the Argonauts and beyond. Not knowing how her story ended, I did dread the Greek myth tragedy, that often befalls adventurers and lovers, alike, but found I was satisfied and even pleased for Atalanta's end. Really well delivered and a great close to an amazing woman spun from ancient Greek tales.

The audio of Atalanta is brilliantly narrated by Beth Eyre who brought this story effortlessly to life. It was a pitch-perfect delivery for a cracking good yarn. Very much enjoyed by me, thank you.

Atalanta - the forgotten female argonaut. Of course, I was intrigued when I spotted this in the description. After years of being bored to death by a seemingly endless supply of Greek myths about manly men mannily manning around, how could I not be interested in reading about this independent female character that was clearly lost somewhere in amongst all the aforementioned manliness?
The opening hooked me immediately - a baby girl left on a mountain to die gets adopted by a bear? I immediately wanted to know more.
I'll admit my interest waned a little around the midsection of the book - we followed along with the various pit stops of the argonaut on its quest and isn't much flow to the narrative, but that is the way with these old stories. When we focused in on Atalanta's story a little more in her own right, I really enjoyed it.

5* audiobook narration, too. Lovely voice to listen to and saved me the effort of stressing over how to pronounce all the Greek names...

This fantasy retelling of the Atalanta myths encompass her life into one cohesive story. It’s immersive, interesting, and you do get attached to a few of characters as you read through. This is Greek mythology - you know it comes with misogyny, stereotypes, tragedy, and lore. It’s all in here.

I particularly enjoyed Saint’s style of writing - it read like reading the classical epics with wild metaphors and descriptive passages. I felt transported to the forests of Artemis and on the wild seas chasing the Golden Fleece.

I think what let’s it down somewhat is it plays to the stereotypes of ancient times and doesn’t really deviate. Men hating, predictable male characters who only want to bed or wed Atalanta … it felt flat in this sense. This was supposed to be Atalanta’s story and yet it really was just the story of other people told through Atalanta’s eyes.

I did enjoy it though - and as this was my first book by the author, I would read more of her work.

The narrator did a wonderful job at bringing the story to life - I really did believe she was Atalanta.

Amazing source material, how have we never come across Atalanta before.

I thought the story covered the burying of her tale very well.

The gods are a light presence, the men named, sketched but rarely fleshed out.

There's an interesting tale here with a woman in a very male environment but the story pushes forward without the banter, without the humour. The hierarchy is touched upon but there's almost too much to much possibilities to be contained in one small volume.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atalanta

An engaging story with an excellent narrator. Pacing is great, with variations in tone and register to help to signify character shifts within the text. Moments of dramatic tension are handled well, alongside being able to create an atmosphere of calm and tranquility to juxtapose where needed. Jennifer Saint is a solid author in the mythological retelling genre, and this audiobook does her fantastic book justice. A worthy recommend!

As someone who has always loved learning about myths, this felt so nostalgic and exciting at the same time.

The story of Atalanta and her journey among the ancient world is incredible and you really start to feel her worries, frustrations, fears and joy. From her childhood to both her journey as an argonaut, and as a woman, the story is told impeccably to make you feel like you can see it in front of you in immense detail.

The writing flowed well, and keeps you enraptured into the story to see where it goes, and how her relationships develop with the people she is around is incredible.

Highly recommend!

*Atalanta* has been an engaging, fast-paced and interesting read. This beautifully written book is the story of Atalanta, a fearless, skilled and highly ambitious woman. She was the only female Argonaut, and had to keep proving herself every step of the way, on this adventure.

The audiobook was very well narrated.

A nice, quick and enjoyable read.

Jennifer Saint is one of several writers currently working their way through various Greek myths, crafting them into novels with a twist on the original, often told from a female perspective. The latest legend to receive her attention is that of Jason and the Argonauts, told by the only female Argonaut, Atalanta. However the narrative spans her whole life, not just the events of the search for the Golden Fleece.

I knew of the story of Jason and the Argonauts in its most basic details, but I'd never heard of Atalanta or imagined that a woman would have joined them. From explorations online since out of curiosity, I have gained an understanding that Atalanta is a more peripheral figure and that there are various versions of the stories about her, including some where she does not join the Argonauts at all. So Saint had a good amount of licence here to play with.

The story starts with Atalanta's unconventional upbringing by the goddess Artemis and various forest creatures and spirits. She then departs on the quest for the Golden Fleece, returns to participate in an ill fated wild boar hunt, and then must find her place in the world after her adventures. Atalanta is an extremely skilled athlete, hunter and fighter, but unsurprisingly is constantly dismissed because of, and judged by, her gender. She battles to get even the most grudging respect from her fellow Argonauts, and finds herself written out of the stories on their return.

The writing is fine - nothing particularly lyrical or outstanding about it, but it flows well and is easy to read and follow. The story has plenty of event in it, although the pacing never feels quite right to me with the central epic quest taking place in the middle and then the story carrying on afterwards. I did struggle to warm to Atalanta though, which is a serious problem in a story where she is the protagonist. She wasn't particularly likeable, and whilst that did fit in with her character and circumstances, it made it hard to really care about what was happening.

Her behaviour and choices also really irritated me. She did incredibly stupid things, then felt sorry for herself afterwards, blaming anything but her own idiocy. Despite antagonising a lot of men, all the best ones seemed to fall in love with her without any effort on her part. And for a story that seems based on a strong feminist narrative, I was massively disappointed that Saint decided Atalanta should start a romantic relationship with the first man who was pleasant to her. It plays into the idea that many creatives seem to have that a woman can't possibly have an interesting and fulfilling adventure without getting intimately involved with a man along the way. It undermines the whole message about her being as worthy as all the men and is in fact exactly the argument some of the men had made about not having her along. For all that Atalanta was a warrior and hero, the story ultimately revolved around what man she'd end up with and whether she would marry.

I wouldn't go as far as saying I disliked the book - it is well enough written and the story is interesting particularly if you don't know the Greek myths it is based on well. But because of those irritating factors, and the fact I could never really bring myself to care very much about Atalanta, I can't give it more than three stars.

The audiobook narration is clear and easy to listen to. The novel works well in audio as the plot is linear and easy to follow - I can't always keep up the thread of complicated narratives in audio. It also avoided me having to stumble over the pronunciation of every Greek word - a disadvantage when reading this sort of myth retelling. I could simply sit back and let the narrator say the names as they are meant to be.

Atalanta was definitely my favourite of Saint’s books, the others which I found interesting but mediocre in terms of character development. I found this much more thrilling and the focus seemed more aligned to the female lead which I haven’t always found to be the case in the previous two. Gorgeous writing and a fun tale to listen to (the narration was a win) - my rating only dips because the story didn’t hold my interest for its entirety and I occasionally dipped in and out of focus for the plot because of this.

ATALANTA is a Greeky mythology retelling that has a strong adventure story feel to it.

My knowledge of Greek Mythology is not comprehensive enough to have known about Atalanta. I have a vague concept of the quest for the fleece (I must have watched a video as I have a memory of a jerky stop-motion-esque sequence with the skeletons) but I didn't know her part of it - or what comes afterwards. I therefore enjoyed learning about a new-to-me section of Greek mythology.

What I hadn't appreciated until I started googling the myths of Atalanta (in order to know how to spell various names - the downside of audiobooks!) is how fragmentary the myths about her are. She's often not mentioned in tales of the Argonauts and there's uncertainty over whether the Atalanta from the Argonaut myth is the same as the Atalanta of the footrace myth.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about this book was that it felt more like an adventure story than anything else. Most of the Greek myth retellings I've read in the past few years have been of the more depressing "the men are awful and the gods are awful and the women suffer" variety. While the ending does involve some terrible men (and gods) ((and there are more scattered throughout the book)), it didn't feel like they dominated or drove the book. Atalanta was ultimately choosing and escaping them,

The ending particularly makes this clear. The final myth incorporated is a traditional "men triumph of an upstart woman who thinks she is better than them." However, in this book, it's reworked into something where SHE makes the choice, not the men and not their trickery.

There is only one narrator in this book, Atalanta herself, which was nice. The book has her name, no one else's, so she narrates it. Plus there aren't really others interlinked throughout who would have made sense to hear from - the people in the finale aren't there for the voyage and so on. The narrator, Beth Eyre, does a good job at bringing the many different people met on the voyage to life.

Left in a hillside at birth, Atalanta is found and raised by a mother bear then adopted by the nymphs of Artemis. She is sent as Artemis’s champion on the Argo to retrieve the Golden Fleece, only to realise that hero’s and quests are not what she expected. I loved the beginning with the descriptions of Atalanta’s early life; but unfortunately as the story progressed I didn’t feel much connection to the character so the quests didn’t hold my attention as I would have expected. This is a well written retelling of one of mythologies strongest woman, the part she played on Jason’s victory and how she worked to choose her own destiny.

I really enjoyed this one. I feel like I've been in a geek myth retelling kinda mood lately and it doesn't seem to be ending any time soon (not that I'd want it to).

The story follows Atalanta, who was born a princess and yet left on a mountainside to die because her father wanted a son, not a daughter. But she didn't die, she was raised by bears in a very Jungle Book way and then by the goddess Artemis and her nymphs. She grows to become a strong and amazing huntress, second only to Artemis herself and better than most men.

Atalanta is content living in the forest but she longs for adventure and jumps at the chance to join Jason and the Argonauts in the hunt for the Golden Fleece. Now surrounded by men, Atalanta has to prove herself time and time again, not only during their journey, but also when they return home, or the world will forget there was a woman in the Argo.

I loved the story and the audiobook was fantastic, 100% recommend. For some reason I feel like greek myth retellings are better enjoyed in audiobook format. They're the epitome of a bed time story.

4.5 🌟

Thank you to Netgallery and Headline Publishing Group for an advanced copy of Atalanta by Jennifer Saint.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and found the audiobook to be brilliant and really engaging.

While some mythological retellings have failed to maintain my attention, I was captivated throughout Atalana's story. The reader was brought on an adventure to several different beautifully described landscapes and faced foes and trials that were given enough attention to highlight their severity without unnecessarily dragging out the story.

I really enjoyed Atalanta as a character and how the entire novel was solely focused on her and the focus never shifted to shine a spotlight on other more well known mythological figures. This story was not about the Argonauts or Artemis, and Atalanta was never portrayed a lesser figure of importance witnessing history rather than making it herself.

Atalana's character arc was truly a joy to follow, as she never loses sight of who she is as she grows and matures, shedding the limitations other people have placed on her. Layers were also given to the other characters, who I find to be dynamic and not limited to the one-dimensional sexists that characters in mythological retellings can sometimes be portrayed as.

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone with an interest in Greek mythology and also anyone in the mood to read about a woman who does not let a prophecy limit her potential or her power.

oh my god, Jennifer Saint has done it again!

Another incredible mythological retelling from a women's perspective from the author who does it so well. Atalanta's story was incredibly interesting, and I found myself so hooked to find out more about the trials and tribulations that she faced!