Atalanta

Jennifer Saint

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nature and nymphs, hate and love for men, and most of all: retaliation. Atalanta, raised in a beautiful forest by bears and later by the goddess of the hunt herself, Artemis, joins the argonauts as the only woman to claim the recognition she deserves. We follow her on the ship alongside some of the most horrendous ‘heroes’ of greek mythology, on their way to steal the golden fleece and make history.

Atalanta is eager to impress Artemis and prove her worth. Artemis has one rule that she and the nymphs living in her forest must follow. You will not marry any man. Being with men is strictly forbidden and if you break the rules you will be exiled or worse. Even if this wasn’t the nymphs/woman’s fault- gotta love greek mythology. 

She can run faster than any other mortal and wins all battles with her bow and arrow, but men will never seize to not take women seriously. Atalanta stands tall and stays true to herself. This story takes you through mesmerising forests and wild seas, there’s never a dull moment. 

One of my favourite things about greek mythology is that almost everyone is a recurring character in other stories. It is one big crossover episode. The father of Achilles, Peleus, is especially insufferable sailing with Atalanta on the argo. There’s also Heracles who is nothing like the charming fun Disney version Hercules. The goal of the Argonauts is to steal the golden fleece from Aeetes, the brother of Circe and they even mention Jason and Medea visiting her briefly in the book (we LOVE Circe). As mentioned before, my introduction to greek mythology were Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles (first) and Circe (second). The order in which I’ve read the books was ideal, each story warming up the other. But it is not necessary to read these before reading Atalanta of course.

Atalanta left me with a feeling of encouragement and confidence. It was a rather gentle read compared to Circe. The content and characters are very palatable and the story has a good pace. So far, Jennifer Saint’s best book in my opinion. Level of greek mythology trauma: 4 out of 10.

*No graphic descriptions of rape and murder, but topics are mentioned though.