Book Review: Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

My Rating: 3.5⭐

“-if it’s a girl, expose her on the mountain-”

Following this decree by Iasus, King of Arcadia his newborn daughter Atalanta was left abandoned on a mountain, left to die. But she was to be saved by a she-bear and raised with her cubs, learning her way to survive in the forest, taken in by the Goddess Artemis and her nymphs in the forests of Arcadia becoming a strong accomplished archer and huntress, skilled enough to defend herself against two centaurs – a feat few men could live through to tell the tale, to be the only female among the Argonauts who traveled with Jason to Colchis on his quest for the Golden Fleece, and who proved her mettle multiple times as they faced the several challenges on the journey the only woman who played a crucial role in the Calydonian boar hunt. Her only mistake was falling in love despite Artemis’ warnings – a mistake that results in her losing Artemis’s favor triggering a sequence of events that ultimately leads her back to the same father who had abandoned her as a child and ultimately a fate foretold by the oracle at Delphi.

Having read and enjoyed both Ariadne and Elektra by Jennifer Saint I was eager to read Atalanta. We really don’t get to know much about her in the myths and I was excited to read a story with her as the central character. Atalanta’s story is presented to us in her voice in the first-person narrative format. The narrative is fluid and Jennifer Saint’s writing does not disappoint. It was interesting reading about the adventures of the Argonauts and the Calydonian boar hunt from Atalanta's perspective. I enjoyed reading her take on her fellow Argonauts and how she proved herself time and time again to be their equal (if not more, in terms of skill and smarts). However, I missed the intensity of Ariadne or Elektra in this narrative. Much of Atalanta’s narrative is dominated by the exploits of the men in her life. Despite this being a feminist retelling, at times Atalanta is portrayed as relatively passive to the circumstances around her. Overall, while I did enjoy this novel I can’t say that it would rank as a favorite among all the feminist retellings of the Greek myths I have read.

I paired my reading with the audio nation by Beth Eyre which I did enjoy.

“I didn’t have to be an obedient follower of Artemis, jumping to serve her every command; I didn’t have to be a hero in the mould of Jason or Heracles or the angry boar-hunters at Calydon. I wasn’t going to try to shape myself to be like one of them, a ruthless, self- serving, glory- seeking man. I was something different to them all.”