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desjas's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and War
cvl_1103's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, War, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Rape
gracescanlon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
My favorite of her books to date. Though I didn’t love the ending, it definitely could’ve been a worse one, given the subject matter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Animal death, Suicide, and War
Minor: Abandonment, Rape, and Sexual assault
vixenreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Despite some pacing issues, this book provides Saint’s best heroine, with amazing world-building, amazing detail to the mythology explored within the text, and a happier ending than her other novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Misogyny, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Blood, Cursing, Slavery, and War
Be warned about the loss of a friend, humans turning into animals, parents leaving babies for dead, and victim-blaming.mjadeh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape
alexisgarcia's review
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
unsurprisingly, Jennifer Saint has done it again. her writing is so immersive and lush and i enjoyed it so much! it is my least favorite of Saints books but it it was still really well done!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Death, Abandonment, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, and Sexual content
katiefronk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: War, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Blood, and Animal death
booksandteatime's review
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, and Misogyny
withlivjones's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A masterful retelling of the life of Atalanta, the only female Argonaut and a strong contender for the title of Fastest Person In The Ancient World. Jennifer Saint brings together so many different stories from Classical mythology and remains pretty faithful to them all, although with so much content to cover the pacing of the book is at times a little inconsistent.
Atalanta is a strong protagonist, and her desire for both glory and belonging are well articulated. There are plenty of other strong characters too - particularly Medea, and I definitely appreciate that she is not vilified in this book as she can be in other retellings.
I do wish that the book didn’t focus as much on romance as it does - one of Atalanta’s main character traits in the source texts is that she absolutely didn’t want to be in a relationship (at least until Hippomenes comes along), so to have that part of her character erased is a little disappointing. Also I feel like the ending of the book is pretty divisive, it wasn’t really for me and it felt rather abrupt, but I think other people might love it.
Atalanta is a strong protagonist, and her desire for both glory and belonging are well articulated. There are plenty of other strong characters too - particularly Medea, and I definitely appreciate that she is not vilified in this book as she can be in other retellings.
I do wish that the book didn’t focus as much on romance as it does - one of Atalanta’s main character traits in the source texts is that she absolutely didn’t want to be in a relationship (at least until Hippomenes comes along), so to have that part of her character erased is a little disappointing. Also I feel like the ending of the book is pretty divisive, it wasn’t really for me and it felt rather abrupt, but I think other people might love it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexism, and Violence
Period-typical attitudesbandysbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I'm a big fan of all of the Greek mythology retellings that have been cropping up over the last decade or so and I've previously really enjoyed Jennifer Saint's writing, so I was excited to receive an advanced copy of Atalanta. I was even more excited because Atalanta is a character I have not seen previously covered by all of the many retellings (as opposed to Clytemnestra, Helen, etc.).
To start, I loved the characterization of Atalanta. She has been raised to be fierce and independent. She knows no limitations and so she is a very effective warrior. She's never been taught to think that a woman is somehow less capable, so she joins the Argonauts knowing that she will excel. The warning that Artemis gives her to take no husband seems logical, but as Atalanta explores the world, we see her struggle with her obligations to Artemis and the things she now wants as a human. I definitely think this was the strongest part of the book.
The plot was a bit of a let down for me. While there was a lot going on, it didn't feel like much of it was deeply explored. I expected the journey with the Argonauts to be more exciting, but somehow it felt like a secondary plot. There was a lot more time spent on the romance aspect and I think the action and timing suffered a bit because of it. I don't want to make this sound like it was terrible or anything. It was still an enjoyable story. It's just that comparative to Ariadne and Elektra, this one wasn't quite up to the same standard.
All in all, if you enjoy Greek mythology retellings, you'll likely find this one enjoyable as well. Atalanta is an interesting character and the story does move quickly.
As for the narration of the audiobook, I thought it was well done. It was easy to understand and I found the pacing to be typical for an audiobook. (I always speed them up.) It was easy to follow which characters were speaking and overall, I would recommend the audio option if you typically enjoy them.
3.75 Stars rounded up to 4
To start, I loved the characterization of Atalanta. She has been raised to be fierce and independent. She knows no limitations and so she is a very effective warrior. She's never been taught to think that a woman is somehow less capable, so she joins the Argonauts knowing that she will excel. The warning that Artemis gives her to take no husband seems logical, but as Atalanta explores the world, we see her struggle with her obligations to Artemis and the things she now wants as a human. I definitely think this was the strongest part of the book.
The plot was a bit of a let down for me. While there was a lot going on, it didn't feel like much of it was deeply explored. I expected the journey with the Argonauts to be more exciting, but somehow it felt like a secondary plot. There was a lot more time spent on the romance aspect and I think the action and timing suffered a bit because of it. I don't want to make this sound like it was terrible or anything. It was still an enjoyable story. It's just that comparative to Ariadne and Elektra, this one wasn't quite up to the same standard.
All in all, if you enjoy Greek mythology retellings, you'll likely find this one enjoyable as well. Atalanta is an interesting character and the story does move quickly.
As for the narration of the audiobook, I thought it was well done. It was easy to understand and I found the pacing to be typical for an audiobook. (I always speed them up.) It was easy to follow which characters were speaking and overall, I would recommend the audio option if you typically enjoy them.
3.75 Stars rounded up to 4
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Pregnancy, and Blood