A review by withlivjones
Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

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. 
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