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Atalanta: The dazzling story of the only female Argonaut

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I remember the taste of the cold, clear water they gave me to drink, how clumsy I was with the cup they held to the mouth of the spring for me. Like all Olympian gods, Artemis is ruthless and self-serving, but she also acts as a protector of young women and she has a retinue of nymphs who, as the daughters of Oceanus, guard the streams and pools in the forest. Reading Atalanta has the effect of lighting a flame of interest into these mythological people that is simply irresistible.

One of the many elements, I savoured when enjoying this book, was Jennifer’s ability, to bring Atalanta to life, the complexities of her personality, the evolution of her emotions, the essence of her aspirations, and the myriad of trials and tribulations she has to face. it rules them out as reading material for contemporary devout polytheists and that’s unfortunate because it’s a hungry market. Since Greek myths come out of an oral, aural tradition, the cadence and tone of the text in any updated version remain key. I would definitely recommend this series of books to readers who want to read about Greek mythology but from a different angle in which the women get to share their stories and I hope that the author has more stories to follow in the same vein.She would have been an imposing sight to anyone, taller and stronger than any mortal woman would be—although I didn’t know that then—with a gleaming bow in her hand, a fierce glint in her eyes, and a pack of hounds at her heels. While they did so, Crocale slid the tunic from Artemis’s shoulders and swept up her hair as the goddess stepped naked into the water. Where with the story of Odysseus, for example, I know each of the different foes he came across on his journey, this time around every day of the quest something new and unexpected came along. After thirteen years as a high school English teacher, she wrote Ariadne which tells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne - the woman who made it happen.

She doesn’t need any rewriting to make her into a female role model: she’s always existed in ancient art and literature as a fearless woman famed for being faster, stronger and more adventurous than even the greatest male heroes. Through the eyes of a strong and unbending heroine, Atalanta weaves together some of the most exciting myths: the Argonauts' quest, Hypsipyle and the women of Lemnos, Hippomenes's footrace. Here, too, I liked the subtle changes the author made to not reduce Atalanta’s agency in her own story. In Ovid, Meleager is glad that Atalanta joins the hunt against the rampaging boar causing havoc in his home town and he respects her contribution to the victory the hunters claim against the boar without begrudging her skill and prowess at all. Secretly, mutual respect develops into an illicit relationship that becomes the direst peril Atalanta encounters on the quest for the Golden Fleece.With the blessing of Artemis, Atalanta joins the quest, but it won’t be easy to persuade Jason and his men to accept her as a fellow Argonaut. Swearing that she will prove her worth alongside the famed heroes of Greece, Atalanta leaves her forest to join Jason's band of Argonauts. This is a novel full of fun, with quests and contests, gods and giants, heroes and witches, and a woman fighting to make a name for herself. The scent from the jasmine…spilled out on the breeze, the delicate star-shaped flowers opening to the darkness.

It was a majestic creature, the antlers spreading wide and tall from its broad forehead, perhaps the most magnificent one I’d seen. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life. In some, she isn’t mentioned as part of the Argonaut legend at all; in others, she is the daughter of the King of Boeotia rather than Arcadia. This is not my favourite Jennifer Saint book, then, but it’s still an interesting read, particularly if you know nothing about Atalanta and her story. I was full of curiosity, though, watching my new companions from my vantage point perched on a boulder by the pool, shaded by the delicate sweep of willow branches.The nymphs flung themselves into the pool, clustering around the goddess to shield her from his view, but it was as though he was frozen to the spot, just staring. But that language must still sing on the page, which is one of the more consistent strengths of Madeleine Miller’s Circe, for example, to which Saint’s books have been compared. I am not responsible for the republishing of the content found on this blog on other Web sites or media without my permission.

Author Saint—author of Elektra (2022) and Ariadne (2021)—has written another captivating protagonist who challenges the status quo to demonstrate the power of women when the odds stack against them. It retells the events of the Trojan War, giving a lot of time and sympathy to the character of Helen, so I think it really imprinted on me early on that the women of the myths have a great story to tell too! The atmosphere of the novel, set mostly on this wild Greek island, echoes strongly the classical tragedies of Greece.Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published. Unfortunately, Saint holds back, perhaps being true to her understanding of how and whether introspection and insight would’ve been part of Atalanta’s character and culture.

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