My Five Word TL:DR Review : One of my favourite authors

I’m loving the current trend for retelling ancient greek stories with a new slant and Atalanta is no exception.  I’ve previously read and enjoyed Ariadne and Elektra and so was really keen to tuck into this one.  Another female who seems to have been relegated to a few minor lines in spite of some daring escapades but who now enjoys a reimagining of her deeds.

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Atalanta before and so found this tale fascinating.  As a baby she was left to die, presumably because her father (King Arcadia) hoped for a son, but remarkably she survived against the odds.  Nurtured by a bear she eventually grew to become a fearsome hunter favoured by Artemis herself.  As the story progresses Atalanta falls a little out of favour with the Goddess of the Hunt and to try and redeem herself undertakes a quest.  She joins Jason and the Argonauts on their search for the golden fleece.

I enjoyed Atalanta.  It’s a very easy read incorporating parts of the mythology surrounding Atalanta whilst coming up with a new and interesting storyline.  To be totally frank I probably didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous two books for some reason and I think that might be because I was already aware of the Argonauts story and so perhaps it didn’t hold me quite as spellbound or perhaps I just found Ariadne and Elektra’s stories a bit more gripping.

Regardless of that though, this was a fast paced read, Saint has a lovely balance between setting the scene and moving the story forward and her style if very easy to read and enjoy.

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.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars (rounded up to 4 stars for Goodreads/Amazon)