Atalanta

I started Jennifer Saint's Atalanta over a month ago, while I was on a short trip visiting family. I read about half of it while I was away, but once I got home, life got away from me and I didn't go back to it until a few days ago.

Atalanta tells the story of Artemis's champion, the huntress the goddess raised after she was abandoned on a hilltop to die as an infant. Atalanta grows up to be a fierce warrior, adept at hunting, making the goddess proud. But when word comes to the goddess of Jason and the Argonauts' quest to obtain the Golden Fleece and bring glory to the pantheon, Artemis decides to send Atalanta on the quest as her champion. Atalanta has to fight and prove her right to be counted among the other heroes of the quest (who are all male, and look down on women), all while striving to remain true to her goddess.

I'm not overly familiar with Greek mythology (beyond very basic things), so I was quite excited to read Atalanta, especially when I realized the book would deal with Jason and the Argonauts as well. I've heard of them, but didn't really know anything about their quest. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, with Atalanta's upbringing among Artemis' nymphs and her struggle to prove her place with the Argonauts.  But the second half of the book really started to lose me. Keeping in mind that I'm not familiar with the story, I found the conclusion of the Argonauts' quest rather anti-climatic (and honestly, so did Atalanta, as the Fleece was won by trickery, not through bravery). Their return went fairly smoothly, especially compared to the journey to get there. Their welcome and the subsequent murder of the king and disappearance of Jason and Medea felt kind of glossed over (I would have thought that people would have gone after them or something, but nope). The boar fight likewise happened rather quickly, and then Atalanta kind of hid herself away for awhile with nothing really happening (it was with good reason, but made for not very exciting reading). And then the end of the book kind of happened rather abruptly, especially when she realized she was in love with Hippomenes and they ran off together.

I believe a lot of these events are true to the mythology (I just checked Wikipedia), but again, the book didn't really treat them well.  Atalanta's earlier relationship with Meleager felt earned through all the events they survived together. Her relationship with Hippomenes felt rather forced, and kind of shoehorned in because of the mythology, not because Atalanta actually felt things for him through their history. 

So I'm not quite sure what to think of Atalanta. It was an interesting read because I got to learn more of Greek mythology. I also really did enjoy the first half of the book.  But the second half didn't really work for me.

Norse Mythology

I wanted to read Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology back when it came out a year ago.  I read a bunch of Norse mythology back in school (it's hard to believe, but it's been eight years since I read The Poetic Edda and The Prose Edda!) and enjoyed it.  So I was interested to see what Neil Gaiman brought to the table.  I started reading Norse Mythology last night and finished it a few minutes ago; it's a super easy and enjoyable read.  It also felt like going back to an old friend because, after reading the two Eddas, all the stories in Norse Mythology were very familiar to me.

Gaiman's Norse Mythology is a retelling of the old Norse myths.  In the introduction he says he took bits and pieces of stories from both of the Eddas to create his versions.  His stories start with the beginning of the universe and how the worlds were created, give us some fun adventures of Thor, Loki, and the other gods, then end with Ragnarok and a glimpse of what happens afterwards.  Most of the stories start with some trickery by Loki, who then has to make things right afterwards.  Most of the stories are rather light romps (although they often end with the death of a bunch of giants because of course that's how stories with Thor will end), but the end few are much darker in tone.  Gaiman has modernized the tales a bit in his retellings (particularly the dialogue); in his introduction he said he tried to imagine himself back a long time ago in the lands where these stories were first told, but often the dialogue is much more modern than you would expect from that (like in "The Master Builder," Freya says to Loki "You talked these idiots into it" - that phrase sounds really modern). I don't think that this takes away from the retelling, but I did want to point out that it is there.

Overall, Norse Mythology is a quick and fun read if you are interested in or enjoy mythology (particularly Norse mythology).  I can see why everyone loved it when it first came out last February. :)