Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast (Young Heroes)

Rating:
Summary: Runs fast and steadily
Review: After the stellar "Odysseus" and mediocre "Hippolyta," Jane Yolen shows her exceptional storytelling skills once more in "Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast." The legendary huntress and runner is given an unusual and suspenseful adventure, that very few could pull off well.

Atalanta was abandoned in the forest as a baby, and raised until the age of four by a bear. Then her bear-mother was killed, and the feral child was taken in and raised by a childless couple, until her mother died. One day an enormous creature attacks the cottage, killing Atalanta's father. Before he dies, he gives her a ring that is the only clue to where she might come from. But Atalanta doesn't particularly want to be with humans, as she informs the nature-god Pan.

She teams up with an old playmate (a bear) whom she calls Urso. She rescues Urso from a village of hunters, and spends time near other humans -- until the hunters come upon a monstrous winged lion. She teams up with Urso and the legendary hunter Orion to hunt down the winged lion.

As with the previous two books, this one has plenty of action, lots of trivia about Greek mythology, legend and everyday life, and the gods and heroes bob in and out of it. Artemis (kind of petulant) and Pan (likably weird and quirky) both make appearances, as does the skilled but rather boastful Orion (who was immortalized as a constellation -- Orion the Hunter, and Orion's Belt).

Atalanta is a good heroine -- she craves freedom, has a strong sense of herself, and defnitely grows and changes over the course of the story. Orion is as he should be, proud but pretty likable. Urso is proof that you don't need dialogue to be a good character -- he's a bear, but he has more likability to him than most fictional characters who DO talk. And I liked Pan, of course.

Yolen's writing is quick and sometimes humorous, though this is a more somber book than "Odysseus." The dialogue isn't hard to understand, and she shows an exceptional ability to make legends and myths very palatable. And the sense of menace and danger around the winged lion is very believable.

Fans of Greek myth and fantasy will enjoy "Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast" -- a solid, fast-paced, well-written story of the Age of Heroes. Hope this series has many more books yet to go...

Rating:
Summary: Atalanta Rocks!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. if you like adventures read thhis book. Also read the other books in the series.