"The world is too huge, and life too tiny, for you to, ever stop making mistakes"

This feels like an homage to life. I will admit some of the stories I liked more than others and sometimes there were people as POV that were really bad people but there was a beauty to it honestly. In general I did actually cry to some parts because it was just so human and so real and I really appreciated that.

I also really like that the stories ended really open even though I would have loved to know more. I also really liked how there were some characters in other stories and it really felt like the place was well entangled with each other.

In general this was a very nice book and I am honestly learning that I like fiction a lot. Escpecially if it deals with human emotions and how one moment can snowball into more.

Okay let's start with the good • the decision to say Qulha to Colchis is actually really cool because it is not the greek name but the actual name • i actually really enjoyed Jasons depiction and liked that he struggled more and was allowed to be more gentle (though really what he did and how atalanta saw him was SO FAR away that atalanta seemed to just hate him for NO reason and she just seemed to not empathize at all which got annoying and frustrating because it made her seem bitter)

Now why the book only got one star: • The decision to make Hekate a mortal woman that turns into a god and also turned Circe into a god (who was also a mortal woman before) is so weird because Hekate is a powerful goddess. I don't mind Medea being Hekates daughter. I mind Hekate being married, getting killed by some king and only then become a goddess because this disregards everything Hekate is. • Medeas father being comically evil and Medea not just killing her with the magic SHE GOT GIFTED made no sense (normally she could not do that because she had to grow her magic painfully. in here she really had no excuse not to do it) • Depicting the trick with the apples that forced Atalanta into a marriage as something Atalanta agreed to and wanted and was a joint effort quite frankly was disgusting but at that point I was already so fed up that I could not get angry about that • The love story was incredibly lackluster. They barely were in love and the scenes where it was shown, were over really fast. Both spend more time being in love with someone else and their love story did not feel central at all • The writing style was weirdly rushed. The emotions could not be build up. Every conflict or potential argument was over so fast and everyone was convinced of another opinion so fast that I got whiplash • THE GOLDEN FLEECE BEING NOT MAGICAL?? why would you even want that? what was the whole point of the Argonauts? everyone was so obsessed with this fleece, that was not even magic??

NOW TO THE BIGGEST GRIPE I HAVE; MEDEA: What happenend to her was pure character assasination and it makes me so furious. The fact that she got GIFTED her magic took away all agency of her working for it, making it for herself. The audacity to say that her magic was never HERS. It was always hers. That's why people were scared of her. That's why they didn't trust her. Because she wielded magic. She made NO decision for herself. NOT EVEN KILLING HER CHILDREN. Every decision was made for her. She had no agency in this book. None at all. And yes I am mad that she did not kill her children. I am also mad that she regretted who she killed. Atalanta saying to Medea "you were always cunning but you were never intentionally cruel" describes the gripe I have perfectly. MEDEA ALWAYS WAS INTENTIONALLY CRUEL. she is a complex woman that was scared and wanted to be loved so badly that she did so much wrong. But at the end she was intentionally cruel. That was always the point. She wanted to hurt Jason. She wanted to cause pain. And she chose the worst thing she could imagine That's why killing her children was as much revenge as it was sacrifice. She was kind sometimes and cruel other times. She exists in multitutes. Always has. Let woman be evil. It is not feministic to have woman not be allowed to be evil and cruel. Let her be unhinged and vengeful and cruel. Stripping that away from her is not feminism. I am genuinely so mad about it. ESCPECIALLY BECAUSE SHE WAS CRUEL AND THE GODS APPROVED OF HER BEING CRUEL AND VENGEFUL. It was pure character assasination what happenend to her.

‐--------‐--------------------------------------

I was looking forward to this book so much because it is such a good idea. Atalanta and Medea as sapphic lovers is such a good concept. I even would have been okay if it was not a happy ending because Atalanta would be appaled by what Medea did (I like to imagine she would not. But it's fair if you can't imagine not being appaled by Medeas actions and still loving her. That makes sense). But this missed the mark so incredibly much. Atalanta just was kind of bland honestly and Medea was just pure character assasination and their love story basically did not exist. I am deeply dissapointed and genuinely angry. Maybe in some days my view will change but I just finished it and I am so mad honestly but I am glad it's over.