“The heart is not a throne, with only one king to sit upon it. Or a lyre, played by a single hand. The heart breaks, but it also rises. Love is pain, but so is life and it is no less dear to us.”
Medea is the daughter of Hekate, goddess of witchcraft, and the wicked King Aeetes of Qulha1. Seeking a way out from under her father’s rule, Medea strikes a deal with the famed hero, Jason, to steal the Golden Fleece and escape to Greece. It is on board Jason’s ship, the Argo, where she meets Atalanta.
Atalanta is a formidable warrior who was raised by bears, unbound by the shackles of society. But when she joins Jason’s crew in the search for her lost love, Atalanta finds herself drawn to the mysterious sorceress for an epic love story that reaches across decades and oceans.
I’m a fiend for Greek mythology retellings, particularly those that explore beyond the confines of current cultural hegemony. The Witch and The Huntress is a lush, evocative reframing of mythology to tell a gorgeous and heartbreaking journey of love and belonging. Medea and Atalanta’s connection spans a lifetime of searing human emotions to inspire a love that’s eternal.
“You are the fire, Medea, Circe said, and you will destroy everything you touch. Perhaps, dear Aunt, but have you ever thought that some things deserve to be burned to the ground?”
Told from the alternating first-person perspectives of Medea and Atalanta, and the third-person perspective of Jason, we experience the magical, terrible, beautiful ancient world where monsters walked amongst humans and humans proved themselves monstrous. The Witch and The Huntress is keen to remind us that magic performed by gods and their children alike always comes at a price.
In doing so, we find that the great heroes are not always as they have been portrayed in their own stories, but are often weak-minded yet willing participants in their own destruction. The shift in narratives firmly tells us that this is not Jason’s story but Medea and Atalanta’s, and what a stunning tale it is.
The lyrical prose paints a vivid picture of the world, while deftly keeping within the framing of a mythological structure. The blood-soaked violence of war and betrayal is heavy on the page, the emotions from such devastation even more so. It all at once carries the weight of knowledge pre-determined by fate, and the thrill of possibility. Even if you may have heard tales of each legend, god, and hero who shows up upon this epic journey, how they’re woven into the golden threads of this narrative will surprise you.
“When you imagine your world of justice, will it be a place for everyone, or only those who look like you?”
And throughout this great sapphic romance is a love for the power and magic women hold; the women in this story are more than objects to be bought and displayed and silenced. They have agency and can be as cruel as they are kind, but they also choose joy, unity, and glory. The Witch and The Huntress calls out the injustices visited upon both humans and gods, and longs for a better world.
The Witch and The Huntress is everything I’ve ever wanted from a retelling, celebrating two of Greek mythology’s most fascinating women—a must-read for any fan of epic reimaginings.
The Witch and The Huntress by Luna McNamara hits shelves on April 21.
- Also known as Colchis. ↩︎
