I'm always a fan of Hannah Lynn's writing. This was a great story. It was hard to read in some parts due to the domestic violence, sexual assault (Nothing described). It was also so sad that so many of the women were in these relationships. I think Hannah did a good job with how she wrote about the abuse and how each character dealt with it. I truly enjoyed this book.

The Women of Artemis by Hannah Lynn is a fierce, captivating reimagining of the rise of the Amazons, told with both unflinching grit and lyrical beauty. Centering on Otrera, a woman who transforms from a fourteen-year-old bride into a fearless leader, Lynn delivers a story of survival, sisterhood, and defiance in the face of relentless abuse and oppression. The novel’s pulse beats with themes of empowerment, sacrifice, and the creation of a world where women claim their own destinies, even if it means defying gods and waging war against men. Rich with historical and mythological detail, this is a bold and moving portrait of resilience, perfect for fans of Circe, The Silence of the Girls, and stories that honor the strength of women who refuse to be broken.

I am a fan of Greek mythology and thought this was a well-constructed story! I read its entirety in one day because it was so compelling.

The story was a bit fantastic at times, but it fit the purpose of women being blessed by the Gods in order to fulfill their purpose. I appreciated the depth we were able to feel of the protagonists love for her chosen family, almost despite the fast pace of the book. I do think the end finished much quicker than the beginning, and that did feel a bit imbalanced. I would have loved to spend more time seeing the fruits of the labors the women sacrificed so much for.

The writing in this book is good i'm afraid I just couldn't get into it. The story in my book was hard to follow

I received this book as an ARC from Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley, and this review is my own. This novel contains the origin story of the Amazons. Otrera, a child bride to a cruel and much older husband, moves to a remote village after her husband’s gambling debts result in their loss of everything. In the village, Otrera meets Phile and experiences sisterhood for the first time. The reader follows Otrera and the women’s journey from their beginnings to becoming the Amazons and beyond. The story is excellent, well-written, and I will read more by the author.

4.5/5 stars!! Thanks to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS landmark and Hannah Lynn for the e-arc!

I absolutely loved this book. It is such a strong and powerful Greek retelling. I adored the way the characters felt real. I cried for them, I laughed with them and I felt for them. Otrera is an amazingly strong woman that fights for what she believes in and I admire her for that. The writing was easy to follow but very powerful!

𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆.

A masterful retelling of the birth of the fiercest female warriors in history, the Amazons. Otrera married at 14 and imagined for herself a handsome husband, a house filled with sons, love, and laughter. What she got instead was abuse, tears, a barren womb, and a husband who gambled away everything they had. Forced to pick up and move, leaving most everything behind, her husband Morsimus allows her to bring her servant and dear friend Melitta on their uncertain journey.

They end up in Ninniya, and to Otrera's shock, it's a community where women are dominant. She meets a woman named Phile who offers her employment. She quickly becomes a confidante and friend, a role model of quiet strength that Otrera begins to emulate. As she gradually builds both her physical and mental strength, she begins to question the way of the world--why are women always less than? Why are they treated as property, destined for a life of servitude and existing only to serve men?

Her anger and need for justice suits her as unexpected leadership is thrust upon her. For there are scores of women eager to leave the abuse so freely meted out by their husbands. They, too, yearn for peace, sisterhood, and the desire to live without fear. Then tragedy strikes when one of Otrera’s friends is beaten to death by her husband. Something in her changes, and she begins to question the idea of 'equal' and decides she wants 'greater,' which leads her to the pivotal decision that having men in the community puts already vulnerable women at risk. The women train to learn new skills so that they can become completely self-sufficient, whether is be providing food and shelter or protecting the compound from attack.

Woven into the story are some very human themes, especially Otrera's desire to bear a daughter, so when the narrative shifts to Ares and the birth of Hippolyta, I really felt like I was reconnecting with familiar characters. I didn't know much about Otrera's history and lineage before reading this book, but her strength and determination firmly cements her place in Greek mythology. Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this early copy. This is expected to publish October 21, 2025.

Thank you so much Netgalley for this wonderful ARC

*Rating: 5⭐*
*The Women of Artemis* was such a powerful read. Though it's framed as a Greek retelling, I connected with it more as a feminist story. Otrera, the main character, builds a safe haven for women escaping abusive marriages, and her strength and compassion made the book so empowering.

The writing was simple yet impactful—easy to follow, but deeply meaningful. It gave me *Circe* by Madeline Miller vibes, and as a proud Greek geek, that’s a huge compliment. This book was beautiful, emotional, and unforgettable.

I have not read much on the Amazons. I didn't even realise this book was about them.. I didn't read the blurb. But I loved it. It was slow to start. But I found it input down able. I even cried for Otera and Cleon. It is a beautifully empowering read.

This book was surprisingly very good. I love Greek Myth Retellings but with Womens Fiction and Feminism taking over the genre, it's starting to become repetitive. This book was very easy to read and comprehend and I am excited to read the book written in 2021 by this author. Loved it as my first arc

When Otrera’s husband drinks and gambles away all their money and moves them to a ramshackle hut in a tiny village she thinks her life is over. But the kindness of strangers helps her to build a new life, one where she is surrounded by a community of women who teach her to tease out the small freedoms that can be found in their oppressive patriarchal society. Except that these small freedoms remind Otrera that life is worth living. Now that she is supporting her husband financially she begins to wonder what use he is at all. Why is she financially supporting a man who beats her? Why are any of them? The women of the village may have shown her the way, but the path she will lead them down is more magnificent and powerful than any of their mist wildest dreams.

This is an origin story like no other. It takes oppressed women and sees them rise up and not only take their lives back, but build something new and lasting and unlike anything that the world has seen before. What I love is how Otrera starts out as just an ordinary women; her only ambition, survival. Even when she rallies the other women to rise up against their husbands she has no grand plans other than survival and freedom and keeping her friends safe. Her legacy is built slowly, one decision at a time, brick by brick and woman by woman. In this way Hannah Lynn has taken an unfathomable legend and made it fully believable.

Another thing that adds realism to the story is the deaths of important characters. They are women learning to survive without men and teaching themselves to fight and these important women are on the front line of their movement. It is realistic that there will be losses and it adds a heart-wrenching emotional depth to the narrative. One of my favourite details in the book is when Otrera makes the decision to bury the women with weapons instead of combs and mirrors. It is such a small detail that gives such a deep insight into how these women were subverting the expectations of their gender and taking for themselves the identities that they wanted.

5 stars! Abaolutely love the writing, as usual. Such a strong story about women, power and owning your worth.

I am DNF at 51%
First of all, Thank you Netgalley for giving me the ARC.

I am going to talk about my issues with the story as a whole and then the reasons I DNF'd it.

One things about this book is the writting style is very blunt and not crafty or flowery at all. The sentence structure is very simple and the words used don't always feel like the correct ones; more the simplist ones to get a point across. Which is not a bad thing in books. However, this is a greek mythology retelling and one thing that I feel makes this genre stand out so much is it's beautiful prose and unique way of telling the story. This book could just be a regular fantasy, because it just doesn't feel like I'm reading a retelling. Which brings me into point 2 and 2.5. Which is there is very little setting description and that alone gave the book a wobbly foundation in my review. Obviously there is a setting because you can't have a book without a setting; it was never described or even shown to the reader. You know the name of the place, that there's a river, a forrest, and a tannery. With knowing those places there is no description of what they look like, what the climates like, how its important to its people. This book could have taken place almost anywhere from how little descriptions there were. This fully could have been in Norway or Brazil instead. I would have never known. Which leads into what I'm calling 2.5 is there is almost no regards to the greek 'magic" system. You know the name of the gods, that's there one festival, and one gods role was very briefly explained. Otherwise nothing, the importantence of the festival was never explained, or why sacrifices are needed. The only reason I knew this was greek mythology (besides the book description) was the gods names.

Now moving into characters. The author gives the men no real good qualities. Which yes these men are supposed to be sh!tty people. But without any good or even neutral qualities they didn't feel human so it didnt feel as if there were true stakes at some point. The men were to perfect at being hated it just didnt feel realistic. Then with the female characters, besides Phile, Otrera, or Aina there characters personality/descriptions were very vague or non existent. They only thing consistent is they all had bruises or cuts. No even physical descriptions were given. It drew me out of the story and made me want to put it down.

Overall I wanted to DNF this at page 22. I could tell I was not gonna like the writing style or much else. I stuck it out because I kept waiting for it to get better. Suprise it didn't. Because of the lack of description, simple writting, and short chapters, this book moves very fast. The exact reason I chose to DNF was because chapter 50 left out really important detail to the story and just overall made me uncomfortable. I then went and looked at reviews and people kept saying the second half was worse so I choose to put the book down. This is a very bingeable book but not a good quality one in my opinion.

3.75

I must thank the publisher for sending me this book via NetGalley.

I am a feminist myself, so this story came to the right reader.

It is the story of Otrera, a young woman, married to an extremely abusive man who loses everything and, as a result, has to leave the city and take her to a remote village where the only source of income comes from a tannery managed by a widow who provides for a small community of women who need to feed their families, violent husbands included. Otrera joins said community, starts developing unexpected skills, and progresses to initiate a movement against oppressive men. She becomes a leader of women... , but I will not spoil the rest of the story.

Female rage at its finest. It feels justified - and seeing women rise to power was very satisfying.

However, the ending made me lower my rating because, while the story had felt quite realistic up to that point, it suddenly turned unbelievable and rushed.

Still good, though. And easy to read because the chapters are pretty short.

Such an amazing story about strong women and how far they will go to feel safe. Writing was beautiful and kept me interested throughout the whole book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read an early copy of The Women of Artemis.

This was a beautifully written, moving retelling of the origins of the Amazons, told through the eyes of Otrera, their legendary queen. From the very first chapter, I was completely swept into her story: a tale of resilience, hope and the power of female community. Hannah Lynn writes with such vivid detail that I felt completely transported into Otrera’s world.

What I loved most was the strength of the relationships between the women. Each character felt fully formed, and the way they came together to create a society where women could live free and self-sufficient lives was inspiring and emotional. Otrera’s character arc in particular was wonderfully done - she was flawed, strong, and deeply human, making her a protagonist I’ll remember for a long time.

The pacing is strong and kept me turning the pages late into the night, and I found the ending emotional and impactful. This is a story that lingers long after you finish.

I would highly recommend The Women of Artemis to anyone who enjoys Greek mythology retellings or historical fiction with strong, complex female leads. Hannah Lynn has such a gift for reimagining mythology through a fresh lens, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Hannah Lynn’s The Women of Artemis is the tale of the very human women that were the foundation for the legendary Amazons.

The story centers around Otrera, who is forced by her abusive husband to leave their home and seek refuge in a small village away from his bill collectors. His abuses and his drinking do not end in a new location, and Otrera seeks out Philae, who runs the tannery in the village for help. Philae offers her a job and a community, and her partner Hirtus offers her the skill of hunting.

When one of Otrera’s friends is beaten to death by her husband, something in Otrera snaps, and she decides the best solution for all the vulnerable women is for there to be no more men in the community. Having made that decision, the women must continually improvise to learn new skills to be self sufficient and fight to protect their right to live as they choose.

Not surprisingly, there is plenty of tragedy along the way, and the reader should be prepare themselves for a story where there aren’t happily ever afters for all the characters.

It felt like the first half of this book read really quickly, and the second half very slowly. Perhaps this is because the first half feels like the origin of how Otrera became who she was, and the second half was more about establishing her legend, but it made the second half feel repetitive and not nearly as interesting.

I also didn’t love the way it ended. It is no doubt based on what is known of the mythology, but it feels like a complete step away from the rest of the story that comes out of nowhere.

I enjoyed a look at the story of the origin of the Amazons, but I wish the book had felt more concise and ended in a way that provided consistency with the rest of the story.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was intrigued by this story. The idea of women rising up against the men who abuse them. Women coming together to forge a new way. I was not disappointed in the slightest. I was hesitant only because I personally do not know much about greek gods or mythology and I worried that I would not be able to follow the story. However, this book was able to weave in all of that information and explain it in a way that made sense to even me.

I found myself deeply connected to the characters. My heart still aches over some of the loss in this book. I find great joy in their successes as well. It was complex and enjoyable.

There was a point about 60% in where I was a little tired of reading the book. It felt very long, but that feeling did not last long and I was able to fly through the rest. I imagine those who are deeply intrigued by greek mythology and know more about the Amazons will not feel that moment the way that I did.

Overall, I am so glad that I read this book. I definitely recommend it for a beautiful story of rising from the ashes.

I literally jumped when I received an invite to read an advanced copy of Hannah Lynn's upcoming novel; I was first introduced to her through "Daughters of Olympus" and loved her writing and reinterpretation of Greek mythology through the lens of the (often overlooked) female perspective. In the "The Women of Artemis", she's woven a full story and character in yet another key woman in Greek mythology.

When Otrera is forced from her home to Ninniya due to her husband's gambling debt, she has little hope for the days ahead. Her husband Morsimus is an abusive alcoholic, and the one respite he offers her is allowing her to bring her close servant and friend Melitta on their abrupt departure. However, it's in Ninniya where she finds a community where women hold the power, led by a woman named Phile who quickly becomes a Otrera's source of survival and eventual friend. In this time as she slowly regains her strength and her confidence, Otera begins to question her life and the life of the women around her - are they condemned to live a life of fear and violence at the hands of their husbands?

Despite her own fear, Otrera quickly becomes a leader for these women who become her newfound family, leading them to rebel against the patriarchy and build a new type of community where the women are trained to fight and to protect themselves, and to become self-sufficient in hunting, crafting, and building. In the midst of this success and power, however, Otrera grapples with a number of deeply complex and personal struggles - including her own desires and hopes for marriage and motherhood; the compounded losses of those dear to her in the pursuit of the greater good; and juggling the responsibilities thrust upon her as the Queen of the Amazons against her personal relationships with the women around her.

Before reading this novel, there wasn't much I knew about Otrera, and with some limited research, it seems that Lynn took the most liberties with her initial backstory and the series of events that eventually led to the formation of the Amazons. I thought it was a thoughtful, well-planned approach that built out a full cast of characters around Otrera, including both friends and supporters as well as potential enemies. Lynn's writing was immersive and descriptive, and I appreciated that she wrote this from Otrera's first-person perspective, letting readers understand her emotions and thoughts. She's a flawed protagonist, but one that we can deeply connect to, and understand the motivations for a number of her actions and decisions. By the end of the novel, we see just how much her character has changed and evolved, including her ultimate decision for the greater good of the Amazons.

Very much a recommended read for fellow lovers of Greek mythology retellings when "The Women of Artemis" is published in October 2025!

Unfortunately, I have had to DNF this book at 30%. I cannot get past how Phile claims to be offering these women help, but essentially is having them work for her to gain a profit, and then sends them home with money to fund their husbands alcohol addictions, which in turn leads to their abuse - surely she would offer them safe sanctuary instead? I also don’t like how she is doing this for her own selfish gain to avoid the afterlife of mortals - heroes end up in the Elysium fields because their heroic acts were completely unselfish, not to gain something in the afterlife. This character alone has infuriated me enough to leave the book, however I also found it confusing to keep up with the many, many characters. In all, I’m disappointed to be leaving this review as I am a lover of Greek mythology, but this unfortunately fell a bit flat for me