"Outrun the Wind" by Elizabeth Tammi | Book Review

The Huntresses of Artemis must obey two rules: never disobey the goddess and never fall in. After being rescued from a harrowing life as an Oracle of Delphi, Kahina is glad to be a part of the Hunt; living among a group of female warriors gives her a chance to reclaim her strength, even while her prophetic powers linger. But when a routine mission goes awry, Kahina breaks the first rule in order to save the legendary Atalanta.

To earn back Artemis's favor, Kahina must complete a dangerous task in the kingdom of Arkadia - where the king's daughter is revealed to be none other than Atalanta. Still reeling from her disastrous quest and her father's insistence on marriage, Atalanta isn't sure what to make of Kahina. As her connection to Atalanta deepens, Kahina finds herself in danger of breaking Artemis' second rule.

She helps Atalanta devise a dangerous game to avoid marriage and word spread through Greece attracting suitors willing to tempt fate to go up against Atalanta in a race for her hand. But when the men responsible for both girls' dark past arrive, the game turns deadly.

I really, really wanted to love this book. In theory, it's perfect. It has two of my favorite things: f/f romance and Greek mythology (especially the Hunters of Artemis, which I've been obsessed with since I was like 12 and wanted to join).

Unfortunately, it just wasn't as great as I had hoped. The beginning of the book felt like a mad dash to set up the story and it was mostly confusing and rushed. It also made the characters motivation difficult to understand or believe. Everything just felt too rushed in the beginning and it was very "hurry up and wait" because then not much happened in the middle of the book. In fact, most of the book felt slow and it wasn't until the very end that the action started.

The pace wasn't the only thing that I struggled with. The characters all felt flat to me. Atalanta and Kahina even were not fully fleshed out and the romance element didn't seem organic to me. The whole romance felt like a forced after thought and it really let me down.

But it wasn't all bad. The story idea is interesting and I do adore Greek mythology. The writing has a lot of promise and I think with a bit more editing this could have been a much better book. It wasn't my favorite, but I will keep an eye in case Elizabeth Tammi writes anymore and improves with practice.

Rating: 3 stars

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