The Huntresses of Artemis must obey two rules: never disobey the goddess, and never fall in love. 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. But when a routine mission goes awry, Kahina breaks the first rule in order to save the legendary huntress … 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’s second rule. She helps Atalanta devise a dangerous game to avoid marriage, and word spreads throughout Greece, attracting suitors to go up against Atalanta in a race for her hand. But when the men responsible for both the girls’ dark pasts arrive, the game turns deadly.
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Outrun the Wind is a unique take on the tale of Atalanta and the Huntresses of Artemis. Now, that said, this story, unfortunately, fell flat.
A Little Bland
It was interesting to see Artemis and her Huntresses brought to life. There was a coldness there however, that created this barrier between the story and the reader. Artemis being cold, almost callus, makes her fearful yes, but it made her a little unlikable. There is also Atalanta who in Greek Mythology was a huntress for her.
Yes, this tale rewrites Greek mythology, but in doing so, it lost some of its charm and in some ways, diminished the characters. Now while it is great to see the women come on top of the men, their personalities are what is lacking.
Atalanta is not wholly likable. As a reader, I was not invested in her at all. It was great to see her stand alone and stand above the men and never back down, but there is no development to her to make her personable.
The voices in the novel, fall flat. There is no charm, no personality to connect the reader to the characters. As a novel highlighting an LGBTQ romance, it does not resonate with the reader because these characters, unfortunately, do not shine.
Kahina and Atalanta should be a romance to root for, but this story lacks depth, it lacks to devotion and richness to pull in the reader. Their voices blended together, and it stems from this coldness that began with Artemis.
In short, these are shallow characters who lack the substance of the original tale.
Poor Pacing
What also makes this novel hard to read is the pacing. It starts with Atalanta on a hunt, and then she runs off from joining Artemis and her Huntresses. The poorly paced novel stretched thin the plot, indicating a lack of direction in the storytelling. Is it about Atalanta and her run? Is it about Kahina and Apollo? It makes the reader question where the story is taking them.
When it does finally give the reader a semblance of where it wants to go, it takes to long to get there. The first half of the novel is plain boring. It has no vitality to it and the poor pacing makes the story feel like it has no substance.
Final Thoughts
It was not a bad story, but it was not great either. This could have been a strong feministic story, and yet the lack of personality, character growth, and poor pacing, this made the story boring. This is a story that stretches in too many directions with no clear indication of where it is going and the fact that the characters have no voice, strips of any connection it might have with the reader.
I’m really interested in Greek mythology, so when I heard about his book, I was intrigued. I liked the premise and with the hype around this book my expectations were really high. But as it turned out, the story was okay, I didn’t love it. I don’t know why. There’s nothing wrong with the writing or the characters, but somehow I lost interest halfway through the book and had to make me read to the end. Maybe my expectations have been too high.