While the prose in this novel was at times uninspiring, and the plotting a bit sloppy, fans in search of a queer re-telling of Greek mythology will find lots to swoon over.

I have an innate fascination when it comes to mythology, but, this comes hand in hand with a critical view of anything that uses mythology for the purpose of a storyline.

That being said, I found Outrun the Wind intriguing. It has a certain feel to it, that I cannot name, but, it’s something I’ve felt before.

When I started reading, I was immediately grasped by a character with which I could relate. Atalanta, was STRONG, and as a female that strength is paramount to the construction of many characters. Her strength was literal, but also constructed through subtle character aspects which weaved, and flowed her character into being. She wants freedom, but open opportunity. She wants family, but she doesn’t want things that tie her down. She wants love, and she loses that, time and time again. She is an enigma, and I wanted more.

Premise wise, I didn’t know what I was expecting but I know what I was not expecting, and I think this is it. Usually, with mythology you get the lovely coming-of-age novella about a child of the gods realising their potential and going on a quest etc. etc. Yet, what Tammi has created is just, more. Yes, it has that expected concept of gods, and the children - but our main character was not one, and that is probably what drew me into continuing (combined with Atalanta saying no to Artemis - like?????)

All in all, and to not give away too many spoilers, I’d suggest this novel with 4/5 starts. What prevents it from hitting 5 you may ask, was simply the struggle to read - while it flowed and there was so much reason to WANT to read it, there was a choppiness that I didn’t like (and I’m not a game of mixed POV).

We loved this book and loved the plot and character development within it. With a mix of mythology, a touch of romance and trials, this book is sure to touch all your happy points at once.

I had high expectation for this book, but I was a little disappointed. It felt more like a generic fantasy than a retelling of Greek mythology. Further, the plot was kind of boring and didn't capture me at all.

I requested this book because it included Greek mythology and I have always enjoyed that. Artemis and Apollo are, as always, in opposition with each other and their antics are a very small part of this story so I wouldn't really say this is about mythology. This story stresses the strength of feminine nature and the oppressive nature of the male psyche. The underlying theme is twofold. One theme stresses the overbearing nature of men and their expectations of women back in mythological times as an allegory for present day. The second is the friendship, love and caring relationship of two females who are opposed to the expectations of them in a patriarchal society. The writing is superb, however the very strong feminist message to refute traditional female roles was a little overpowering for me. I'm a feminist but I don't need to be smashed over the head with this message. I think this story is good but probably has a limited audience and is not really what I like to read. I received and ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, I can see it becoming one of the next big YA hits. The story centres around the mythological character Atalanta and features a variety of Greek gods. If you liked 'Circe' or 'A Song of Achilles' you will enjoy this book. The story flows really well, the characters are developed well and I commend the author on including a same-sex relationship. Overall, would definitely recommend!

*ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

This was initially a hard book to get into. Maybe because I wasn't expecting the first narrator. From the blurb, it sounds like the focus will mainly be on Kahina. Instead, the reader is thrown into Atalanta's mind. While this was a shock to the system I powered through and am so happy I did. This is a book that was so unexpectedly good. While I love a good book with a romance at the front and center this is one where the love was more subtle. It isn't until the middle that even the characters understand what they might be feeling. While the ending was a bit rushed I think it was what was needed. If it was drawn out much longer I think it would have lost its path. This is a book I will totally recommend to those who love retellings of Greek mythology.

What luck!

I received this as a NetGalley ebook, but I found out about it months and months ago from a Twitter thread by @readingpeaches/lesbianna in January quite by happy accident. I'd been looking for LGBT+ novels with mythology in them for quite some time, although m/m is quite popular likely because of The Song of Achilles and historical novels by Mary Renault, f/f is a rarer find - but not impossible as The Dark Wife and Alcestis prove.

Now you can count Outrun the Wind among them!

First as this is a proof, I feel compelled to tell of the errors I took note of here:
typo gievn location 1847, ch 13
typo turs location 2612, ch 18
chapter 20 events are very confusing and need to be adjusted, paragraphs skip and are repeated.

I like names so I took note of Kahina's right away, it's not in any naming list of Artemis' nymph or mortal maids, but it is the name of a intriguing and powerful woman who is also called Dihya (but she's not related to the Kahina of the book, so if you'd like to know more of her, look up her history!), it's meaning is something of a hint to Outrun the Wind's Kahina too, meaning "priestess seer/soothsayer". I think the 'Wind' part of Outrun the Wind is a hint to her race with Hippomenes (hippo=horse, menes=vigor/age/power) as the wind gods of Greek myth became the horses of Zeus' chariot and also fathered horses.

Atalanta is one of the few women in Greek mythology who went on to have adventures, it's hinted that she traveled on the Argo with Jason (and possibly Medea), but the more popular start is the Calydonian Boar hunt and the odd love stories with Meleager and Melanion/Hippomenes that surround her. Elizabeth Tammi does not stick to purely classical knowledge, this is a fantasy like take of the mythology, which both takes and gives, making something new of the old stories.

Kahina and Atalanta do not take a quick liking to one another, but fates (or rather Artemis and Apollo) pull them closer together, and the attraction grows from every meeting between the two. I was confused at why Artemis and Apollo were antagonizing each other over temples and power, they did tit-for-tat in myths but usually this was due to lovers of Apollo or Artemis' hunters, exploring that would have helped the story along, possibly helped Kahina with her task - we're left with questions on why Meleager's father forgot Artemis (did it have something to do with Hippomenes/Apollo?) or if Apollo taking of oracle maidens was a attack against Artemis that began things.

I enjoyed Kahina's huntress friends Isidora and Nikoleta, as well as Atalanta's brother Phelix and the explanation of her history with Zosimos ...although I think it rather flimsy that Atalanta's race was to determine a marriage as a legitimate heir.

Iasus of myth had three brothers, two of whom went through the Calydonian Boar hunt in fact in myth Melanion/Hippomenes - supposed cousin of Kahina, is the son of Amphidamas, brother of Iasus the Tammi doesn't make clear if she knows of that, but neither does she name the parents of Kahina or Hippomenes that I recall, only tells about her father and his father being brothers who have a shipping business and her mother from Ethiopia.

While this book does wrap up things between Atlanta in Arkadia and with the hunters of Artemis, I do hope her adventure with Kahina is just beginning.

I'd like to see in a sequel Atlanta meet Kahina's family and sail to Ethiopia, or go together on the Argo after the golden fleece.

Outrun the Wind was my most anticipated YA release of the year. I'm a complete and utter Greek mythology fangirl and the idea of a book that featured both the Hunters of Artemis and Atalanta, one of my favourite heroes, was always a massive draw for me.

Unlike most people (it seems), enemies-to-lovers isn’t usually one of my favourite tropes. However, I really liked it in this story. Kahina and Atalanta are both wonderful characters. I liked how strong each girl was, determined not to be forced down a path she didn’t want. They’re both complex and had complicated emotions toward each other. I really liked seeing how the distrust and wariness between them very slowly developed into a solid, dependable friendship and then a romance. I really appreciated how Tammi took the time to really build it up gradually. The supporting characters were well written too: Hippomenes is suitably slimy, Phelix is a sugar-pie and it was wonderful to see how supportive the Huntresses were of each other. Both the gods featured -- Apollo and Artemis -- felt suitably ‘other’: distant, powerful and arrogant.

I thought the plot was interesting, and that Tammi managed to work the more unbelievable elements of the original story (because, mythology, right?) into the more historical feel of the overarching plotline - for example, the golden apple distraction. I also thought that the elements of the various Atalanta stories (the boar hunt, the race etc.) into something that felt fluid. The moments were tied together with nice original scenes and well-rounded original characters.

The one complaint I had was that the world building felt a little lacking in terms of description. I think if you've already read a lot of mythology or history you’ll fill in the gaps just fine yourself, but things like dress, food and architecture etc. are very glossed over. It would have been nice to have a more solid picture of the world.

This review will go up on my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales on 29 October 2018
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com/2018/10/29/arc-review-outrun-the-wind

What a great story, I was so excited and intrigued about it!There are a lot of things I enjoyed in this story.Outrun the Wind is a fantasy inspired by Greek Mythology, one of the main characters Kahina being a huntress of Artemis and the other main character Atalanta being accused of killing Artemis's boar, and wanting to be recruited by her. I love Greek Mythology and I find the story unique!

I’ve been exceptionally kind to this book, as I’m fully here to support all my writer friends on Tumblr who make it this far. I’ve recommended it a handful of times to people looking for Greek mythology adaptations, which I think doesn’t see nearly enough action, especially in the YA market. So I will say, this book undoubtedly has a place out there in the world, and as a wlw story, I’m glad it exists. But the writing itself only feels halfway there. This may be because I took a few months’ break halfway through to read other things, but I found it hard to remember the plot points that happened along the way. Even when I did get back to reading it, I often found myself confused as to what had happened even ten pages before. Which is to say, this story is unfortunately, forgettable. There was nothing spectacular that wowed me, like I kind of come to expect from mythological epics. I also happened to be reading Circe around the same time, so I could have been facing Greek mythology burn out.

I feel like this book could be someone else’s favourite, and make a huge difference to fans of Percy Jackson and sapphic girls who rarely see themselves in the books they read. It just doesn’t have that effect on me. But I absolutely wish it all the best and will continue to support and recommend it because it’s what the author deserves.

*Spoiler free, 3.75 stars*

This book sounded queer and I wanted to read it. Two huntresses falling in love? Yeah, I wanted to read the heck out of that. And on top of that, the rest of the story sounded really good; one of strength and perseverance.

To some extent, this book assumes you know the story of Atalanta. The story doesn’t waste a word jumping into the plot and it caught me off balance. This off kilter feeling followed me into the rest of the story and left me confused for a lot of it. There wasn’t enough buildup or background information at the start. It is sprinkled throughout the story, but I felt that even that wasn’t enough. I think the story would have been a lot more well rounded and fleshed out if the beginning slowed down a bit.

There was also a lot of character relationships that I found confusing and kind of unrealistic. I was honestly left kind of baffled at some points when some of them were interacting. There was no development and some instances felt downright unrealistic.

While there is a f/f, a very solid one, I can’t help thinking that it could be gayer haha. The relationship progressed solidly, but I felt it could have been front and center just a tad more. Also, fleshed out a little more. I had a lot of development problems with this book.

I’m not sure if this is because I didn’t know this was a Greek Mythology retelling or because of the writing, but it didn’t feel like a Greek Mythology retelling. It just felt like that those were the gods that these people worshiped and that was that. It caught me by surprise when I realized that it was actually a retelling.

Despite all the things I saw to be downfalls, I really, really enjoyed this book. The plot kept me thoroughly entertained and made me want to keep reading. I loved Atalanta and Kahina and their relationship. It was so complex and how everything unfolded and progressed was really well done.

The writing was also fantastic. There were lines that stayed with me throughout the book and even after I finished. It was just really good, the whole book, all of it.

An artfully crafted retelling of the Atalanta legend. Atalanta must learn to outrun the wind in order to remain free. But she is sought by both cruel warriors and gods.


Although this is based on the Atalanta legend Elizabeth Tammi brings her own voice to the tale and fleshes out the characters while keeping much of the legend intact.

It took a bit to get into because Greek Mythology is not something that I know very well. There are still a few things that I’m a bit confused on but I didn’t mind. Most of the things I’m confused about are things I would need to do my own research on.

The switching perspectives was a little confusing at times. I had to flip back several times because I didn’t know who’s perspective I was reading. This especially happened when the perspective switched in the middle of chapters.

The LGBQT+ representation was great. I knew from the beginning who was going to fall in love with who. The story for how they came together was great. I liked that they had their own things going on and helped each other vs only one of them helping the other. Kahina and Atalanta also took their time getting to know each other and working on their relationship and I like that.

Kahina was my favorite character. She was like the girl next door with a fierce side. She was so relatable and I loved her. Atalanta was the girl I loved to hate. She was so good at everything and you wanted to hate her but then she would do something nice and you just couldn’t hate her anymore. Kahina and Atalanta together are great. They balance each other out and it just works beautifully.

More background information on most characters I think would have been helpful especially Artemis and Apollo. Even Kahina and Atalanta need a little more background information but without the background information it does make me want to read more and draws me with the mystery of it all.

I would definitely pick up another book by Elizabeth Tammi.

You had me at Greek myths, cool women and warriors. Because I’m a total nerd for all of these things. And I was not disappointed.
First off, the characters. The story is told from the POVs of the two protagonists, Kahina and Atalanta. They have quite similar voices, with only a few differences, so sometimes I got confused from which character the story was told at some points. I’ll start with Kahina who is basically the incarnation of the pure, sweet cinnamon roll. I don’t know how else to describe her. She is just so cute and amazing. She acts cool, trying to save herself and not letting anybody too close because of all the losses and shit in life she had to go through. But when she really takes a liking to someone and comes closer to them, she would not stop for anything in the world to help them.
And Atalanta! She is just a force of nature. The complete opposite of Kahina. Where the latter is thoughtful and calm, Atalanta seems to be always angry at everyone and everything. But same as Kahina, she changes towards someone she likes, being really sensitive and cute.
The other characters were either friend or foe. Most of them being foes though and basically all of them men who use their positions of power to do bad things.

The relationships between the characters are quite compley in some situations, because almost every character went through a lot and still has to deal with much stuff, it seems to be hard for all of them to really commit to anything, some are turning in complete egoists, some are driven by fear from or for somebody else, some out of love. But especially the relationship between Kahina and Atalanta is highlighted, the two being the main characters. Hello hello, favourite trope. Hate to friendship to lovers. Because yup, this book was the Ancient Greek lesbian story I’ve been waiting for. And their bantering and just generally the process of them starting to like each other….yes. Loved it.

The plot was also pretty cool as well. It’s basically those two girls against the world and especially against the villain who was… aan unconventional one? I really did not expect it and I still have some problems wrapping my mind around it, though on the other hand it makes sense and fits really well into the story.

My major points of critique are, as I mentioned before, the similarly told POVs, and that Kahina’s plot wasn’t developed enough. Atalanta and the thing with finding a husband is very detailed where as Kahina solving the task for Artemis really only gets a few pages. I wish that would have been a bit more elaborated.

But apart from those things, I totally enjoyed this book!

Meinung
Oh mein Gott! Lesbian Fantasy trifft auf griechische Mythologie! Ich. Brauche. Es!!! Das in etwa waren meine ersten Gedanken, als ich von diesem Buch gehört und es auf Netgalley angefragt habe. (Vielen Dank an dieser Stelle!) Nun, knapp zwei Tage später, habe ich es bereits ausgelesen, was eindeutig für das Buch spricht.

Ausschlaggebend dafür war unter anderem der Schreibstil. Obwohl ich zugeben muss, dass ich mich am Anfang erstmal hineinfinden musste. Der Beginn war eher seltsam und ich habe eine Weile gebraucht, um zu verstehen, was eigentlich gerade los ist, aber nach den ersten drei Kapiteln hatte ich den roten Faden gefunden und ab da gab es kein Halten mehr. Die Autorin hat einen sehr angenehmen, beschreibenden Stil, der Gefühle auf eine subtile Art zwischen den Zeilen herüberbringt, ohne dabei die Handlung zu vernachlässigen. Erzählt wird aus den Sichten von Kahina und Atalana, was kapitelweise wechselt und immer vor dem Kapitel gekennzeichnet ist.

Die Handlung selbst empfinde ich als sehr außergewöhnlich, da ich noch nie etwas Vergleichbares gelesen habe. Lesbian Fantasy ist ohnehin rar gesät und noch dazu in Kombination mit griechischer Mythologie? Nope, da habe ich bisher nichts entdeckt. (Wenn ich mich täusche, lasse ich mich gerne eines Besseren belehren.) Die Geschichte der beiden jungen Frauen steht klar im Vordergrund, doch nicht die Liebesgeschichte. Nicht nur, dass sowohl Kahina als auch Atalana nicht die leichteste Vergangenheit hatten, so kommen im Hier und Jetzt weitere Konflikte auf sie zu.

Der größte Punkt nehmen wohl Atalantas Bemühungen ein, ihre Heiratsanwerter wieder loszuwerden und obwohl in diesem Teil des Buches durchaus Routine einkehrt, empfand ich die Geschichte an keinem Punkt langgezogen. Es sind die subtilen Dinge, die das Lesen zu einem absoluten Vergnügen machen und einen förmlich in das Buch springen lassen. Und das hat die Autorin wirklich gut gemeistert.

Wie zuvor erwähnt, gibt es auch eine Liebesgeschichte, allerdings ist die wirklich sehr hintergründig und steht kaum im Fokus. Aber das ist gar nicht so schlimm, denn die wachsenden Gefühle zwischen Kahina und Atalanta sind spürbar und die Annäherung hätte kaum besser sein können, so unterschwellig sie auch war. Dazu die ganzen versteckten (und nicht ganz so versteckten) Konflikte, die die Liebe der Beiden unter einen schlechten Sternen stellen, obwohl noch nie von Liebe gesprochen wurde. Hach, ich schwärme hier, aber das beweist wiederum, dass man die Romanze nicht immer in den Vordergrund stellen muss. Weniger ist manchmal eben mehr.

Zu den Charakteren: Ich bin ein großer Fan der beiden jungen Frauen, denn nicht nur, dass beide wirkliche starke Persönlichkeiten besitzen und sich niemals kampflos ergeben würden, ich mag auch die Art, wie sie die Welt sehen. Was um sie herum passiert. Beim Lesen fühlte es sich an, als sähe man die Welt aus ihren Augen. Das war … mal was anderes und einfach schön. Dazu gibt es noch Nebencharaktere, die ich ins Herz geschlossen habe. Allen voran Phelix, Atalantas Halbbruder, der sich schnell zu einem guten Freund entwickelt. Er ist ruhig und besonnen, aber auf eine liebenswerte Art und Weise. Tatsächlich habe ich ihn innerhalb weniger Seiten in mein Herz geschlossen. Vielleicht sogar ein wenig mehr als Kahina und Atalanta.

Bei “Outrun the Wind” handelt es sich um einen Einzelband und ich bin verdammt froh, dass Elizabeth Tammi die Story so beendet hat, wie sie es nun mal getan hat. Denn das Ende hat mir wirklich Tränen in die Augen getrieben. Letztendlich konnte ich das Buch mit einem Lächeln auf den Lippen schließen und werde die Story sicher nicht so bald vergessen.

Fazit
“Outrun the Wind” ist ein wunderbarer Debütroman mit einer außergewöhnlichen Geschichte, starken Charakteren, die man lieben muss, und einer ganzen Menge Herz. Ich bin so froh, dass ich das Buch entdeckt habe, und empfehle es jedem weiter, der mal richtig gute Lesbian Fantasy lesen will.

I want to start off with that I requested to read Outrun the Wind from NetGalley.com and was approved to give an honest opinion on the book before it's publication date. I have not completely finished the book but have read up to Chapter 6 and feel I am able to give a pretty good review based on those chapters. I will continue to read the book and will update this review, or add a new one, later on when I am done.

I've always been a fan of Greek/Roman mythology and appreciate any author giving it the time of day to put their own spin to the original stories. We encounter Atalanta in the woods trying to impress a prince, and a couple of other guys, with her hunting skills against one of Artemis' creations: the boar. As the boar is about to kill Atalanta, a random golden knife appears out of no-where and saves her from death. Artemis is pissed about the boar getting killed and Atalanta is on the run.

Throughout the book we go back and forth between two different POVs of Atalanta and Kahina. Kahina is one of the Huntresses of Artemis and is on a quest provided by her "boss" and screws up by saving Atalanta and killing the boar. Kahina has to prove her worth to Artemis and is sent on a journey on her own.

Based on the six chapters I have read I am enjoying the two characters and their two views on each side of the coin. The story has an interesting and realistic view on Greek mythology and keeping to the facts but with a little more spice to keep it from being boring.

I will continue to read this book and I have it on pre-order to get my own copy.

Outrun the Wind comes out on November 27th of this year and I'm excited to see if this will have a sequel.

(Link added below with review on my blog: https://sequoiawritesathousandlives.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-review-courtesy-of-netgalley.html )

As I said I really wish that I had enjoyed this more than I had. My main problem was that I had absolutely no connection with the two main characters. I didn't really care about them and I didn't care about their relationship. It was promised to be a lesbian story and they did end up together but for about 60% of the book they just disliked each other and there was no chemistry between them. No angst, no tension, no staring at each other, no swooning. Nothing to hold on to. Nothing cute or interesting. The last 10% were more action packed but at that point, I cared little about the story anymore. I feel like if the relationship between Atalanta and Kahina was more fleshed out the lack of plot could have been compensated. Or maybe some more coherent flashbacks of their pasts. The vague flashbacks that gave us the bare minimum of information that confused me more than actually cleared things up for me could have compensated too.

I really want more retellings of mythology based on women to be published which is why I was really excited about this one. Unfortunately, the writing really didn't catch me.

I received a copy of Outrun the Wind through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm not overly confident in my rating of this book, but I'm going with 4 stars, but it was almost 3. Depending on what mood you catch me in, I may well change my mind between the two, but right now I'm feeling generous.

The Huntresses of Artemis have two rules which they must follow: never disobey the Goddess Artemis and never fall in love. Having disobeyed a direct order from Artemis in order to protect the renowned warrior Atalanta, one member of the hunt - Kahina - finds herself desperate to get back into the Goddesses good graces. For Kahina to do this, she is set a dangerous mission in Arkadia; where the long-lost Princess is finally returning to the Kingdom and it just so happens to be Atalanta.

Atalanta is a fierce warrior who finds herself fighting for sport in order to support herself, then her estranged father appears to take her 'home' to become the Princess of Arkadia. When the 'fatherly love' turns out to be the King's way of manipulating his daughter into saving his kingdom, Atalanta turns to Kahina for help in a dangerous game of dodging suitors and avoiding marriage.

What I Loved:
- The Greek mythology. I'll confess I'm not a huge Greek mythology buff, but the references (I'm not sure how loose they were) were great, and if anything I would've loved more.
- Girl power. Seriously, the women in this story are badass!
- The portrayal of various sexualities and the slightly more unconventional relationships.

What I Didn't Like:
- Some bits of the story seemed a little rushed, both Atalanta and Kahina's backstory made sense but just needed fleshing out a little more for my taste.
- I was not ready for the end of Atalanta's first love.
- The dual POV storytelling. This was, I think, the only way of telling this story but the two voices were just so similar that whenever I put the book down when I came back I had no idea who's chapter I was reading.
 
“Ugly words don't always mean ugly feelings.”
― Elizabeth Tammi, Outrun the Wind.

Cute Book but I thought the writing just wasn't my favorite. I can tell she did her research but it still fell short for me.