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A review by eggcatsreads
Epic of Helinthia by M.J. Pankey
5.0
A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, Muse and Quill Press for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, and despite my intention of reading this for 2-3 days, I finished it in one sitting as I could not put it down. It’s a fresh take on Greek mythology retellings, in that the author has created her own mythos within the story - and yet, it fits perfectly into any other Greek myth retelling. It honestly felt more like reading a mythology retelling that I was unfamiliar with, and less like a brand new original story, as everything fit together into established mythology so well.
(It’s almost frustrating, [in a “I can’t wait for the next book" kind of way!”] that I can’t look up the story of Helinthia to learn what happens next, because part of me is convinced that I’ve simply missed an epic by Homer somewhere. By this I mean, the author has done phenomenal at incorporating her own story into existing Greek myth to the point that it’s near impossible to find the lines of what is taken from the myth, and what is original to this story.)
I did have a little difficulty understanding what was going on at the beginning of this book, as it began already extremely in-depth with the assumption you would know the characters and places - when we, as the reader, do not. However, I felt like this almost enhanced the believability of this being a mythology retelling and not an original story, as every retelling I’ve read begins in the same way. This story isn’t any more confusing, in my opinion, than any other novel on Greek mythology read by someone not overly familiar with the story.
I personally believe it’s better to read through the confusion - which only lasts with the first 2-3 chapters, before we (the reader) start being able to more easily understand and connect the dots. After this point, I had no confusion about anything I was reading, and despite the large cast of characters I found it fairly easy to identify them, their relationships with one another, and their goals. So personally I enjoyed the slight confusion, and the feeling that I should already know this setting and these characters, as it really made Helinthia feel like a real place and a real goddess. It simply felt like an aspect of Greek mythology I wasn’t aware of, and not that I was reading an original story.
The title being The Epic of Helinthia I feel as very apt, as reading this provided similar feelings to when I had read The Odyssey or The Iliad years ago. This isn’t written in the same epic poem format, but reading it definitely provided the feelings of reading an epic poem while still written as a typical novel. And the ending absolutely lends itself to the feeling that this is the first step to an epic journey that will stretch for years and have many twists and turns throughout it - just like the epic poems by Homer.
To be completely honest, I was putting off reading this book for a while because I personally wasn’t in the mood to read a Greek myth book. However, this book quickly and easily changed my mind within the first few chapters and by the end I forgot why I was even putting this off. I wish I had read this earlier, as it’s absolutely worth it.
I will warn readers to absolutely check the trigger warnings, as there are a few parts that could be alarming, but there’s nothing too overly graphic.
Also, this is only partially a joke but how much money can I bribe to bring a certain character back in the next book? Asking for a friend. (The friend is the same character that I refuse to believe is really dead.)
This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, and despite my intention of reading this for 2-3 days, I finished it in one sitting as I could not put it down. It’s a fresh take on Greek mythology retellings, in that the author has created her own mythos within the story - and yet, it fits perfectly into any other Greek myth retelling. It honestly felt more like reading a mythology retelling that I was unfamiliar with, and less like a brand new original story, as everything fit together into established mythology so well.
(It’s almost frustrating, [in a “I can’t wait for the next book" kind of way!”] that I can’t look up the story of Helinthia to learn what happens next, because part of me is convinced that I’ve simply missed an epic by Homer somewhere. By this I mean, the author has done phenomenal at incorporating her own story into existing Greek myth to the point that it’s near impossible to find the lines of what is taken from the myth, and what is original to this story.)
I did have a little difficulty understanding what was going on at the beginning of this book, as it began already extremely in-depth with the assumption you would know the characters and places - when we, as the reader, do not. However, I felt like this almost enhanced the believability of this being a mythology retelling and not an original story, as every retelling I’ve read begins in the same way. This story isn’t any more confusing, in my opinion, than any other novel on Greek mythology read by someone not overly familiar with the story.
I personally believe it’s better to read through the confusion - which only lasts with the first 2-3 chapters, before we (the reader) start being able to more easily understand and connect the dots. After this point, I had no confusion about anything I was reading, and despite the large cast of characters I found it fairly easy to identify them, their relationships with one another, and their goals. So personally I enjoyed the slight confusion, and the feeling that I should already know this setting and these characters, as it really made Helinthia feel like a real place and a real goddess. It simply felt like an aspect of Greek mythology I wasn’t aware of, and not that I was reading an original story.
The title being The Epic of Helinthia I feel as very apt, as reading this provided similar feelings to when I had read The Odyssey or The Iliad years ago. This isn’t written in the same epic poem format, but reading it definitely provided the feelings of reading an epic poem while still written as a typical novel. And the ending absolutely lends itself to the feeling that this is the first step to an epic journey that will stretch for years and have many twists and turns throughout it - just like the epic poems by Homer.
To be completely honest, I was putting off reading this book for a while because I personally wasn’t in the mood to read a Greek myth book. However, this book quickly and easily changed my mind within the first few chapters and by the end I forgot why I was even putting this off. I wish I had read this earlier, as it’s absolutely worth it.
I will warn readers to absolutely check the trigger warnings, as there are a few parts that could be alarming, but there’s nothing too overly graphic.
Also, this is only partially a joke but how much money can I bribe to bring a certain character back in the next book? Asking for a friend. (The friend is the same character that I refuse to believe is really dead.)