Thank you to MJ Pankey for the opportunity to review Epic of Helinthia. I struggled to get into the story at the start it was rather abrupt pacing. It couple of put downs and pick up around other books to finally get into the meat of the plot. MJ Pankey has thoroughly researched greek myth and legend to craft a epic story of mortals and gods working to save the world. Ends up a whirlwind of a plot full of highs and lows of action and a lot of characters to keep track of. I have to admit a lot of them were forgotten by the end of the book. A interesting read, but be prepare to invest a lot of mental energy to focus on the plot to enjoy reading Epic of Helinthia.

What a whirlwind of a story. Beautifully written and action packed. I felt like i was watching a movie most of the time. There are a lot of characters and it can be hard to keep up in the beginning but you quickly get used to the names and also the words used to describe each character in the book. Im happy to hear there will be more books in the series as i cant wait to see how it ends.
Thank you NetGalley for this arc

I enjoyed this book but I did struggle to get into it for quite a. While . It took a lot of pick ups and put downs to finish it but the overall story was really good.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of Epic of Helintia by M. J. Pankey.

A complex and epic fantasy tale rich with Greek mythology and complex characters.

Pankey's Epic of Helinthia is reminiscent to Madeline Miller's works, and I really enjoyed the world created in this book.

Pankey's narrative style is reminiscent of classics like Homer's Iliad, breathing life into flawed yet captivating gods, goddesses, and heroes. The characters are complex and the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat. It's a journey of rebellion, divine interference, and dark secrets. For fans of mythological tales, "Epic of Helinthia" is a must-read. Pankey's storytelling is a masterful blend of timeless epic fantasy and contemporary depth, offering an immersive experience that leaves you eagerly turning the pages.

A good and well done fantasy set in a simil Ancient Greece of the Golden Age era. It's well plotted, gripping and I liked the world building and the characters
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

If it has anything to do with Greek mythology, I'm gonna read it. I was so excited to get this as one of my first ARC copies through NetGalley. This book was a fast paced adventure following quite a few peoples perspectives on their travels to save their island from disaster. Along the way, we learn a lot about the fate of Helinthia and the gods who intervene.

This book was exciting to read! The beginning was a lot, so I did have to go back and read it twice. It jumps right in with all of the characters in the cast, which is a lot. If you love Greek mythology and a fast-paced start to a series, this book is for you!

My second read of Epic of Helinthia - it’s that good! Each character you meet tugs on your soul and leaves an ache in your heart for more.

Thanks NetGalley and all involved in this masterpiece. Big thanks to MJ Pankey.

Thank you to Netgalley, Muse and Quill Press and MJ Pankey for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for and honest review.

I am definitely a fan of all retellings/stories with Greek mythology so when I saw this book on Netgalley, I knew I had to request it. The story starts out a bit slow, but once it get’s going, you are in for quite a ride! And that ending!!! Ok so yeah I know this is the first book of a series, so I’m excited to see where the story will go.

There are multiple POVs within the book and each character is developed well with their own personalities and connections to one another. I found myself drawn to Gonivein and Forluna the most. Some of the other characters were not as flushed out as they were. The world building is *Chefs kiss* and it gives great visuals for the storyline. Overall I’m looking forward to continuing on with this series!

Amazing! What an "epic" read, I want more of Helinthia now! Each of the main characters leaves a piece of their soul in your heart. I am so invested in their futures, please don't keep your readers waiting.

I've been obsessed with Greek mythology and its retellings since I was a child, so I absolutely leapt at the chance to read an ARC of this novel.

Epic of Helinthia, the first of a three (or four?) book series, follows Dargos, the Basileus (chieftain) of a city-state within the Island of Helinthia, Dargos' sister Gonivein, Gonivein's love interest Kelric, Kelric's younger brother Gadnor, and a nymph called Forluna, as they attempt to regain the favour of the gods by freeing Helinthia from the rule of the current king.

Evidently, MJ Pankey cut no corners when creating the world of Helinthia, the characters that inhabit it, and the social hierarchy that governs them. Whilst I admit that the scope and complexity of the world-building caused a little confusion at points, I refuse to let this be a criticism of this novel - because isn't that what you expect from something that brands itself as an 'epic'? Readers should just be prepared to either cross-reference with the glossary at the front of the book, or follow my method, which is to simply roll with it until everything slots into place.

Mainly, I loved the shape of this novel. Each character embarks upon their own journey - both geographically and psychologically - and I think that the way the various storylines are tied together is pretty skilful. By the end of the novel, my favourite character/POV was probably Gadnor, because I love a character who turns out to be entirely different to the way that the others perceive them.

Overall, this would have been a 4-star read for me, if only it had benefited from a final proofread and cleared up a few issues with word choice that are flagged up in other reviews. Nevertheless, the plot has me hooked, and I'm keen to read the sequels.

Thank you to NetGalley, MJ Pankey, and Muse and Quill Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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.)

(For the publisher - Review to be posted to Instagram and Tumblr the week of Sept 18..)

Epic of Helinthia is an epic fantasy that I was excited to read! I do recommend checking the trigger warnings before reading this book, especially if you are sensitive to certain things. While it did not bother me, I can see how it may bother others, if they don’t read the warnings ahead of time.

I loved the idea of this story and Pankey did a fantastic job describing and building the characters and their relationships to each other. I also loved the multiple POVs and getting to know each character as we moved through the story. The pacing was good and it was obvious that a lot of research and effort went into it.

Overall, I loved the idea of this book. I have always been into mythology and Ancient Greece. I definitely think that helped with better understanding the world building. However, I was still a little confused and found myself flipping to the terms/information in the front of the book. This made it hard for me to fully grasp the setting and pulled me out of the story a bit much for my liking.

Shoutout to NetGalley for the ARC! For anyone who is a fan of Miller, Haynes, Barker, Saint, Renault, etc., this is the right setting/story for you. If like me, you crave all things antiquity, you will love Epic of Helinthia. A usurping tyrant sits on the throne on the fictional island of Helinthia. Smaller regions of the island are suffering from drought and decay, all the while knowing their island suffers not only from poor leadership, but leadership that is not divine, for the throne of Helinthia must only be given to those of divine descent. When evil strikes the city of Shallinath, its leader, Dargos, enlists the help of his friends, brothers of a neighboring city-state and a forest nymph. Featuring a cast of characters, the story is driven mainly by 5 third person POVs. Positive bullet points below:

- Fast-paced: Pankey does not allow for lulls and this complex story with its various political intrigues and alliances could be dryer than it is, but the author continues to lead us from twist to turn.
- Easily visualized: As a reader, stepping into this world is not hard to do. The author invites us to be in an ancient setting with ancient customs and behaviors with quick and simple descriptions of setting, clothing, etc.
- Complex characters: Pankey does not put all of her characters on either one side of good or bad. Much like real people, they have flaws and strengths and I was honestly surprised at the actions of one character towards the end (that I had no faith in whatsoever).
- Decent balance of myth and realism: while we have a visitation from a god or two and the POV of a nymph, the rest of the story has little supernatural elements and is gritty, bloody and believable, making the godly visits all the more impactful.

Negative bullet point: I have only one, but it was a big one. Greek myth is my jam. I own all the books. I love all the art. I burned through Hamilton's 'Mythology' as a kid. But even I felt the author's glossary and use of political terminology to be a bit of an info dump. So much so that I considered DNFing it about 15% in, hence the loss of one star. DO NOT DO THIS! It's worth powering through for the EPIC that is EoH! But I wish that could have been distilled a little bit more so as not to overshadow the actual wonderful story she is telling.

I really enjoyed this book! As a lover of Greek re-telling and mythology, I was excited to dig into this story. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that while there were elements of known stories, Epic of Helinthia really had a heart and soul of its own!

As to be expected with any strong fantasy title, there was significant devotion to world-building and establishing the social structures of the world of Helinthia. I felt that there could have been more teaching moments in the early days of the text to help us remember the importance of key titles and symbols, but M.J. Pankey did provide a full and comprehensive glossary of terms to start our journey, so this is a small piece of feedback. Once you had a grasp of the terms, the book moved super quickly, and kept the pages turning!

I found the story to be incredibly well-researched and believable (almost to the level of a historical fiction). The attention to detail and care for the cultural aspects of the story were very evident, and led to a lot of the realistic feel to this fantasy epic.

The best part of all: the characters! Each character was equally important on their own, and as a part of our group of heroes tasked with saving the people of Helinthia, I found all of their struggles to be very “real” and gave us reason to love even the slightly unlikable characters.

To be short and sweet: I thought this was a great first instalment to what will be a fantastic series!

Thank you to NetGalley, Muse and Quill Press, and M.J. Pankey for access to this ARC for a fair and honest review.

As a huge fan of Greek Mythology I was so excited to read this book. The author wrote a story that felt completely true to the Mythos it comes from and the time period but was an entirely new creation. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like that but after a very short amount of time invested I was hooked. The idea of a fresh and new story after feeling like I have read everything that exists in 18 different iterations was really refreshing.

The characters were a healthy mix of likeable and I unlikeable which I enjoy since it mirrors life a little better.

The plot was compelling and honestly had me on the edge - I can’t say much else without ruining some of the mystery.

I will say I already preordered my copy :)

A fast paced book inspired on greek mythology.
Characters you fall in love with (most of them morally grey).
And, what I personally love the most, an ending that makes you want a second book.
MJ Pankey... you are awesome.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫 (3.75/5)

It took me a little bit to get into this book. The start was slow as multiple MCs were introduced and their POVs. The separation of the POVs was super well done and even though there were quite many of them. I like having many in my books.

The world was fascinating. I really like Greek Mythology even though I know too little about it. The world was well built, but the places sometimes lacked on the describing part and it was a little harder for me to vision what the world looked like. Otherwise it was great. The gods, the people, and the places were super.

I got so attached to the characters! They were definitely my favourite part and their interactions with each other. I wanted to slap one of them, protect one and put some sense into some. So many emotions. What happened to my favourite one I'll not talk about. I'm still mad. But it made sense for the character development for another character.

The writing was great, except I would've prefered the descriptions be a little more detailed or have some more of them. I also got confused now and then of who was being talked about, because his/hers was used quite a lot and not the names in the start of the sentence during a scene with more than one person.

The pace worked well for this book. The character development was a bit slow in my opinion, but only a little.

I can't wait for the sequel! And yes this is a series,, and yes the ending was a little bit of a cliffhanger. I just went "what, that was the end?" It was so sudden and unexpected. Now I need more!

I'd recommend this for fans of Greek Mythology for sure. The book kind of lands on the outside of the known mythology, but has the gods, rituals, temples, the usual sacrifices etc. in it. All in all a good start for a series. I'll definitely be reading the second book too!

I was super excited to read this one, have always really enjoyed Greek mythology.

The language is lovely and descriptive... One bit I loved was:

"Mist surrounded it so thick that it almost seemed as though the leaf laden crowns of the trees had no trunks, but rather floated upon a gray abyss"

How good right!?

We had characters spitting confronting truths! (Paraphrased to avoid Spoilers) :

“Our lives are just a game to you. Do you even see us? Or are we mere objects— things—to be bartered and discarded when you have no more use for us?”..........she could feel the anger radiating from him, pulsing through his sinews. “Not so long ago, you weren’t so different yourself.”

Loved that part!

The story moved back and forth from points of view and did an amazing job of portraying complex characters and relationships.

Each character was so real... With their flaws and mistakes and emotions and desires and their evolution as individuals. They were so believable! Whether you liked them or not.
We had characters really examining their beliefs and maturing and learning and it was such a great reading experience.

Each relationship was layered and complex, and as we follow our characters through the story and see things from their perspective, our understandings of their relationships evolve along with them.

The story got more and more exciting and engrossing as you read and I loved every second of it!

We touch on a lot of topics, like
Survivors Guilt
Belief
Expectations from one's family
Self Worth and Self Doubt
Human Rights
Grief, Love, Betrayal and Loss

So much happened at the end and I need more MJ!!!!

About 3/4 of the way through this book I realized it was going to have at the very least a sequel if not a series following it.
I was equal parts thrilled and enraged. Thrilled because I am absolutely loving @authormjpankey dive into Greek mythology and I am unbelievably excited that there is more coming. But so upset that I am finished and now have to wait to see what happens next. I do know it will be well worth the wait!

I have a big thing about character development, and I love our flawed band of hero’s. You can see where their weak spots are going to get them into trouble or where they might chose to grow, but it’s not being rushed. I love the set up and can’t wait to see how it plays out.

The Gods are petty, their pride is easily wounded and they will seek retribution. For the people of Helinthia their lives become a battle ground over their goddesses careless words and Hera’s need to prove her wrong. As their island is thrown deeper into chaos oracles and hero’s will emerge to fight for their home.

This was masterfully done and I massively enjoyed watching events unfold. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next instalment.

You can check this one out October 1 2023.
Thank you to @netgalley and Muse and Quill Press for letting me read this one early in the exchange for a review.
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