This is a fantasy masterwork. I had to check to confirm it is, in fact, the author's debut work. It's the world building and character creation of a first-class bard.

I was drawn in by some of the same feels I get from Priory of the Orange Tree and Black Sun. There's a distinct flavor of Midsummer Night's Dream. I even felt some of Raya and the Last Dragon and Horizon: Zero Dawn.

But oh this story is so much more!

The world is lush and deep. The characters are multi-faceted with lives and fears I felt personally! I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Please share it with every epic fantasy fan!

"I can fight.
I can think.
It's time for me to use these skills for a better purpose. I am done with sitting around waiting."

ARC Copy...honest attempt at world building and tribal inner-play but I felt it was too light, couldn't feel the drama and narrative went without me "anchoring" at plot points.

Journey to the Heart Stone
by Catherine Raphael
Pub Date: 27 Sep 2022
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟


In the beginning, the Goddess danced the world into existence. Peace reigned for generations through matriarchal rule within the Minca, Dute, and Carroo tribes. But then one man’s lust for power destroyed this balance: Vestor assassinated his sister, Mother of the Minca tribe. His army ravaged the Dute and Carroo tribes. A once-idyllic world was thrust into war, famine, and despair.

Yet today, there is hope. Vestor’s niece, Cora, has a vision: if she can convince an emissary from each tribe to rendezvous at the Heart Stone, she can overthrow her evil uncle, take her rightful place as Mother Minca, and restore harmony.

But the Dutes have disappeared deep into their mountains. There are rumors that the Carroos are extinct. And Cora must move swiftly—lest Vestor learn that she’s pregnant with the Mincan heir.

Again, I can’t say enough good things about this book and this writer. It was beautifully written and so intense. I loved the characters and the story just sucked you right I .

Thank you Catherine Raphael, SparkPress and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for a review.

There's a speedy, dizzying info-dump at the beginning of this book, and it's generally known that telling instead of showing is not an attention grabbing way to write a novel. Also, a well written story doesn't simply list every little mundane thing that's happening, as if it were descriptions for actors in a screenplay. It explains things that move the story along, often using detailed descriptions, to make it fun and interesting to read.

We are thrown into this story quickly, without having any reason to care about any of the characters, because none of them seem to have particularly distinct personalities. They seem like wooden stereotypes. It's almost like we're supposed to know these characters already from a previous book in a series, but I looked, and it seems like this is the authors first book.

There was one part near the beginning where it seemed like something interesting was happening, a ritual for the Goddess, but then the scene ended, in favour of more mundanity. That's an odd thing to do in a book about people trying to save their old religion.

There seem to be few novels written about Goddess worship anymore, so I thought this might be good, but it's just so boring that I can't finish it.

It felt very rushed. I liked the story and the lore and magic. But I wish there had been more. I wish more story had come before it. It felt like the reader was plopped into a story part way through. The characters relationships grew significantly but again, it felt rushed. Good plot, but I wish it had been longer

DNF. While the premise of the book sounded interesting, the actual book didn't measure up. I felt like I was reading the 2nd of a trilogy, because the first chapters are a huge infodump of things that happened before the book takes place, but it's not a trilogy; it's just an infodump. The characters are pretty 2 dimensional - calling the villain "Evil V' is a little over the top. I thought the heroine and her brother were fairly young - late teens or early twenties, but suddenly we are informed the heroine is 37! But there's a very childlike quality to both of those characters.

This book might appeal to some who enjoy a kind of black and white, good v evil story that's fairly simplistic in terms of characterization. It's just not for me.

I received this book as an ARC via Net Galley.