It was very refreshing to read an original story/ myth set in Ancient Greece. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a sucker for retellings of Greek myths. However, I appreciated the author’s gusto to write her own myth. Not to mention, the author wrote an amazing and original story. The author included the classic elements of Greek mythology, like gods/goddesses, prophecies, royalty, palaces, war, etc. Yet, the author made this story her own.

The multiple perspectives was a nice touch. Though, I felt interested in some characters’ journeys more than that of others. Still, some characters I grew to appreciate a bit more. I’m interested to see if readers will follow the same characters in the sequel or if new characters’ perspectives will be added.

There was an element of mystery in the book that I really liked. I also really liked the inclusion of Greek words/ terminology. The author definitely did her research.

This is a bit of a long book. It’s also one of three or four in a series. The author was right to call this story an epic. I hope I’m able to read the sequel and eventually the entire series.

Thank you to Muse and Quill Press and NetGalley for the ARC!
3.5/5 stars

I can confidently say I have never read a fantasy novel quite like this before. Greek mythology retellings/adaptations normally don't go into this much detail from a historical point of view, but I really appreciate that there was clearly extensive research done into the time period and a good use of terminology that we don't typically see in these stories. It is less of a retelling and more of a reinvention of the genre, which is really impressive. The author is clearly really good at creating her own universe built on stories we've grown up with and loved.

I did have some issues with the plot and character development; the story was a bit predictable overall. I also found the main characters to largely be quite flat and too tropey. The plot seemed to carry them moreso than they carried the plot. But even with the end very easy to foresee, I did like that the action picked up in the second half of the book. I'm assuming that this is the beginning of a series, so there is some room for more character development. I just wish I were more attached to the protagonists. Overall, I would read another installment.

I am a huge fan of Mythology retellings. However, there are so many characters that I can sometimes get confused on the mythos. However, this book came with a mini glossary which I much appreciated. I like how unpredictable the story line is. It has a sort of realness you do not get in a lot of novels these days.

"But he came back. For her. Taking down the wall she'd built around her heart brick by brick and making love to her with a tenderness she never thought possible."

thank you mj pankey and netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

*spoiler free*

i went into this thinking "wow pretty cover" and was not expecting what was awaiting me.

lets start with the glossary (which i loved) however since i was reading as an e-arc, i had to keep flipping towards the front which was kind of annoying. im sure this issue will be fixed with the paperback, which i am absolutely going to get for a re-read.

i love greek mythology but my admiration has never extended to the heroes or stories where the main character isn't a god. however i have to say, this book pulled me in. even though it was a work of fiction, it had me believing there was an entire gap in my knowledge to where helinthia existed.

the writing was so immersive. the research that went into this was immaculate. the characters were well written and thought through i adored the contrast of their thoughts during the pov (even though it was in third person).
its definitely hard to start and follow but once you make it through the first quarter, it will pull you in. i was completely bamboozled at every turning (partially because i was confused) but i never expected what happened, to have happened. i did not have any issues with the writing or the plot because they both perfectly complimented each other! there's a little bit of romance, (there's quite a bit of romance (but it was closed door), along with a little "nobility tied in) if you're looking for tropes.

this book is part of a series (and ends on a little bit of an insinuation) but i absolutely cannot wait to read the next book and check out more of this author's work.

Epic of Helinthia describes the struggles of the people leading Helinthia - a land fallen into a draught, leading to hunger and poverty. In an effort to better their land, Dargos and a group of his allies set on a quest to rebel against the leadership they believe displeased the Gods. What we get is a tale truly living up to its name: an Epic.

What struck me first about this book was the helpful guide at the beginning. A glossary describing the Gods and a map of the places important to the story. The story started off with a bang, with an intense, heart-racing situation before getting to the characters in their current day.The author did a phenomenal job with both character building and setting the scene. At all points of the book I had no trouble imagining the landscape, facial expressions, or reasonings why someone made the decisions they did.

What I most enjoyed about the story was the multiple POV. As with any Epic inspired by Greek Mythology, there are many people playing important parts. Although that can get confusing at times, I felt MJ Pankey did such a good job with descriptions and separation from events that things were actually really easy to follow. I felt invested and connected to the story and the characters.

Overall, I very much liked this book. It got a bit slow at times, although I understand why the pace varied. More characters requires more attention to detail and the slowing pace helped keep things clear for me. I was enthralled following along the story, and really enjoyed the various revelations throughout the book. Epic of Helinthia contains acts of heroism, personal growth, romance, friendships, and perfectly depicts the relationship of a Greek civilization with the Greek Gods. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about Greek Mythology and adventure!

I liked this book, but I feel like I read it at the wrong time, so I will definitely give it a reread some day.

This book is different from most Greek mythology novels in a couple ways. First off, it gives you a glossary! I loved having the ability to actually have context for some of the lesser known terms. Secondly, it focuses less on the Greek Gods and more on the actual island of Helenthia. Don't get me wrong, there are still lots of references to the Olympians, but there's more of an adventure as well.

In addition, this book utilizes multi POV which I thought made it more interesting. However, multi POV in 3rd person can be confusing at times as well.

It's obvious that the author put in a lot of time and energy into making this book historically accurate. A must read for any Greek mythology fans!

Thanks to Muse and Quill Press for providing me with an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I'd like to start this review by saying that I think this is a very good book . . . However, I didn't finish it. Still, I read 75% of it so I think I can accurately give my thoughts despite not reading the whole thing.

This book is marketed as a unique Greek myth, which definitely grabbed my attention. Even though I knew that the story would be unique, I didn't expect it to feel so far removed from other Greek mythology books I've read in the past.

This definitely reads more like a high fantasy than a mythology book, and I think it's an excellent high fantasy book, but I am simply not a high fantasy reader. Because the book was so different from what I expected, I really struggled to get into it. As other readers mentioned, it's also quite difficult to make progress with it since it relies so heavily on its glossary, and constantly having to go back to the glossary for reference took me out of the story.

I did enjoy the world, plot, and characters, and it's clear that the author did a lot of research and put a lot of heart into the story, although I do wish that the Greek gods and goddesses played more of a significant role in the story. At the 40% mark, I started getting more invested in the story, and I was determined to finish it. However, there was one scene involving some lions that I felt was quite disturbing and upsetting to me, especially since I didn't expect it, and I even ended up having nightmares about it.

Overall, while I think that this is a good book, I think it wasn't what I expected, and generally wasn't my type of book. If you're someone who enjoys sweeping fantasies and complicated plots along with a journey storyline and lots of politics, then I would definitely recommend picking this one up!

4.5 Star

The Epic of Helinthia is a historical fiction disguised as a Greek retelling. It has all the wonderful aspects of a retelling but a breath of fresh air of a new story. I highly recommend this novel for Greek mythology lovers.

At points the writing was slightly wordy and some of the plot directions was obvious. With that being said, the prose is beautiful and captivating. The author did their due diligence in their research to give the feeling of a story that fits the setting. Also, I have to give the author kudos for not shying away and using proper Greek terminology and verbiage.



Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

<b> <i> "men with power don't need proof from the gods to be persuasive" </b> </i>

This book was a bit tough to start - mostly because I started it out a little confused. Once I fully understood the relations between the characters, I was capable of fully enjoying it. It was incredibly useful to have a diagram at the start of the book, so I could go back and understand everyone's positions.

The description of the book is rather captivating and I'm happy to announce that the author does it justice. It's a rich tale of a plot to perform a coup and bring peace to the island of Helinthia - except it's much more than it first looks like. Throw in greek gods, oracles, mythical creatures, secret brotherhoods, betrayals and some extra secrets and you're still not quite seeing the whole picture.

My most favourite part of this book is that I couldn't predict where it was going. There were moments I thought I was guessing correctly when in truth I was falling for an intricate diversion - that's some of the magic of this book too: you find the strings and connections along with the characters and rarely ever before.

About the characters, some of them stressed me in the beginning and I could easily pick which ones I didn't like but, as the book progressed, I found that I couldn't dislike them quite as much - here and there, the author cleverly shows us a little bit of the depth each character holds and shows us faults that we cannot hold them against them. It's hard to say which one was my favourite but, in order to avoid spoilers, I'll restrain myself to pointing out how much Gadnor grew, never once letting go of his kindness.

As for the writing, MJ Pankey is damn good. Sometimes, no matter how good a book or plot is, the author's writing makes some parts of it boring and hard to get through. This was not the case. Never once did I get bored or skip any paragraph or line. I was captivated until the very last word.

Overall, if you're looking for adventure mixed with greek mythology and enthralling characters, I absolutely recommend this book.

I cannot describe how beautifully written this book was. When i tell y’all that i was so invested in this book that i literally got upset when I had to stop reading and go to work , oh my goodness. This book for me is not like any other mythology based book, I’ve personally never read anything this detailed that was mythology based and i love that about this book.

I cannot wait to get a physical copy of this book , I feel like the glossary, map, and the hierarchy chart would’ve been beneficial if I received the physical copy of this book because it was difficult to flip back to the beginning to really understand who was who and what was what. Regardless of that i still enjoyed the book.

Now as someone who doesn’t have a huge knowledge of mythology , i can confidentially say that i appreciate how the author writes so descriptively that you really feel like you dont need to know anything else except for what was written (even though i will most likely do some outside research later on ). I know this is fiction and that the books characters are based off of the certain Greek mythological gods and goddesses / their oracles , saying this i appreciate the research i can tell the author put into writing this book to make it historically accurate and this book makes me what to further my research in Greek mythology.

I also enjoyed the multiple POVs from the characters , i think it was a good choice with this book to have those multiple POVs to further the story. However i do understand if people get confused with the multiple written POVs because i sometimes had to go back and be like “i thought it was someone else speaking not them “ and double check what’s going on, but i feel like once you read the book for a while you get the hang of who’s talking and whos not.

Now , what made me only give this book 4 stars rather than 5 was the fact that I was greatly confused in the beginning of the story and before i reached 100 pages i was really debating on whether or not i wanted to fight through and finish the book. I am glad that i finished it , obviously , but i wish it didn’t take me so long to get attached to the book like i ended up being. I could 100% be me but I couldn’t grasp what was going on in the beginning and had to really pay attention to the details the author was providing and that at first was draining to me and didn’t make me want to read but as the book went on i ended up understanding more and later enjoyed the details and the plot of the story.

With all this being said , i hope that there is going to be a second book to this one ( in the future of course not immediately ) and i cannot wait for the physical copy to be released so i can share with my friends!

Thank you to NetGalley and thank you to the author MJ Pankey for the Arc copy of this book granting me the treat to read this book.

I received a free copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review

An original greek tale? Never heard of the like! There’s bound to be a second part given the ending but this epic was an engaging read with interesting developments in characters such as Goinvein, but there are cliches to get through and unfortunately they slow the story down. However, the portrayal of ancient Greece is remarkably well done and the conclusion was promising.

I love a bit of Greek mythology, but I couldn't get into this book at all. The tone just felt very laboured to me and the characters were unlikeable. There are so many great Greek books around, but sadly this isn't one of them. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review of the book.

Epic of Helinthia is a great idea where MJ Pankey is not trying to retell a Greek myth, but create one. The author clearly has a great love for Greek mythology and it was really interesting seeing how they played out. The atmosphere of the book was my favorite part and I enjoyed that the author didn't shy away from using Greek terms.

While the book had a really cool premise, the characters didn't do it for me. They were simply one-dimensional and boring. Kelric's personality is asshole and he often does illogical things because his only motivation is to be an asshole. Dargon is noble, Gadnor is unsure and Fortuna and Gonivein don't have any personality to speak of. The dialogue between them all feels stilted and unnatural. Im hoping in book two that the characters develop more and I can connect better to them.

The plot also proved very predictable to me *Spoilers* I wrote down 20% of the way in that Gadnor was going to be the heir. It's obvious since we are told not many people know Raelon has a second son because he's ashamed of him for constant embarassing him. Yet, we never see Gadnor do anything stupid that would justify this. It's obvious Raelon is trying to hide the truth of who Gadnor is.

I think people looking for something new in the world of Greek mythology would enjoy this book.

Thank you NetGalley and MJ Pankey for the ARC!

Wow! What a fantastic book!

The Epic of Helinthia is an enthralling novel that follows a group of heroes on their quest to free their island from the clutches of a ruthless tyrant. This book is a must-read for fans of both fantasy and Greek mythology, offering an immersive experience that exceeds all expectations.

Although the use of traditional Greek language may be challenging for those unfamiliar with the mythology and terminology, the included glossary of Greek terms makes it easier to follow.

Furthermore, I found the coming of age stories in the novel to be particularly captivating. The characters undergo significant growth and transformation, which is skillfully portrayed by Pankey. I was particularly drawn to Gonivein's story, as she evolves from a shallow, infatuated child into a fierce woman who fights for survival.

Overall, I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a thrilling and unpredictable story. MJ Pankey's brilliant writing has left me completely engrossed and eagerly anticipating the release of the sequels.

Thank you NetGalley and MJ Pankey for the ARC!

I liked this one! It had a very slow start, so I had trouble getting into it, but I got really interested around the 30-40% mark, once the drama started to kick off.

The character development is a strong point. Gadnor and Gonivein's development are particularly well-executed and I enjoyed their chapters a lot. Loric was my favourite, and I HOPE (!!!!!) to see more of him in the next book(s).

The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the treatment of the douloi, which I think was probably the point. It was nice to see characters like Gonivein recognize the injustices of this system, but in the mean time, it is hard to sympathize with/root for protagonists like Dargon and Kelric who are so close-minded about it.

This definitely reads like the first book in a series; it establishes the world and politics, and it left a lot of unanswered questions. I think the next book(s) will be even better as we'll hopefully dive straight into the plot and wrap up those loose ends.

Epic of Helinthia heavily relies on historical accuracy to bring its story to life. The book takes place in ancient Greece and uses real-life historical terms and phrases to help further the narrative and immerse the reader in history.
It is clear that the author has done extensive research into the time period and has seamlessly woven historical details into the narrative. The attention to detail and accuracy are impressive, and the reader is transported to a different time and place.
Despite being a work of fiction, it feels authentic and grounded in reality. The characters are well-developed and feel like they belong in the historical context of the story. The dialogue and descriptions are also well-crafted and add to the overall atmosphere of the book.
That being said, there are a few things that I personally do not fully enjoy in a book. The narrator switches often and it is a little hard to follow. I will say it does help that at the beginning of the chapter, the header is the new narrator's name. This book also relies heavily on the glossary at the beginning of the book, I found it at times a little difficult to follow the story as a result. It is nice that they included it so that when we do get lost we can reorient ourselves, however, I did find that because I had to constantly refer back to this I was taken out of the story a bit more often than I personally like.
Overall, The Epic of Helintha is a well-written and well-researched work of fiction that relies entirely on historical accuracy to create an immersive and engaging story.

This book was amazing! Definitely an epic!!

I loved how the author utilized a glossed and Diagram to help readers understand the titles and hierarchy of this story as well as the meanings of words not usually found in English stories.
This is 100% a plot driven story where for once, not all is a happy ending (which is refreshing). The characters are lovable, the multi POV is PERFECTLY executed. And the reveal at the ending???? For the first time in a while I couldn’t guess where that was going to go from the beginning of the book. WELL DONE MJ Pankey and publishers. Can’t wait to read more

This was definitely okay. I enjoyed the atmosphere and adventure and the plot seemed really cool, I just didn't vibe with the characters or the banter.

Wow, did I enjoy this! The Epic of Helinthia is a captivating book by MJ Pankey that takes place in a world of gods and heroes. The story follows Dargon, Kelric, and Gadnor as they try to make their land better, but they are being watched by the king's spies.

The plot is full of surprises, and the characters are well-developed and interesting. What sets this book apart is the author's ability to bring Greek mythology to life, making the story feel real and engaging.

Overall, The Epic of Helinthia is a thrilling narrative that features adventure, danger, and intrigue. It is a great book for those who love well-written stories with engaging characters and thought-provoking themes. If you are a fan of the epic genre or ancient mythology, you should definitely read this book.