Thank you Mark Harris/NetGalley/ for this amazing eArc in advance. All opinions are of my own volition.

Gripping!

Hekate’s Return is a mythic journey that pulls you into a world of gods, witches, and ancient intrigue. The Empress of Witches, Hekate, is back, leading her people through dark times. Her mission? To take down the bull-god Apis and reclaim stolen children. Talk about high stakes.

What I loved most was how Harris blends mythological elements into a world that feels alive and vibrant. The Immortal Twins, daughters of Diana, add this awesome complexity to the narrative. It’s not always a smooth ride, and at times, the mythologies can feel a little tangled—but once you’re in, you’re hooked.

If you love powerful female leads, rich world-building, and a fast-paced adventure, this one’s a great pick. It's got all the right ingredients for a captivating read!

Hekate's Return is a mixture of concepts from the Bible and Hellenism. It was a little hard for me to get into, thankfully it did improve some as it progressed. The sources were hard to keep a grasp on, especially for poeple who would be familiar with mythology/history. The story starts with no introduction and stops with major plot points unfinished.

This book starts abruptly, right in the thick of the action, and as a result it took me a moment to understand what exactly was happening but once I got the gist of the story, it was interesting.

An ancient tribe of witches who have descended from Hekate and a once nomadic group of humans who become a thriving Bronze Age civilisation because of their worship of Moloch, battle with each other for supremacy and survival. The way the book ends hints at a sequel.

My favourite characters were The Twins, Araja the Just and Araja the Demon, the first born of the witches and giants. They had sass, spunk and a sense of humour as well.

I received an e-ARC of the book from the publisher Sacred Consort Media and the author Mark Harris via NetGalley.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨💫

Hekate's Return by Mark Harris is a mesmerizing journey into a Bronze Age witch society, setting a distinctive tone from the start. The story contrasts the sophisticated Witches with the emerging human civilizations on the brink of development, creating a thought-provoking dynamic. Although I felt the Witches' backstory could have been more fully explored, the depiction of the nomadic, tribal humans was especially captivating and more than compensated for this.

The book features a straightforward and effective magic system, and while some characters might have benefitted from additional depth, others had compelling arcs, with the Twins being a personal highlight. The novel's structure, with its brief chapters, ensures a fast-paced read that maintains a smooth narrative flow.

Overall, Hekate's Return is a refreshing debut with a unique concept, making it a great recommendation for anyone looking for something different in their fantasy reading.

I f-ing LOVE Hecate (or Hekate)

I just reviewed Hekate's Return by Mark Harris. #NetGalley

I read a ton of fantasy and my favorite "trope" is anything and everything witches.

This is such a unique book; it has engaging characters, a twisty story and a 10/10 memorable plot.

One of my favorite subject matters that will always lure me towards a book is witches. I’ve read my fair share of fantasy and sci-fi books so there has been a lot of references to Hekate. While I always admire bold attempt to create an entirely original story however, if you are going to take this path, you really have to stick the landing. I think this book needed a little bit more time to percolate. More time to build out a plausible story of how all of these characters from all of these different worlds and mythologies can co-mingle. Thank you Nelly for the advanced copy.

A unique high fantasy style of retelling of hekate. Actually a complete reimagining. The characters range in depth with a matriarchal hierarchy and a battle ready storytelling. High stakes and high concept. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

HEKATE'S RETURN: probably the most original take on witches ever.
Fantasy is known for using imaginative takes on worldbuilding and storytelling, and I find Mark Harris' take on witches and witchcraft, rooted in ancient Greek mythology to be one of, if not the most imaginative take on the concept of witchcraft ever to grace the page. Enthusiasts of mythology will find it chock-full of references, from the Apis bull to the crone figures of various civilizations, and action-packed to the brim. This is a solid, solid recommendation. I loved spending time with young Sara in her discovery of who she is, and so will all readers of this breakneck-paced novel. Solid ten outta five!

DNF this was a book I was hesitant to read and in the future I will be more careful with my choices but I can say this: it was well written though was a slow start. I wasn’t sure about the characters and kept getting them mixed up. The main plot escaped me and possibly if I read more it may have become more clear though not 25% in which is where I stopped. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy.

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Sacred Consort Media; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

This story reads almost more like a myth, like a Biblical account, but I absolutely loved it for that. Excellent world building and characterizations and exciting lore: I'll keep an eye on this author in the future. I'd call it a dark horse kind of hit.

For sensitive readers, there is child endangerment and death, violence, and dysfunctional family situations.

I'm sorry, but I cannot finish this book. It is so generic and boring, I cannot possibly go on. I will not be leaving a public review on my goodreads, or blog, because I cannot force myself to finish reading it. I simply cannot.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this opportunity to read this book. The cover got me sold on it. It has some really good moments of witchcraft and magic. Perfect to read for fall and up till even thanksgiving i enjoyed this.

Hekate's Return is a mixture of characters and concepts from the Bible, Greek mythology, and prehistory. It was a little hard for me to get into, although it did improve some as it progressed - but only some. The characters are interesting, but the mix of sources can be a little hard to manage for people who are familiar with religion, mythology, and history, as can the timeline. The story begins in the middle of the action, with no introduction, and then stops with major plot points unresolved - well past what should be left open to allow for a sequel. It simply stops, unfinished.

In this novel, witches exist, and have existed for uncounted millennia, with a rich and vibrant matriarchal culture that may now be in decline - a decline that is being accelerated by the followers of Apis and his son Moloch, who stole nearly all of the witches' children away a decade before the events in the novel. Before the abduction of the witches' children, Apis's followers consisted of nomadic tribes squabbling for scant resources, but a mere ten years later, they live in a walled city, with inventions that transformed them into a gentle, settled, unified society, developed using the gifts of the Graduated, special children who are taken to the Shining City on a regular basis, and who send back inventions that took tens of thousands - perhaps hundreds of thousands - of years to develop. They have also completely transformed their society from the violent worship of Moloch - whose followers sacrificed babies and small children to him - to a peaceful, non-sacrificial society well into the bronze age, at least on the surface. It's this timeline that is hard to believe, and it significantly reduces the suspension of disbelief necessary to enjoy fantasy novels. Yes, there's magic involved - but so complete a change, in so short a time, is simply hard to accept. Add in the mixture of sources, including the existence of a now-completely vanished elder race that looks human, which had an advanced society of which no trace now remains, and suspension of belief becomes more difficult still.

I wanted to like this novel - but it never really quite worked for me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An entertaining and well plotted fantasy that I enjoyed.
Even if there's some Gimbutas/Graves in the background, the author did an excellent job in writing his version of a matriarchal civilization
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

I'm going with a solid 2.5 stars here, rounded up, of course. "Hekate's Return" had its moments of fun, entertaining speculative fiction with a setting in the deep past, but this fun entertainment was marred by a mixing of religions, mythologies, and timelines that left my poor wee brain aching from the confusing mix.

The book tells the story of two groups: an ancient tribe of witches who have descended from Hekate, and who taught them to use their powers. Among the witches are the Twins, Araja the Just and Araja the Demon, first born of the witches and giants to boot. I typically picture them as a Cyclops, but with both eyes. The other group are humans in the city of Gehenna, whose worship of the divine Moloch has given them the gifts of civilization and allowed them to prosper. The two groups eye each other suspiciously, and there's name calling, baby-kidnapping, human sacrifice, oh my!

But the hodge-podge of the past that the author created made me cringe a bit. I like to suspend reality when I read, but I need certain things to make sense. The timelines didn't makes sense to me. The townspeople are clearly living in a Bronze age city (I pictured the ruins of Persepolis with its procession relief), but then the descriptions of their prior life, eking out a living on the dusty arid plain as primitive hunter-gatherers. The rescue of the Witch girl by mammoths was nuts - did we step back five to 10 thousand years into the Younger Dryas? Maybe Moloch has powers over both space and time?

<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Persepolis_T_Chipiez.jpg"/>

The naming conventions in the book simply pissed me off. There's a mixture of archaic names (Araja, Callus) with modern names (Samantha), and comingling of religions and mythologies that seemed straight out of a dream. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian, and Christian names all appear to mix and match together. I get that this is speculative fiction, but I need some consistency in my world-building. If this is going to be dawn of civilization, Bronze age stuff, keep the dancing bears and wooly mammoths out of it. Give me a fantastical tale set in a real historical period.

I must say, I liked the bubble.

Hecate’s return was a good book. It had some interesting elements of witches, magic and the world building was great, although I have to say that it bothered me how it ended.

The book cover though, not appealing at all. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I did judge it. If it wasn’t for the title I wouldn’t have been interested.

Once again, it was a good book. If you like books about witches you’ll like this one.

A special thanks to NetGalley, and Mark for letting me read this ARC.

HEKATE'S RETURN begins with no preamble and ends abruptly. It is not a matter of jumping into the action or coming to a final conclusion but rather a seeming lack of planning on the part of the author. He seemed to want to tell a story, so he sat down, started writing then proceeded to wing it. The result is a mashup of historical eras combined with a hodgepodge of mythologies. I suppose if you know nothing about history, mythology, or religion, the book might work. The titular claim of being "A Deep History of Witchcraft" doesn’t fly.

I found reading this book a chore. It never takes me ten days to read 361 pages. I read Stephen King's THE STAND, which comes in at somewhere between 1100 and 1400 pages depending on the edition, in a couple of days. Much of HEKATE'S RETURN just doesn't make much sense which forced me to re-read passages in an attempt to understand just what I was reading

After finishing the book, I wondered if Harris was trying to write an allegory for our times — a childish authority figure, life in a bubble, and an outside force that can't make headway against the authoritarianism. I came to this possibility because the town within the bubble is Gehenna, and at the end reference is made specifically to Hell.

I had high hopes for this book based on the sell copy. I was sorely disappointed and will not be reading more books in this series.

I found there to be a mix of successful elements, and some areas that could be improved. The naming and weaving of mythology was fantastic, however the exposition was a little heavy handed. There were also some areas where the characters had too convenient of a resolution.

Just the fact that this was set in the Bronze Age was such a breath of fresh air that it immediately bumped up my rating.

The story follows both the more advanced Witches and the humans on the cusp of civilization. The juxtaposition between them was intriguing and while I felt that more could’ve been more done with the Witches’ past, the nomadic, tribal humanity was extra fascinating and made up for it.

The magic system was clean and simple, I enjoyed the worldbuilding and some of the characters maybe needed an extra layer, but then others had excellent arcs. My personal favorite were the Twins. It was a fairly quick read too, with smaller sections that made the story move fast without sacrificing the flow.

A great and refreshing debut that I recommend to anyone looking for something a little different.

Thank you to the author and Sacred Consort Media for requesting this review and sending me the advance copy.