BOOK REVIEW: HELIOTROPE
Heliotrope was a slow burn, epic, fantasy adventure that felt like I was playing an old familiar fantasy game, and I absolutely adored it.
Teleo, a retired soldier happy to live out his remaining days as a humble farmer and taking on the occasional masonry job for the throne, has been commissioned to create a mosaic masterpiece. A pear tree that the current queen can gaze upon daily, coupled with creatures that bring life to the piece. Seeing his work, she insists he continue working for the castle by repairing an old pattern down by the training yard. Able to use the coin, he agrees and sets to work across the field from his old nemesis. While working on the pattern it becomes apparent that the ancient magic of the heliotrope has been forgotten and no one realises what power they are currently sitting on. Before Teleo can repair the powerful pattern his life changes forever, and he is fighting for his life once more.
A bloody coup breaks out and the time of peace is over. Teleo must flee with his new apprentice in desperate need of medical attention and the hidden heir to the throne. Both just children, both strongly resembling the two he lost many years past. They take to forests where Dinsmora, his cousin lives, secluded in her own magic infused sanctuary. Using the time to heal and hatch a plan to venture out to the other hidden heliotropes across the lands.
Full of adventure, dangerous political intrigue, and royalty on the other side of crazy this was one hell of an epic tale.
There are so many praises that I have for this 780 page tome but I will say that this book may not be for everyone so, stay with me.
The first point to note is that this book is extremely slow paced in my opinion. We as the reader really sit with our characters as they make their decisions and go through their everyday lives leading up to and during this adventure. To say it is slow doesn’t mean that it was not entertaining, I would argue that in this case it is quite the opposite. By learning who our characters are, the environments that they are in, I became more and more invested in the storyline no matter of how fast we were moving through it. It made me feel like I was part of this family as they made their way through the world.
Speaking of the world, we get to explore several different towns, cities, and castles. Each place feels so different than the last, the politics and dangers that need to be navigated are complex. This means our characters need to be smart enough to learn along the way, to know who an ally is and who isn’t. We also experience multiple seasons seeing which towns can hold out over a long and cold winter and those that may not fare so well but truly thrive in the new spring. By painting such a full picture, the author has made this world feel huge.
Next up characters. Our characters fall in and out of each other’s lives naturally and we can see why those relationships work because we have a good understanding of the main protagonists. Each character is there for a purpose, and they bring a new element to the table. If you love a found family, if you love sitting with your characters in their thoughts and processes, this is going to be a book you don’t want to miss. But humans weren’t the only thing of note here, the animal companions were plentiful and full of personality. From a cranky stag which an overzealous libido to a majestic and intelligent hunting falcon. However, the horses really stole the show, they were delightful, stubborn, loyal, and sometimes, downright amusing as the beautiful beasts can be in real life.
Finally, we arrive at the magic. There were some truly magical elements to this book starting with its namesake, the heliotrope. A large collection of mage infused stone which has been formed into an enchanted pattern. The history of these shapes is rich and explored at various stages throughout the book. We learn that these ancient patterns were used for battles between mage classes and to infuse soldiers with incredible energy before battle, but it didn’t stop there. To dance the sword on the heliotrope provided the dancer with energy and life. The dances were also described so beautifully and powerfully that I was absolutely enamoured with how it worked. But the magic doesn’t stop there. The guardian and mage magic developed with our characters as each person found their own strength and voice on this adventure and it was wonderful to follow.
What is interesting to me is that this book has a few features that I don’t necessarily gravitate towards when choosing my next read. The omniscient narration style left little to the imagination as we travelled with our found family to one town or another. We learnt everything about them and their actions through the narrator’s voice. What they had to breakfast, what they thought about it and how they planned their next actions. However due to the slow pace and the build-up of relationships, I was so connected to the characters that by the end I really did want to know what they were dining on and when.
I was utterly mesmerised by Palmer’s entry into EPIC fantasy and really hope that there is more coming to us in this genre.
