Book Review: Heliotrope by Palmer Pickering
Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art by Dusan Markovic
Heliotrope by Palmer Pickering
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 784 pages (Paperback edition)
Published: 23rd November 2022 by Mythology Press (Self-Published)
Heliotrope is a good one-off standalone character-driven fantasy reminiscent of the classic adventurous fantasy novel.
I have mentioned it many times, but I am always searching for more great one-off standalone fantasy novels. Comparatively, they are rare in the genre. When I heard from some of my friends that Heliotrope is a standalone novel heavily rooted in classic fantasy style with some popular tropes I love reading in the genre, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. Found family, badass and a child trope, and animal companions are incredibly prevalent in this story about responsibility, prejudice, and redemption. Additionally, Heliotrope is not the first time I heard about Palmer Pickering’s books. I have also heard positive reviews on Pickering’s Star Children Saga series. But after reading this, it is not an easy task to review Heliotrope because I have a wildly different reading experience reading the three parts contained in Heliotrope. I will share my thoughts on each Part of the book.
The story in Heliotrope is told in third-person narration exclusively from the perspective of Teleo, a retired soldier descended from Mages, who were cast out of power generations ago. After years of war and sorrow, he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life on his farm and work his stonemason’s craft. His wife and daughter had been murdered during a war raid several years earlier, and his young son was stolen by the enemy side. He spent years unsuccessfully searching for his son and returned home broken-hearted. Now, at the local castle, he comes upon a war orphan stolen by his side from the enemy, treated poorly, and Teleo decides to rescue him from abuse, adopting him as his foster son. Pickering did an incredible job establishing Teleo’s voice, background, and circumstances in the first part of Heliotrope. It did not take long for me to care about Teleo, Jesum, and Kaspari. And right from the beginning, you can already tell that Pickering has an accessible and descriptive writing style. The best comparison I can think of, although not too similar, is Robert Jordan’s writing style. But this descriptive prose did not hinder me from bursting through Part 1 of the book in a single day. The introduction and the slice-of-life setting were handled nicely. And as the peaceful moment crumbled, as expected, I was already invested in the struggle of Teleo and his newfound family.
Unfortunately, Pickering’s descriptive writing style backfired on me in Part 2 of the book. Part 2 of Heliotrope was roughly 300 pages long, and in my opinion, it was too long for its own good. After the powerful Part 1 of the book and the tension sparked at the conclusion of it, the length of Part 2 felt too wordy and surprisingly much lower in stakes. On top of the low stakes, with the addition of the slow-burn narrative (which I tend to favor) and descriptive writing, the majority of Part 2 ultimately felt unnecessary for the rest of the book. This, of course, does not mean there wasn’t something important to take out of it. Sigrid is one of the most crucial characters in Heliotrope, and in Part 2, we meet her for the first time. And then, there is also the matter of uncovering the secret of the Heliotrope and the ancient ways, reclaiming the magic of the Mages that Teleo can do. But at the end of the day, I felt the 300 pages should have been condensed. The fact that it took me a week to read the entirety of part 2 should be enough to clarify my investment in the story. That is a reading speed and emotional attachment remarkably contradictory to my reading experience of Part 1 and Part 3 of the novel.
With a similar reading speed and attachment to Part 1, I read all of Part 3 within two days. It was gratifying to see how much Teleo and his newfound family grew to care about each other from their unlikely beginning. Plus, everything ramped up considerably in the final section of Heliotrope. Teleo’s skill as a mage and war veteran was fully unleashed in the climax sequence. I couldn’t put it down. A non-stop engaging battle sequence with Pickering’s straightforward prose made the close-quarter combat feel vivid. And with one or two emotional scenes that felt realistic included, despite the slog portions I encountered in Part 2, I personally think the payoff was worth the journey.
Overall, if you are looking for a good character-driven, slow-burn, equally cozy-and-serious standalone fantasy novel, you should try Heliotrope. Even more so if you are a fan of the popular beloved tropes such as found family, animal companion, and the badass and a child trope. It has a strong beginning, and although the middle portion felt too long, the payoff and the ending were rewarding and satisfying. Heliotrope will also be a match for readers who want to experience a modern fantasy book rooted in the adventurous classic fantasy standalone novel. I will certainly read Star Children Saga by the author someday.
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