Thank you to Korra II for allowing me to repost this book review. This review was originally published on February 10, 2023, on Baskerville Books. You can find the original review here.
Synopsis
Teleo is 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 stolen by the enemy side. He spent years unsuccessfully searching for his son and returned home broken-hearted. At the local castle, he comes upon a war orphan stolen by his side from the enemy and rescues him from abuse, adopting him as his foster son.
Teleo is working as a mason at the castle when he finds himself in the middle of a coup. This launches a journey to protect his new family, uncover the secrets of the ancient ways, and reclaim the magic of the Mages.
Book Review
Heliotrope
reviewed by Korra II
This is my kind of fantasy. It goes into excessive levels of detail for every scene. If the characters are riding horses to get somewhere, the book doesn’t just tell you they rode and got there; it tells you which horse each character was on, what they were wearing, etc.
Image Description: The cover of Heliotrope. The title runs across the bottom of the page in yellow. The authors name, Palmer Pickering, runs across the top of the page in pale blue. The cover depicts a man and woman in battle. The woman pulls a bow and arrow taught mid-leap, while the man lifts two swords. Both are dressed in chainmail.
Credit: Korra II
It leads to every location feeling like a real place. The animals are as alive as the locations, and the people are. Unlike characters in far too many books, characters in Heliotrope are actually interesting and compelling. The level of detail leads to them being fleshed out and not cardboard cutouts, like every other book.
The details did get amusingly obnoxious at times, though. When the characters were trading for goods with some sheep herders, I half expected there to be a math problem asking me how many resources they had left. The excessive details slow down the novel greatly. You need to be a fast reader or very patient if you’re going to read Heliotrope, as it’s not in a hurry to go anywhere.
While the story does feature magic, it’s really more of a background plot element. The story focuses much more on the character as they’re struggling to make a living in a world that keeps kicking stools out from under them.
I enjoyed reading Heliotrope; it felt like returning to a friend each day, hearing a bit more of their tale as it unravels. I did realize, though, that I will likely never read this book again. At 100 pages a day, it would take me another 8 days to revisit it, and I just don’t see myself having the time for it. I don’t know if Heliotrope is going to be part of a series, but if it is, the only way I’d be able to catch back up is if an audiobook is released.
Heliotrope is for people who want fantasy without overbearing magic or fantastical animals. It’s a somewhat grounded-in-reality fantasy story. I wish more fantasy worlds had this level of detail, as I often want to know as much as humanly possible about them.
Note: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a physical review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.
Edit April 8, 2026: I received an audiobook review copy in December 2024 and DNF'ed it. The narrator is boring as fuck. Awful, just horrible narration. NOTE: This audiobook was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.
From Korra II
My name is Korra II, I'm an independent book reviewer, writing for my personal blog. While all of my reviews are published to my blog, some even remaining exclusive, my reviews can often be found on other sites such as Amazon, Goodreads, Storygraph, Bookbub, etc. The bulk of my review copies are digital audiobooks obtained via. StoryOrigin. I primarily work with small publishers or indie authors
I've reviewed more than 430 stories and have spent more than 75,000 minutes listening to audiobooks.
75,497 minutes or 1,258 hours as of May 5, 2026.
See my TBR for a glimpse of my review pile, not counting my personal copies. If I promised you a review, you will get it, but it may take a minute. I primarily review based on what genre or series I'm feeling, not deadlines.
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