– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –
Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘God of Fire’ blogtour, organised by Love Books Tours.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing my review, but first I have some information
About the Author :
Helen Steadman’s first novel, Widdershins and its sequel, Sunwise were inspired by the 1650 Newcastle witch trials. Her third novel, The Running Wolf is about a group of master swordmakers who defected from Germany to England in 1687. Helen’s fourth novel, God of Fire, is a Greek myth retelling as seen through the eyes of Hephaestus, perhaps the least well known of all the Olympians. God of Fire is published on 13 September 2022.
Helen is particularly interested in revealing hidden histories and she is a thorough researcher who goes to great lengths in pursuit of historical accuracy. To get under the skin of the cunning women in Widdershins and Sunwise, Helen trained in herbalism and learned how to identify, grow and harvest plants and then made herbal medicines from bark, seeds, flowers and berries.
The Running Wolf is the story of a group of master swordmakers who left Solingen, Germany and moved to Shotley Bridge, England in 1687. As well as carrying out in-depth archive research and visiting forges in Solingen to bring her story to life, Helen also undertook blacksmith training, which culminated in making her own sword.
About the Book :
Cast out of heaven at the hands of Hera and raised beneath the sea, this is the epic story of Hephaestus, god of fire.
In the palace of Zeus, a son is born to the greatest goddess, Hera. Withered and ugly, the newborn Hephaestus is hurled from the heavens by his repulsed mother. The unforgiving sea offers no soft landing, and the broken godlet sinks to the depths, where his little flame falters. But as darkness looms, he is saved by the sea witch, Thetis, who raises the outcast as her own.
The only Olympian whose injuries never heal, the god of fire endures eternal pain from his wounded leg, making him perhaps the most human member of the pantheon. As if his physical pain were not enough, Zeus punishes Hephaestus further by sentencing him to life with Aphrodite. Unhappily married to the adulterous goddess of love, he is fated to repeat his childhood pattern of rejection, stoically shouldering emotional agony as part of his everlasting burden.
With his foster-mother’s help, Hephaestus lays claim to his legacy and finds his saving grace: the ability to harness fire and create magical metal artefacts. Of course, the other gods waste no time taking advantage of his inventions. A silver mouse for Apollo. A girdle for Aphrodite. Armour for Athena. A bow and arrow for Eros. Winged sandals for Hermes. A throne for Hera. A golden mastiff for Zeus.
But the god of fire is nobody’s fool. The magic of Hephaestus has a shadow side, as gods and mortals learn to their cost when Zeus orders him to create Pandora and her infamous receptacle…
This retelling of the Greek myths is recommended for fans of Circe, Mythos, Pandora’s Jar, Stone Blind, The Song of Achilles and The Women of Troy.
And now it’s finally time for my
Everything I know about Greek Mythology comes from watching films and series when I was a teenager so needless to say I went kind of less knowingly into reading ‘God of Fire’.
The beginning scene definitely had my attention immediately, but something else did too and not in the greatest of ways.
As I was listening to the audiobook I think you can guess what it was, the voice!
I hated it as it was way to slow for my liking and when he started to do the characters I almost gave up on it.
It was as if I was listening to the Ents from the LOTR movies and not in a good way as even on a more speedy rhythm I barely held on and needed to take breaks frequently.
This didn’t help me to get into this book properly enough to connect very well with the story and the characters and that’s a shame.
Certainly for the author who, not only did the research, but also wrote a very accessible and entertaining book on a lesser known god in the Greek Mythology.
I strongly believe I would have enjoyed it more reading by myself as it’s full of humor and it’s a different take on some well-known stuff.
An intriguing book for sure, which I would recommend to everyone who loves mythology, but not in the audiobook version I’m afraid.
The Magic of Wor(l)ds
MJ Porter is the author of many historical novels set predominantly in Seventh to Eleventh-Century England, as well as three twentieth-century mysteries. Raised in the shadow of a building that was believed to house the bones of long-dead Kings of Mercia, meant that the author’s writing destiny was set.
Erdington, September 1944
The Magic of Wor(l)ds 