Helios Murders: The Ceyla Chronicles

by sunako_nakahara, onneechan, tsubame

Just a few hours’ drive from Orlando is Helios, a land of magic and lore, where extraordinary races flourish and where mystery is always afoot. And who better to guide you in this dangerous otherworld than our resident detective and supernatural expert, Ceyla Ward? In this collection of stories, witness as she stands in the line of fire between warring clans, battles powerful creatures, and stops ancient demons from spreading their evil blood magic across the realm. This green-eyed, bedaggered blonde, who moonlights as a private detective-seer, can solve all of Helios' greatest enigmas save for one: herself. But through the smoking barrels of her double derringer, she will fight her way to uncover the mystery of her own past.

Genres: Fantasy

216 pages, ebook

Reviews

[Aki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! It feels great reading a book that one of your friends wrote! I might be a little biased in here, but the book is a great read. For a collaboration, the way they wrote the stories individually yet as part if a greater story is awesome. Looking forward fo reading more stories of Ceyla Ward.

[Eunice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had some degree of expectations for this since there is hype surrounding the series, which is a collaboration by several popular authors who are already working with the publisher. Moreover, fantasy-mystery books are much less common than romance in the local literature scene here, and this series garnered enough interest and sales to produce five books so far, so I gave it a shot.

Well, I was disappointed. I don't think my expectations were that high, but the impression I got from the blurb did not align with what I got from the book. I was expecting a badass mf MC with excellent detective skills, but she's a constant damsel in distress who needs saving, and the crime-solving aspect wasn't showcased much. It's just an investigation of the crime scene and then the reveal of the culprit. The book also felt quite disjointed, which I expected from a collaboration, but it was worse than I expected. The book is a series of short stories featuring different cases, with each author contributing one or two short series. Ceyla's identity as both a part of the police and a private detective is weird, and the short story format limited the development of each murder case.

[Christine Sy · Rating 3 out of 5]

classic fantasy fairytales but make it darker. 

intriguing and interesting. it might be fantasy featuring mythical creatures, hence, it talks about realistic and timely issues such as discrimination (mostly about race) and political issues. it is good. the ending surprise me. at first, i like how each story has that intriguing factor about ceyla's identity but once it was revealed, the next scenes made me no longer hooked on the book. i just find it a bit confusing and cliche with a bit forced romance, or maybe fantasy is just not my cup of tea.

[Rine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proudly Filipino made. This is one of the few books I really love that was written by Filipinos. The writing style really captures the interest of the readers and you inevitably get hooked to the wonderful characters and story. I live it so five stars!

[Dara Bernardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I put it in my DNF. Maybe because it was written by five authors and the writing is soooo tiny that it made it so hard for me to read. I only finished the first three parts. Very predictable. Not for me.

[Hannah Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

it took me so long to finish this book because i always doze off whenever im reading 😭 idk if it's me or it is just boring 🥹 but there were parts that i was shocked to read and did not expect what happened but all in all, it's making me sleepy 🫣

[Eerie Sseumiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twists are predictable but it's a decent book to kill the time and forget about my piled up schoolworks for a while 😂

[M. S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This book has the potential but was severely limited by going the collabed authors and chronicle-route. It can be a full fantasy-detective novel, unfortunately it isn't.

The writing felt flat and boring, I wished there are less of telling and more on showing.

Having multiple authors in one book is a tough challenge, and so it showed when there are obvious shifts in the writing style and the character's personality. Ceyla would sometimes sound badass then turn full-on mean woman the next chapter and it's not making the story better at all.

Ceyla and Helios should have been more explored. There are a lot of good stuff here but it was wasted by the fast-paced and compiled story style.

[AJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Ceyla Chronicles: Helios Murders" is probably the second favorite fantasy book that I've read when I was in my early teens. It's kind of precious to me since this book is the third physical book that I have bought. I'm feeling nostalgic right now because of how my younger self could afford new books, but now, in my late teens, I can only afford books from thrift stores or used book sales. It's unfair; I miss my youthful days. Anyway, I had this book when I was in my early teens, and now at the age of 19, or my late teens, I am deciding to read it again to see things from my 19-year-old perspective. Well, I can say that the world-building is so good, and there are so many lines that I like and are engraved in my mind. One of them is "The truth is a matter of perspective," and another is "In the eyes of the law, revenge is wrong, but in the eyes of the wronged, revenge is the law." I do love the story, but I didn't even notice that it was written as separate stories. Although it's the same protagonist, it really feels like a different story. I know that this was supposed to be the case, as it's been written by various authors, but after reading it, it feels like it's just episodes, like a 'what if?' story or as if they are in a parallel universe. Even though it's the same protagonist, they give off different vibes and personalities whenever the cases change, and I feel like the whole story isn't connected. The alignment of the story is kind of off; they should have put Ceyla's true identity story last, for kind of closure to her real self. And what's with this unnecessary romance with Avery? Then, after that case ends, we got another case for her, the last case in the book which she was battling with a demon. Why was it always the demon who was the antagonist? Kinda disappointed because I was right about the friend Alice being the betrayer and the antagonist. This fight resulted in her awakening her full potential power of a mesmer, and then after that, we found out that the whole battle is a dream or was really a dream. I bet it's like she can manipulate time and space, to bring back time? Who knows, maybe I will find out in the second book. I have the physical book of the second one in me before after I finish the first book I immediately went to the bookstore to buy the second one but unfortunately, I didn't read it. That book has been stuck in my drawer for years; maybe this is the time to pick it up. It's my dream before to collect all the books from this series... I have two now of this book, although the first book is kind of not like my taste now I still wish to collect the books from this series. Kinda interesting.

[Den Cio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good job!