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Celestine Chronicles #2

Rod of the Heart

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How much blood is one man worth?

Terrence Mack has succeeded in keeping his freedom, but at what cost?

The Vicereine of Florence is dead. The city she ruled has fallen to chaos, under assault by both Twilight Zone agents and a seemingly unstoppable dragon determined to claim the template's power for herself.

In shouldering responsibility for the crisis, Terry has taken it upon himself to break the siege or die trying. With the help of his friends and the women he loves he may just have what it takes to hold the darkness — and the obsessed — at bay.

Yet the power of a template is poorly understood and for some, it comes at a terrible price. As Terry forges ahead, dire consequences force him to question the value of one man's life, weighed against the havoc wrought for his sake. Moving from one costly battle to the next, he is left struggling not just to save the lives of the innocent, but his own immortal soul.


Warning: This book does not pan to waving curtains and fade to black. Those uninterested or under the age of eighteen are strongly warned of explicit content.

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 2018

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209 people want to read

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Cebelius

22 books541 followers

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5 stars
886 (49%)
4 stars
603 (33%)
3 stars
239 (13%)
2 stars
53 (2%)
1 star
15 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
Profile Image for Alfred.
134 reviews7 followers
April 24, 2025
Solid (if somewhat darker) sequel

I've said it before but Cebelius is a talented writer. Just as its predecessor was, this story is far more engaging and well crafted than you might expect. I'm invested in Terry and his women and can't wait to see what's going to happen with the overarching villain of the series.
Profile Image for Steven Allen.
1,188 reviews23 followers
November 14, 2018
I was taking a break from the harem urban fantasy genre when I saw the first book of this series Mask of the Template discussed on the Harem Lit Facebook group page. Mask of the Template was an ok book with a slightly different premise than others in this sub-genre.

The second book Rod of the Heart is much better, as the author has settled into his world and his characters. There are some disappointing events in Rod of the Heart, such as what happens with the cobbler’s daughter. Although the events with the cobbler’s daughter might be some foreshadowing by the author – we’ll see (hopefully) in the next book.

Interesting how the MC gains and losses abilities with the lovers that he has. I was sorry to see the spider queen die, as I thought that would make an interesting continuing character. Perhaps one of the MC’s spider children will rise to be the next queen. Although, if the MC sleeps with his daughter, that would be probably outside of the genre the author writes in. Incestual harem urban fantasy is not that common, but not something that I would read.

A lot of the creatures I am told in Rod of the Heart and the first book are straight out of table top role playing games. I am not sure if that is true of all of the monsters in Rod of the Heart as I am not that familiar with the games. A lot of the creatures are named monsters from legends and not just European ones.

There is a Japanese-type vampire that was awesome, but I was disappointed at how quickly it was killed. I also liked how one of the other characters gave the MC the traditional Japanese warning on how to deal with a Japanese vampire (i.e. – don’t turn your back or run from one). I hope that more Japanese mythical creatures such as the Kitsune appear in the next book.

I found how the Minotaur character acts rather unique. Somewhat more bovine than I expected, but the minotress (spelled per the book) is a rather engaging character.

I do like how the dragon problem was somewhat resolved. I hope the dragon chases the MC’s party and joins them. I also hope that the dragon and the sanguine devil join the MC’s harem.

The author definitely left enough cliff hangers and foreshadowing for another book. Several people have complained about how slow the author writes. I would rather a slow author publishing quality work rather than a quick one publishing shit. I am looking forward to a third book, especially if it is of the quality of the first two.
Profile Image for Dave Stone.
1,347 reviews96 followers
August 23, 2021
...And then the fun got it's heart ripped out.
Here's a pro tip for ya. If you sit down to write an erotic monster girl harem fantasy novel, you might want to go easy on the darkness and despair. Have some challenges, sure. but definitely apply them sparingly and with a light hand.
3 things to never do in an erotic monster girl harem fantasy novel:
#1 have the MC hate the new world so much he tries to kill himself just to get out.
#2 show that the MC has an STD (magical or otherwise) that fucks up his lovers
#3 have 1 of his lovers eviscerated and killed right in front of him (or ever)
#3.5 have the friends and wives of the MC cut down and murder one of the MC's side lovers in the street in front of her father.

what the hell Cebelius? are you trying to be edgy? Trying to be taken seriously as a writer?
There had better be an explanation for shoe, and it had better be a damn good one.

I'm going to keep reading this one, but I'm not liking where it's going at all.
298 reviews5 followers
July 2, 2019
Good story, Terry (main) won't stop whinging

Good story, Terry (main) won't stop whinging. Inlove the story, world and pacing. The action is good. The girls are good. The sex scenes are good.

But Terry won't stop crying (literally). He cries and whines and makes stupid backwards decisions. He is not a hero, he is a scared idiot with a death wish.

Really hard to relate to him, he is such a beta male. It makes his heroic deeda seem much less likely. Almost like he stumbles from one power to another accidentally.

He had to be forced for the spider, he turned down power from prada, he turned down the dragon who just wanted a quick screw.

It was all his fault. His cry baby ways made thibgs worse. Sleep with dragon and send it away.
Profile Image for Steve Naylor.
2,484 reviews127 followers
March 11, 2019
Rating 4.0 stars

This was a very good continuation of the series. Got more insight into Terry and some of the reasons for his conflicted emotions. It has to be very hard to wake up in a new world that is sort of a nightmare. Are there good things in this world? Of course, but with nightmares you can get away by waking up. In this world there is nowhere for him to go. He can't even be alone most of the time since he is always in danger. He is a fighter and loves the competition, but he is not a killer. Unfortunately, it seems in this world, fighting without killing just isn't done. Then there are the philosophical questions about responsibility. The town of Florence suffered when minions from the Twilight zone and other powerful creatures showed up to capture Terry. People were killed and damage occurred. Does that make it Terry's fault? If he wasn't there then none of that would have happened. The group that Terry has assembled are getting closer. There was also another greek mythology surprise at the end of the story. Overall, I like where this story is taking me.
Profile Image for Angel Ludwig.
299 reviews10 followers
October 27, 2018
Both books are quite good

Aside from a tendency to use commas in place of ellipses (those 3 dots that indicate a long pause), the book is well written, has interesting characters, strong world building, a solid story line, and really good editing—nigh unto great, especially for KU harem lit (sorry, guys, but most of it has crap editing with the occasional satisfactory editing creeping in). Barely ever got bumped out of the story in either book. Looking forward to the next book.
266 reviews13 followers
September 6, 2018
Pretty good

It is what it sounds like, but it's a good read with interesting stuff going on. A little worse than the last one in my opinion, Laina is getting pretty annoying.
Profile Image for Mahesh.
473 reviews42 followers
November 3, 2018
This author just became my favorite!

Nice,
Well some times MC moped about morals and shit, but that's understandable.
The characters are fantastic, the story arc is nice. Also I would die to know what happened to Shu 😥
Definitely worth the read. Excited for the next book!
Profile Image for Windallion.
5 reviews
April 10, 2019
Could listen to Tess read all day long...and have a couple of times (Good Intentions Series). Again, story is good enough to get me to listen to book 3. Guess it's good enough if I'm willing to continue.
Profile Image for Jay Collins.
1,630 reviews15 followers
February 28, 2019
3.5 to 4 stars, Pretty much the same as the first book so if you liked that one you will like this one. These type of books are not for everyone but I like them, they are my guilty pleasure.
134 reviews3 followers
March 4, 2019
Book 1 was decent. I pointed out the lack of detail the author put into the introduction. However, I feel Book 2 (this one) is much better. Book 1 had bits and parts that felt off, but Book 2 is smoother and more flushed out.

Book 2 is mainly about Terrence really getting to know his new home and accepting it. We get to learn more about his powers and the world. His harem doesn't really get bigger, which is good and bad. I'm not going to spoil it. We also get bits of Greek Mythology, which is always a bonus.

My biggest issue, which was present in Book 1, but more predominant in Book 2, is that this series reeks of NTR, or the antagonist stealing the protagonist's girls, or simply rape them. Why?

Every Earthling/Template has the same power, the ability to form bonds with girls via sex to gain power.

Sex = Bond = Power

So, what do you do to gain more power? Create more bonds by having more sex.
So, what do you do to lose power? Weaken bonds by having less sex. Or, break the bonds by killing the bonded. Or, forge new bonds to replace the old bonds; in other words, another template comes to have sex with your bonded.

The book even ends with the antagonist saying, "I need to renew my bonds to make sure I'm in peak shape" (after doing nothing for a thousand years or so).

I am tempted to wait till the series end or the author clarifying that.
Profile Image for James .
1,346 reviews20 followers
September 1, 2018
A solid second book

Another wonderful book in the series.The book was fast and furious on the action. You will be up all night reading it.
Profile Image for Heath.
521 reviews4 followers
December 13, 2018
Good Read.

The story continues from the previous book. I enjoyed the story and look forward to the next book. Note: There is adult content.
Profile Image for Talha.
145 reviews33 followers
February 23, 2021
I don't know why I didn't like the first part as much as this one.

What I like about this, unlike other books of this kind, the author had the main focus on the story rather than the 18+ stuff. Had some real good twist and turns.

14 reviews1 follower
April 16, 2020
Really worth it

Just like first series I really enjoyed reading it.
Good plot and enough suspense to make you keep focused.
But the favorite part is how Tee manages to keep his women happy and satisfied. I love that each one has their doubts and insecurity but they keep trying to understand and embrace each other no matter what.
That kind of focus on realistic relationship is hard to be found in harem fantasy.
In that I really cherish this series so much that I can't wait to read next one.

One big problem is that I couldn't read it with audio on kindle app.
I really love Tess's great performance and I'd like to hear characters voices through her voice. It was real shame. I don't know whether it's technical problem or license thing but either way I hope it's fixed.

--Spoilers--

One minor setback is there is not much written why Prada loves or respects Tee so soon as she does now. I expect there to be more explanation.
And I really pity Shu. I really hope the problem with having sex with template with regard to phase monster is not a serious thing and least not so much that makes whole story dismal

3 reviews
November 11, 2025
Despite how there isn't a TON of sex comparably, this book is much, much more well crafted. The same writing prowess was present here as was present for the previous sex scenes, but this time. the entire narrative was just as good. Terry and the harem are all great individual characters, and have a good dynamic! I enjoy that the dungeon crawl was much more similar to something like D&D dungeon crawling, over the over-detailing on how much money a monster part is, or what it does.

Higher stakes, better fights, good sex. Solid book overall, the only reason it isn't a 5 is because some of Terry's concerns are a bit flat. He's shown to have empathy, but every time he feels sorry for himself, it's like he forgets all of it. I look forward to seeing these characters, and this writing, grow.

Hopefully Miss Kalenko joins the harem at some point soon, after the issue with Shoe finally comes to light. Hopefully that Shoe issue won't cause Terry to go back on his character. Looking forward to it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kody.
71 reviews3 followers
August 20, 2019
This series keeps surpassing my expecations.

Okay. Its official. I'm officially a fan of this series. I kept expecting lots of pointless and gratuitous sex to interfere with the story. Hell i didnt even expect much of a story. I was wrong on both accounts. Yes there was sex, really good sex scenes actually, but it wasnt nearly as interesting as the story was. Props to the author for not adding any more members to the heroes harem. Im feeling for these characters. Im also really feeling the romance, and it feels real, not just just some sex fantasy with 2 dimensional fantasy pornstars. The gorgon is hands down my favorite love interest and i honestly never thought in a million years Id say that lol the audio narrator is amazing. I hope the entire series goes to audio. Im buying them all up. I've read other series like this, and this one stands out from the rest.
Profile Image for Curtis.
774 reviews20 followers
September 14, 2018
Exceptionally Good

Fantasy stories, let alone harem stories, can have a bad reputation for shallowness. Combine the two genres and you’re just asking for trouble, right? Perhaps so, but not in this series. Here you will find an action-packed harem fantasy foray with real plot, and real characters. They all have problems; none of them are especially pure or noble. They all have their quirks and motivations, and they all have to keep trying repeatedly to Get It Right.

But because these characters are willing to act, protect, improve, learn, and grow - watching them do so is pretty interesting. And hey: the monsters, magic, and sex aren’t bad things either.

Excellent writing, excellent editing. Seriously good stuff. Definitely recommended.
Profile Image for Paul.
437 reviews
January 30, 2019
A Story Well Told

If you liked the first book, book two is a must. The author demonstrates great skill at communicating the thoughts and reasoning behind all of the main characters. This promotes depth and detail behind the story, and the story within the story.
The main character goes through detailed adjustments with his new life in this book, but it is more than made up by the supporting characters given a chance to step into the spot light, all of this worked for me.
Once more the writing is smooth and the action well paced and descriptive, I’ve already started book number three.
Profile Image for Jake.
248 reviews7 followers
August 15, 2019
Another excellent read

Much in the vein of the first book this book has a very interesting plot line, great pacing, and interesting characters. this was a continuation of the story from the first one, revealed more about the world, and definitely sets up expectations for book 3.
There was nothing wrong with the book, but for some reason I just can't give it five stars. The editing is great, the pacing is great, the characters are interesting, but something is preventing me from giving it a five. It didn't blow my mind, but it was extremely entertaining.
Profile Image for slugbiscuit.
484 reviews2 followers
December 10, 2022
The 2nd book is a significant improvement over the first. The author does a great job of developing the world-building and conflict. We also get some great characters introduced such as Prada. The existing characters and their relationships further expand and deepen. A lot of my critiques about the 1st volume were smoothed out to some degree. Terrence machismo is occasionally intolerable but he seems to be working his way forward in a positive direction. Overall, pretty good volume. Will continue to see where it goes.
199 reviews
March 24, 2019
A bit better than the first

The story of terry continues and there is more world building in this story. The villain roster expands and we are given more back ground to who various key figures are. The author takes Terry’s emotions to some very interesting and intense places. But I was frustrated by Terry’s poor bargaining with his new devil familiar. Still, Prada is fun. We shall see where the story goes from here. I look forward to the next book.
278 reviews5 followers
August 30, 2018
This Rocks

A follow-up to a book that I already view as one of the best new works in years....and it absolutely delivers. On all levels this was a step up and progression for the author. The story was awesome, moved along at a great clip. Character development was so fluid and natural as to be seamless. I could gush for longer but why waste time. Read. This. Book.
Profile Image for Sena.
71 reviews
August 30, 2018
All the monster girl badassery you could want

Building on the success of the first book, Rod of the Heart begins to answer some of the questions that troubled Terry in the beginning. All around from his relationships, to his fighting, and to figuring out where he belongs on Celestine, this book had me glued. And now the wait for book 3...
729 reviews7 followers
August 30, 2018
Really looks big forward to where this story is heading

I enjoyed the story of self discovery, adventure, redemption, and fun. We some answers and the hero finally decides On what he wishes to be. However many questions about the dragon, and the other template trying to destroy the world remain.

Looking forward to the sequel.
27 reviews1 follower
September 17, 2018
Fun, poignant and respectful. Well worth a read for Harem lovers.

Good story, loads of emotion and action. Bonding was good, and the way the protagonist was handled by the author was great. One of the few stories of its type to handle the genre without turning the protagonist into a 'nice guy' (asshole by any other name) or downright rapist. Loved it, will buy more.
584 reviews
November 20, 2018
Becoming an epic Saga

The tale is becoming more involved with added complexities and situations which seem to overlap to add layers to the story. It feels that at the very least 2 more books would be required to complete the Terry Mack story. Action, adventure and sex are mixed together to create a really good story I have so far enjoyed reading. I welcome more Terry Mack books.
125 reviews4 followers
January 24, 2019
Good author

Great Story and pacing. So often authors ha have dead spots where the story slows down. This one doesn't, which I take add the mark of a good author. Not to say there is non stop action, but a good balance of moving the plot, setting up pieces you are interested in and action.
Profile Image for Drew.
185 reviews3 followers
March 8, 2019
Well paced and fab read

The second in the series is even better than the first IMO with great fights and other adventures aplenty. There is not as much adult episodes or is it that the rest is good enough that they don’t stand out as much.

I enjoyed the further development of the MC and the gang and look forward to plenty more.
Profile Image for Roberto.
270 reviews1 follower
March 17, 2019
Interesting world and cool monster chicks, the power trip keep going strong adding a new girl, glossing over some plot holes from the first book like what our MC thinks about his younger sister the one how didn't betray him, some background about his dad, then nothing of interest apart from that. ergo 2 stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews

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