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Helio Tropez: A Science Fiction Fantasy about Time Travel and Families Reuniting
★★★★★ “Helio Tropez deftly transcends genres, generations and time, and is a true modern classic that will be remembered for years to come." - Steve Quade, Indies Today
★★★★★ "There is a metaphysical aspect that makes “Helio Tropez” so much more than just a good read. Fans of science fiction/fantasy novels will enjoy it for sure, but readers who seek depth will be thrilled to step out of their mundane and into this fascinating world." - Paige Lovitt, Reader Views
WINNER of 4 Book AwardsWINNER of the Firebird Book Award for Speculative FictionWINNER of the New England Book Festival for Science Fiction2nd place in Speculative Fiction [Firebird Book Awards] and Runner Up in Science Fiction [Indies]Silver Prize for Reader Views Literary Award for Science Fiction
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A Father-Daughter Story About Saving the World from an Evil, Sentient AITia Violetta is about to turn 30. She lives in a mansion, barricaded away with her paranoid father, Haddon, who has shielded her from the world and her true heritage.
What Tia doesn’t know, is that a sinister, hidden AI, known as SIM, has enslaved humans on Earth through mass mind control.
And SIM is hunting her.
Hadden and Tia are descendants of Helio Tropez, a subterranean safe haven where all inhabitants possess supernatural abilities, and speak in the Matrix language.
Tia discovers she bears the mark of Pentada, along with four other women in her family that she never knew existed.
Together Pentada have can alter the course of humanity forever. Unless their psychic powers were to fall in the hands of SIM.
Just before Hadden dies, he sends a telepathic message to his younger self to time travel fifty years into the future to save Tia.
But by doing so, young Hadden starts a chain of events that will blow Tia’s world apart, sending them on two different timelines.
They must confront dangers in the subterranean and surface worlds to unite Pentada.
And only two possible outcomes await humanity. Will it be ascension to a higher density or complete annihilation of life on Earth?
----------------------------
It's The Matrix meets The Celestine Prophecy meets A Wrinkle in Time.
A visionary and metaphysical fantasy that will stir your soul.
★★★★★ "There is a metaphysical aspect that makes “Helio Tropez” so much more than just a good read. Fans of science fiction/fantasy novels will enjoy it for sure, but readers who seek depth will be thrilled to step out of their mundane and into this fascinating world." - Paige Lovitt, Reader Views
WINNER of 4 Book AwardsWINNER of the Firebird Book Award for Speculative FictionWINNER of the New England Book Festival for Science Fiction2nd place in Speculative Fiction [Firebird Book Awards] and Runner Up in Science Fiction [Indies]Silver Prize for Reader Views Literary Award for Science Fiction
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A Father-Daughter Story About Saving the World from an Evil, Sentient AITia Violetta is about to turn 30. She lives in a mansion, barricaded away with her paranoid father, Haddon, who has shielded her from the world and her true heritage.
What Tia doesn’t know, is that a sinister, hidden AI, known as SIM, has enslaved humans on Earth through mass mind control.
And SIM is hunting her.
Hadden and Tia are descendants of Helio Tropez, a subterranean safe haven where all inhabitants possess supernatural abilities, and speak in the Matrix language.
Tia discovers she bears the mark of Pentada, along with four other women in her family that she never knew existed.
Together Pentada have can alter the course of humanity forever. Unless their psychic powers were to fall in the hands of SIM.
Just before Hadden dies, he sends a telepathic message to his younger self to time travel fifty years into the future to save Tia.
But by doing so, young Hadden starts a chain of events that will blow Tia’s world apart, sending them on two different timelines.
They must confront dangers in the subterranean and surface worlds to unite Pentada.
And only two possible outcomes await humanity. Will it be ascension to a higher density or complete annihilation of life on Earth?
----------------------------
It's The Matrix meets The Celestine Prophecy meets A Wrinkle in Time.
A visionary and metaphysical fantasy that will stir your soul.
523 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 3, 2021
28 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
C.M. Rieger
2 books1 followerOver the last 20 years, C.M. Rieger has written three plays, two solo shows, hundreds of short stories, two novels, a screenplay, while also teaching thousands of people the art of storytelling. Through various formats, C.M. also supports ‘artists of change’, [those called to help humanity evolve] to find their creative voice and bring their works to market.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 27, 2023
Brilliantly conceived and so unlike anything else. It’s a sci-fi and a thriller as well as a lesson on how humans can evolve from our toxic soup of fear and negativity and need to make each other wrong and less than. We get deep insights into personal growth, a dystopian future and world crafting that runs the gamut from likely to fantastical. The author has written three books in one and has managed to pull a cohesive thread through time travel, other worlds and our present day realities. I really enjoyed the journey. The story and the characters stayed with me, long after I finished reading it.
February 6, 2022
I don't really know how I feel about this book. I think it will definitely only appeal to a specific audience, and I'm not totally sure I was it. It was a strange blend of technology, spiritualism, sci fi/fantasy and religious allegory. Instead of God, you have SANA. Instead of the devil and demons, you have SIM. Everything is quasi-technological because all of our feelings and how upbringing/cultural background impacts us are actually programs that direct our behavior and prevent us from being our best selves.
I got really confused trying to keep track and process the different program mindsets. It got a lot easier for me once I decided to frame it as a religious allegory - kind of a mix of Buddhism and Christianity, where the ultimate goal seems to be eventually joining back to the source after you evolve to so many forms but in the meantime, you are trying to evolve from a flawed human to a celestial/angelic/saintlike being(?).
The book has A LOT going on. In addition to the main plot, which involves the main characters trying to help everyone to ascend before the world is destroyed, there's space travel and a cosmic society, multiple communities living underground in different utopian-esque societies, genetic programming that is somehow not eugenics, psychological manipulation and secret personalities, time travel, advanced technology that can meet needs you didn't even know you had, a computer virus that is really just people who changed themselves (except they aren't even real people, but a shadow self), a dual timeline for half the book. Just a lot to process. Oh! And you can't forget the psychic animal companions that served no plot purpose.
I felt pretty separate from the characters for most of the book. I don't think they are particularly relatable, even though they are supposed to be relatable (at least the surface humans) and there's a big focus on character development because they are trying to ascend. I think they were so unrelatable because they are either too pure/holy or their evil experiences are too extreme for anyone to relate to (running a brothel, being an overly successful businessman who did drugs and prostitutes, selling your soul to be a successful musician or artist, etc.). I also really hate that the dark/evil SIM families had no nuance. They were like caricature cut outs except when the author wanted to show how the good SANA people's presence would naturally improve the evil SIM people's side. Also while I like that skin tone is almost never addressed as a distinguishing feature, why did the Quinary Mission families only live in Western nations, predominantly English speaking countries (Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and I think Italy was the fifth one)? I would have anticipated a family in Asia/South Asia, Africa, and South America for it to be truly global.
I agreed with some of the premises of the book, about how the Helio Tropezians are stifled by blocking out all negative feelings and we need to experience the dark sides of ourselves to really grow and become a better human. But I also felt like there was a huge disservice done to the "dark" characters like the Carbonis and they were very flat (which I guess was maybe the point because ultimately they weren't even real people). The book talks about some very deep topics but also seems very conservative in some ways (the balance of male and female without acknowledging the role of trans or intersex people, that everyone has a soul err SANA mate, etc) but then would also have some much more liberal moments of self-awareness (Tia's frustration at how close minded some of the Helio Tropezians were on same sex orientation, the identification of a hermaphrodite or embodying both male/female values as evolved).
Ultimately I think the book is both overly complicated plotwise and overly simplistic moralistically. It's also very long and could have wrapped up much sooner. It took me about a third of the book before it caught me enough that I felt I could finish it. It would have benefited from being written as a trilogy and by having an editor cut unnecessary parts (what do the angel wings add? what do the Jenios add? there's so much going on!).
Most of post is a critique of this book but it was still well written and considers some unique ideas. I just wish it weren't so morally simplistic in how it approaches good and evil because it's very unrelatable, and I wish there weren't so many distracting elements that take away from the main plot. But I did also just spend an hour trying to explain this book to my husband, and he told me this is the most I've talked about any of the books I review, so in the end, that is a point in the book's favor...it caused a lot of discussion and thought.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the author.
I got really confused trying to keep track and process the different program mindsets. It got a lot easier for me once I decided to frame it as a religious allegory - kind of a mix of Buddhism and Christianity, where the ultimate goal seems to be eventually joining back to the source after you evolve to so many forms but in the meantime, you are trying to evolve from a flawed human to a celestial/angelic/saintlike being(?).
The book has A LOT going on. In addition to the main plot, which involves the main characters trying to help everyone to ascend before the world is destroyed, there's space travel and a cosmic society, multiple communities living underground in different utopian-esque societies, genetic programming that is somehow not eugenics, psychological manipulation and secret personalities, time travel, advanced technology that can meet needs you didn't even know you had, a computer virus that is really just people who changed themselves (except they aren't even real people, but a shadow self), a dual timeline for half the book. Just a lot to process. Oh! And you can't forget the psychic animal companions that served no plot purpose.
I felt pretty separate from the characters for most of the book. I don't think they are particularly relatable, even though they are supposed to be relatable (at least the surface humans) and there's a big focus on character development because they are trying to ascend. I think they were so unrelatable because they are either too pure/holy or their evil experiences are too extreme for anyone to relate to (running a brothel, being an overly successful businessman who did drugs and prostitutes, selling your soul to be a successful musician or artist, etc.). I also really hate that the dark/evil SIM families had no nuance. They were like caricature cut outs except when the author wanted to show how the good SANA people's presence would naturally improve the evil SIM people's side. Also while I like that skin tone is almost never addressed as a distinguishing feature, why did the Quinary Mission families only live in Western nations, predominantly English speaking countries (Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and I think Italy was the fifth one)? I would have anticipated a family in Asia/South Asia, Africa, and South America for it to be truly global.
I agreed with some of the premises of the book, about how the Helio Tropezians are stifled by blocking out all negative feelings and we need to experience the dark sides of ourselves to really grow and become a better human. But I also felt like there was a huge disservice done to the "dark" characters like the Carbonis and they were very flat (which I guess was maybe the point because ultimately they weren't even real people). The book talks about some very deep topics but also seems very conservative in some ways (the balance of male and female without acknowledging the role of trans or intersex people, that everyone has a soul err SANA mate, etc) but then would also have some much more liberal moments of self-awareness (Tia's frustration at how close minded some of the Helio Tropezians were on same sex orientation, the identification of a hermaphrodite or embodying both male/female values as evolved).
Ultimately I think the book is both overly complicated plotwise and overly simplistic moralistically. It's also very long and could have wrapped up much sooner. It took me about a third of the book before it caught me enough that I felt I could finish it. It would have benefited from being written as a trilogy and by having an editor cut unnecessary parts (what do the angel wings add? what do the Jenios add? there's so much going on!).
Most of post is a critique of this book but it was still well written and considers some unique ideas. I just wish it weren't so morally simplistic in how it approaches good and evil because it's very unrelatable, and I wish there weren't so many distracting elements that take away from the main plot. But I did also just spend an hour trying to explain this book to my husband, and he told me this is the most I've talked about any of the books I review, so in the end, that is a point in the book's favor...it caused a lot of discussion and thought.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2023
This book is like a mash up of themes within the Celestine Prophecy. Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings and dare I say X-men. I mean, throw in time travel and real life metaphysical or Quantum Physics aspect, and we might just have a book of the ages here. Over 500 pages in one book that covers topics I learned in the last 7 years, I'm surprised they didn't cover Solfeggio Frequency. That being said, it is what it is. You can take this book and give it the patience to not only read the story but contrast the wisdom within this big metaphor.
There is a particular character who reminds me of Brittney Spears in a way, for those who have seen the documentary Slave Princess might draw the same conclusion. There was one review that said Jenios don't play a big role, and my response to that is subtlety can be deep if you look at the right perspective. There's an interesting range of characters you can relate to. Being a poet, I could see myself in Metta. Being a father, I could see myself as Hadden. Hey, if you follow the vegan diet, you'll be happy to know, "People in Helio Tropez never eat meat!"
This book, like many works of art I reference, can be viewed as a source of inspiration. I recently felt inspired to write a poem and include the word Abracadabra in it. Before I spill any more beans, I suggest giving it a read. Also, a little side note, a little dive into Carl Jung's work might make this book for an easier read. Otherwise, you might become confused. Like I said, some aspects of the book are based on real-life quantum physics.
Early in the book, you'll come across the term SIM and SANA. Just think of these terms like Yin & Yang. With that said, I highly recommend this book.
There is a particular character who reminds me of Brittney Spears in a way, for those who have seen the documentary Slave Princess might draw the same conclusion. There was one review that said Jenios don't play a big role, and my response to that is subtlety can be deep if you look at the right perspective. There's an interesting range of characters you can relate to. Being a poet, I could see myself in Metta. Being a father, I could see myself as Hadden. Hey, if you follow the vegan diet, you'll be happy to know, "People in Helio Tropez never eat meat!"
This book, like many works of art I reference, can be viewed as a source of inspiration. I recently felt inspired to write a poem and include the word Abracadabra in it. Before I spill any more beans, I suggest giving it a read. Also, a little side note, a little dive into Carl Jung's work might make this book for an easier read. Otherwise, you might become confused. Like I said, some aspects of the book are based on real-life quantum physics.
Early in the book, you'll come across the term SIM and SANA. Just think of these terms like Yin & Yang. With that said, I highly recommend this book.
December 21, 2021
DNF (Did not finish)
It was rather complicated. But it seems that the book is trying to take our reality and twist it into a sci-fi reality by saying we are being mind controlled. The author has one character trying to convince another that, in spite of the fact we’ve been ‘programmed’ to believe we only have one life, we actually continue returning for multiple lives.
I understand the concept of world building, but this felt more like an attack on our true reality and our belief in God. I just didn’t like the story enough to put up with that any longer. Maybe it changes later. Probably becomes better, but I lost interest.
It was rather complicated. But it seems that the book is trying to take our reality and twist it into a sci-fi reality by saying we are being mind controlled. The author has one character trying to convince another that, in spite of the fact we’ve been ‘programmed’ to believe we only have one life, we actually continue returning for multiple lives.
I understand the concept of world building, but this felt more like an attack on our true reality and our belief in God. I just didn’t like the story enough to put up with that any longer. Maybe it changes later. Probably becomes better, but I lost interest.
February 25, 2022
This story is delightfully confusing. You'll have to read it to know what I mean. A review would not do it justice. I recommend this sci-fi, time travel, fantasy drama.
March 11, 2022
I received this from Voracious Readers Only!
Captivating story line! I really enjoyed this ride. I would strongly suggest giving this a read!
Captivating story line! I really enjoyed this ride. I would strongly suggest giving this a read!
December 13, 2021
Hadden and his daughter Tia reside in seclusion in their mansion. Her father has always seemed very paranoid about protecting her from the outside world. Her mother disappeared when she was very young. When events happen that force Hadden to disclose Tia’s true heritage to her, she learns that she has family waiting for her in the middle earth, and she has a very important role to play in trying to save them. The people who reside on the earth’s surface are all part of a 25,000-year genetic experiment from which involved her family as genetic engineers. The people who live in the subterranean parts of the earth all have special abilities and duties based upon their aptitudes. Tia’s role is to be a critical one for helping to save both peoples from an AI invasion that is about to come to a head. Hadden has to jump around several timelines to try to correct past errors and to bring people in who are critical to resolving this crisis. If they don’t succeed, the planet will be destroyed.
I decided to start reading “Helio Tropez,” before I went to sleep one evening, figuring I would be able to get about 15 minutes in before I was ready to crash out. Four hours later, I forced myself to put the put down, so I could save my vision for work the next day!
C.M. Rieger is a masterful writer who knows how to capture her reader’s attention immediately, and then not let go. While this amazing science fiction novel has over 700 pages, it is still a very fast read. The characters go through a tremendous amount of development as the story unfolds. In order to step into their full power, they must work through some very deep rooted issues. They have to do this quickly, too. On the surface, much of what causes their issues is the same stuff that we deal with in our reality, but there is so much more going on below the surface. The AI invaders known as SIMS have created subterfuge to manipulate people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. The conspiracy issues are very complex and will take a lot of work to unravel.
As I read, I kept thinking, “Hey wait a minute, could that really be happening to us?” I loved this component of the novel because there is a metaphysical aspect that makes “Helio Tropez,” so much more than just a good read. Fans of science fiction/fantasy novels will enjoy this novel. Readers who are seeking something with more depth will be thrilled to step out of the mundane and into this world.
I decided to start reading “Helio Tropez,” before I went to sleep one evening, figuring I would be able to get about 15 minutes in before I was ready to crash out. Four hours later, I forced myself to put the put down, so I could save my vision for work the next day!
C.M. Rieger is a masterful writer who knows how to capture her reader’s attention immediately, and then not let go. While this amazing science fiction novel has over 700 pages, it is still a very fast read. The characters go through a tremendous amount of development as the story unfolds. In order to step into their full power, they must work through some very deep rooted issues. They have to do this quickly, too. On the surface, much of what causes their issues is the same stuff that we deal with in our reality, but there is so much more going on below the surface. The AI invaders known as SIMS have created subterfuge to manipulate people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. The conspiracy issues are very complex and will take a lot of work to unravel.
As I read, I kept thinking, “Hey wait a minute, could that really be happening to us?” I loved this component of the novel because there is a metaphysical aspect that makes “Helio Tropez,” so much more than just a good read. Fans of science fiction/fantasy novels will enjoy this novel. Readers who are seeking something with more depth will be thrilled to step out of the mundane and into this world.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews