God of Fire by Helen Steadman
‘LOVE WAS SURELY THE GREATEST PUNISHMENT OF ALL’
He’s a rejected immortal. But can this magical blacksmith fight against fate and overcome the darkness of his past?
Hephaestus fears he’ll never be accepted. Cast down from Olympus and raised by a powerful sea witch, he sets out on a quest to discover his unknown father’s true identity. But he struggles to be taken seriously by the other gods who only want him for his ingenious inventions.
Convinced that solving his paternity will help him earn the love he seeks, the god of fire traps his mother and refuses to free her until she reveals a name. But when he uncovers a terrifying truth, he finds himself with more enemies than allies amongst the wrathful Olympians.
Can Hephaestus unlock buried secrets and prove himself worthy?
God of Fire is an imaginative standalone historical fantasy. If you like forgotten legends, fantastic beasts, and dark tales punctuated with humour, then you’ll adore Helen Steadman’s fascinating expedition into mythology.
Buy God of Fire to unravel the mysteries of ancient Greece today!
Recommended for fans of Mythos, Song of Achilles, Circe and Pandora’s Jar.
About the author
Dr Helen Steadman is a historical novelist. Her first novel, Widdershins and its sequel, Sunwise were inspired by the seventeenth-century Newcastle witch trials. Her third novel, The Running Wolf was inspired by the Shotley Bridge swordmakers, who defected from Solingen, Germany in 1687. Helen’s fourth novel is God of Fire, a Greek myth retelling about Hephaestus, possibly the least well-known of the Olympians. Helen is now working on her fifth novel.
Despite the Newcastle witch trials being one of the largest mass executions of witches on a single day in England, they are not widely known about. 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 defected from 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. During her archive research, Helen uncovered a lot of new material and she published her findings in the Northern History journal.
Social media links:
Author website: https://helensteadman.com/
Publisher website: https://www.belljarbooks.com/
Twitter handle: @hsteadman1650
Instagram handle:@helensteadmanauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helensteadmanauthor
Review
I am a big fan of Helen’s books and I was very excited to read this one as I am also a sucker for a good retelling of ancient mythology! Helen manages to make history or mythology easily accessible for the reader and it was certainly the case with this book. ‘God of Fire’ follows the life of Hephaestus (Hephaestus) and he was a god I didn’t really know too much about. To say I was fascinated is an understatement.
Heph, the God of Fire, was thrown out of heaven as a baby by his mother Hera. He was found and raised by the sea witch Thetis. When he is older he returns to Olympus to learn about the god and to find out what he can about his father.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the God of Fire and how all the others gods and their stories interjected with Heph’s. I have always been fascinated about ancient mythology and this book only further ignited that spark of interest. Helen managed to make what can be seen by some people as a dull and dry subject into something exciting, tender and it was thoroughly well written.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
