A review by shelly_reads_books
Heliacle Rising by C.C. Davie

5.0

5⭐️. Just WOW. What a debut! I haven’t felt this absorbed in a fantasy romance in a long time (and I read A LOT). Where to begin…

My unhinged thoughts (spoiler free!):

• The writing is EXCELLENT

• The plot is gripping

• The character development and relationships are so finely done

• FFM poly romance—slow burn, and absolutely a LOVE story. FEELINGS❤️‍🔥

• The found family side of the narrative is elite. From the first scene with them together you can feel it and it only grows throughout the novel

• Female power and rage. I will leave it at that to avoid spoilers—aside from a quick I cannot WAIT for Lyrik’s book (she is absolute 🔥🔥🔥)

• What tips it over to being a clear 5⭐️ read for me is that the world and characters feel real. Tangible. It’s SO well realised—you get the sense that the world existed long before this story and will go on well after it. 

• I read this via audiobook—the narration is fantastic! I’ve been spoiled with a lot of duet narration lately (my fave style) so the last few single narration books I’ve read have felt disappointing—absolutely not the case here! I was enthralled throughout.

• This debut has right out of the gate secured CC Davie as an auto buy author for me—I think I went ahead and preordered the next two about 20% of the way into this one!

What you can expect:

✨ high fantasy world—beautifully realised

⚔️ adventure

🪄 magic

🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ rep

❤️ slow burn sapphic poly romance (FFM)

🐴 one horse

🥶 shared body heat to survive

❤️‍🩹 FEELINGS

💕 Found family (like a warm “I’ve found my people” hug)

😂 banter and laughs

💗 fated mates

🐎 Shadow the dark, grumpy, protective, mama-hearted warrior horse (and her murder fluff sidekick 😂)

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Spice! But I would note it’s not gratuitous—it always furthers character development and the plot (not that there is anything wrong with gratuitous spice! Just clarifying this for anyone who chooses their reads for a good plot/spice balance—this is absolutely well balanced)

🛑 Please check your content warnings! There is on page SA and some other heavy themes and content that some readers may wish to avoid: I personally thought it was incredibly sensitively handled and not gratuitous and anchored in the plot. But do proceed with caution ❤️

NOTE: for my fellow cis-het folks who consider themselves queer allies but to this point have only read MF in terms of the central romance plot of their fantasy romance—I challenge you to read this book. It’s so beautifully and warmly written, you will love it—trust me 🙌