Book "Hera" by Julien Longo

This review has been remade and transferred to BooksCrier.com

About the Book: Leap into the mythical lives, romances and mystical adventures of the Greek Goddesses and Gods in author Julien Longo’s new fantasy series, The Goddess Chronicles. The series begins with Hera, queen of the Greek gods, telling the story of her mortal life which leads to her immortal transformation. Longo reinvents the Greek creation story and sets in motion an epic tale of mysticism, spiritual awakening and immortal love.

Hera’s story begins in the company of her childhood friends, Artemis and Apollo, as they go out to hunt the boar along Atlantis’ jungle shores. Young and too eager for glory, Hera plunges into disaster discovering a mystical ability that changes the direction of her life forever. She is taken into the mystery of the Emerald Temple, home of powerful priestesses, where she discovers her true lineage. Hera struggles to guard the Mysteries of the Temple and face her royal destiny.

Longo’s retelling of the Greek pantheon’s creation, through Hera’s point of view, explores a time before the existence of God when the prominent spiritual understanding was one of a genderless divine. Readers journey with Hera into the life of a priestess and the heart of mysticism.

About the Author: From early childhood, Julien Longo has been captivated by mysticism and the eternal journey of the soul. Raised on the island of Maui, she was strongly influenced by earth-based spiritual traditions and the healing properties of nature.

In writing The Goddess Chronicles, Julien drew heavily on her theological studies. She holds a M.A. in Humanities and Leadership, with an emphasis on Creation Spirituality from New College of California. She has attended the Squaw Valley Writers community and studied poetry with Lucille Clifton and Sharon Olds.

When a life-changing injury forced her to leave her work in middle school education, Julien turned to the mystic traditions she had studied and put them into practice in order to cope with her illness, reclaim her life, and heal. Through her writing, she explores the transformative power of mystic practices to heal the body and touch the soul. Julien teaches mystic practices and is the founder of Mystic Pie and The Healing Tribe. She lives in California.

My Review: This is a very well written book and clearly we can see that the author did a magnificent research on greek mythology. Her easy way of describing in such a rich form the characters of this novel make us feel connected to the story, in a way that we are participating in Hera's dreams and pain and love, in her awakening for the spiritual world. 

All relationship that composes the "family" of the greek gods and goddesses are well exploited in a wonderful way. Mrs. Julien Longo was able to capture all the intrigues, mysteries, friendships, mysticisms and loyalties well described in greek mythology.

Truly a magnificent story that in some ways reminds me of "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley in the sense that the story is told from the point of view of a female character. But this book has its own peculiarities and the plot flows so smoothly that when you are warmed up... the book ends, leaving the sensation that we want more and more and more. Hopefully the author will not take long to release the second book on this delicious "The Goddess Chronicles" series. I am already a fan of Mrs. Julien Longo. While I wait for the second book, I will not lose any time and I will read her previous book, "Her Immortal Soul" (not part of this series).

This is a mandatory book in the permanent library of any serious reader that loves mysticism, mythology and an excellent novel!

This book was written by Julien Longo and it was published in 2010 by FireRaven Press and FiredUp Communications through Mariko Drouin was kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing. Thanks, Mrs. Julien Longo, for such a nice novel!

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