Title: The Forgotten Kingdom
Author: Signe Pike
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Year Published: September 15, 2020

Date Started: January 19, 2023
Date finished: January 23, 2023

I think my expectations were too high after reading the first book, The Lost Queen, because this book was just okay. The story is told from three characters: Langoureth, Lailoken, and Angharad where Langoureth and Lailoken are in first pov and Angharad is in third. I found it quite confusing because without mentioning whose story we were in, in each opening chapters, I wouldn’t know which characters it was. The voices of each character sort of blended together as though it was one character. Even the third-person character felt like the two first-person characters. In the first book, we only got one pov and it was Langoureth’s which created a more focused story and was more interesting in that sense.

There was a lot happening in the story and nothing was very clear. It jumped from one character to another frequently so the full story sort of got lost. There was a war and there was tension. The story that stood out most was Angharad. I think for me it was because it was the most adventurous one. She was kidnapped and then eventually ended up being at the same place where her mother (Langoureth) was. Through it all, she became a stronger person.

Overall, I found this book okay. It wasn’t bad but it was a bit drawn out even though the chapters weren’t very long and the pacing was well done. The setting description/exposition was done well. The writing was just as beautiful as the first one. The action and war scenes were sort of muted. They didn’t seem strong enough or action packed enough.

Who should read this book: Read this book if you’re into historical fantasy fiction and if you have a liking for writing that makes you feel as though you can smell the fresh earth and feel the air of that time period.