Title: The Lost Queen
Author: Signe Pike
Rating: C
Format Read: Paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction
Keywords: Merlin, Camelot, Christianity
Kid Appropriate: Teens and older
Languoreth is the rebellious daughter of a king in Scotland as Christianity creeps into the lands. We follow her free spirited nature triumph in the face of loss and grow with her as she goes from a little girl desperately trying to make her own way to a mighty queen that history would forget. She is also the twin of a young man named Lailoken. Or, as the tales would remember him, Merlin.
This book was my boyfriend's first pick for our long distance book club. It sounded promising with many comparisons to Outlander and The Mists of Avalon. We are both fans of the lore surrounding Camelot and looked forward to what seemed to be the perfect blend of my love of fantasy and his for historical fiction. It was close, but did not quite live up to my expectations. I ended up giving this book three stars while my boyfriend gave it four.
Languoreth seems at first like she will be the typical stubborn child who's life is equally touched by tragedy and privilege. To a degree she is. She experiences loss and love and comfort in equal parts. Where I had trouble connecting to her is that for much of the time we know her she is not a queen yet. Instead she is a headstrong child that can often come across as spoiled and entitled. Her love life is also an exhausting mess that I had a hard time rooting for. She is an adult only for a very small portion of the novel.
Large portions of this books seemed entirely unnecessary, dragging on and on. If you go in expecting a historical fiction novel largely about one girl from childhood on, then I do not think you will be disappointed. Where I struggled is I was expecting more of a focus on the druids and magic in the world. Languoreth is not allowed to practice the arts the way that her brother is. This means we see very little of either. And as far as warfare goes, we see almost none. This is again due to the limitations of our heroine. For me this made the book frustrating and slow. Just when things pick up, the book ends abruptly.
Despite the points I was not a fan of, I did like parts of this book. First, if you are a fan of Camelot type books then this one is not terrible. As the reader we are exposed to typical life for a woman in the era that would appeal to fans of The Mists of Avalon without being quite as long and heavy. The struggle between Christianity and paganism is also explored with both friendly relations and violent.
It seems that I was correct when I felt that the story ended too abruptly. When I was rereading the synopsis on Amazon for this review I stumbled across the listing for The Forgotten Kingdom being released September 15th. This will apparently be the second book in a now planned trilogy. Perhaps there is time for the series to redeem itself.
Check out my video review below. Happy reading!
This book was my boyfriend's first pick for our long distance book club. It sounded promising with many comparisons to Outlander and The Mists of Avalon. We are both fans of the lore surrounding Camelot and looked forward to what seemed to be the perfect blend of my love of fantasy and his for historical fiction. It was close, but did not quite live up to my expectations. I ended up giving this book three stars while my boyfriend gave it four.
Languoreth seems at first like she will be the typical stubborn child who's life is equally touched by tragedy and privilege. To a degree she is. She experiences loss and love and comfort in equal parts. Where I had trouble connecting to her is that for much of the time we know her she is not a queen yet. Instead she is a headstrong child that can often come across as spoiled and entitled. Her love life is also an exhausting mess that I had a hard time rooting for. She is an adult only for a very small portion of the novel.
Large portions of this books seemed entirely unnecessary, dragging on and on. If you go in expecting a historical fiction novel largely about one girl from childhood on, then I do not think you will be disappointed. Where I struggled is I was expecting more of a focus on the druids and magic in the world. Languoreth is not allowed to practice the arts the way that her brother is. This means we see very little of either. And as far as warfare goes, we see almost none. This is again due to the limitations of our heroine. For me this made the book frustrating and slow. Just when things pick up, the book ends abruptly.
Despite the points I was not a fan of, I did like parts of this book. First, if you are a fan of Camelot type books then this one is not terrible. As the reader we are exposed to typical life for a woman in the era that would appeal to fans of The Mists of Avalon without being quite as long and heavy. The struggle between Christianity and paganism is also explored with both friendly relations and violent.
It seems that I was correct when I felt that the story ended too abruptly. When I was rereading the synopsis on Amazon for this review I stumbled across the listing for The Forgotten Kingdom being released September 15th. This will apparently be the second book in a now planned trilogy. Perhaps there is time for the series to redeem itself.
Check out my video review below. Happy reading!
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