The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike

The Lost Queen Trilogy #2

Published September 15^th 2020 by Atria Books

496 Pages

Goodreads Summary: AD 573. Imprisoned in her chamber, Languoreth awaits news in torment. Her husband and son have ridden off to wage war against her brother, Lailoken. She doesn’t yet know that her young daughter, Angharad, who was training with Lailoken to become a Wisdom Keeper, has been lost in the chaos. As one of the bloodiest battles of early medieval Scottish history scatters its survivors to the wind, Lailoken and his men must flee to exile in the mountains of the Lowlands, while nine-year-old Angharad must summon all Lailoken has taught her and follow her own destiny through the mysterious, mystical land of the Picts.

In the aftermath of the battle, old political alliances unravel, opening the way for the ambitious adherents of the new religion: Christianity. Lailoken is half-mad with battle sickness, and Languoreth must hide her allegiance to the Old Way to survive her marriage to the next Christian king of Strathclyde. Worst yet, the new King of the Angles is bent on expanding his kingdom at any cost. Now the exiled Lailoken, with the help of a young warrior named Artur, may be the only man who can bring the Christians and the pagans together to defeat the encroaching Angles. But to do so, he must claim the role that will forever transform him. He must become the man known to history as “Myrddin.”

Bitter rivalries are ignited, lost loves are found, new loves are born, and old enemies come face-to-face with their reckoning in this compellingly fresh look at one of the most enduring legends of all time.

Review: This book is a sequel so if you haven’t read The Lost Queen then proceed with caution as there may be spoilers ahead. If you haven’t read The Lost Queen…. what are you waiting for?! The Forgotten Kingdom picks up where The Lost Queen left off, which was fantastic because I was dying to know what happened next. I really fell in love with Langoureth and Lailoken so I was very glad to see their journeys continue in the sequel. In The Lost Queen, the book mainly focuses on Langoureth but in this one we are also given perspectives from Lailoken and Langoureth’s youngest daughter, Angharad. Langoureth is still my favorite character but I really came to love Angharad’s story and am very excited to see what is in store for her in the third book. I don’t want to say too much about what happened because, well, spoilers, but I am definitely liking where I am seeing this story going. I love how well researched these novels have been. It’s been fantastic reading about this era in Scotland. What makes it even better is that even though it is well researched, Signe Pike is able to make the story magical and the flow of her writing adds to the mysticism of the time. I really can’t wait to see what happens in the third book.

5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.