Hey all, Sam here.
All right, today I’m back with a long long overdue review…as in I actually had this in my drafts for getting posted for a year now. Oops. I’m still working on getting back into a groove with writing and reading and blogging more consistently. But on the good side of things, I’m currently a lot less stressed about work, and the stress over packing and getting ready for a big move in a few weeks isn’t nearly as bad.
This weekend the husband and I will be at HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina, working at the Colorworld Books booth. I’ve never been to North Carolina before, so that’ll be fun. Although I still have to pack my bag for that…so I probably shouldn’t take too long to write up today’s post.
Okay, let’s just go ahead and jump into this long overdue review.
Amanda Hocking, the New York Times bestselling author of The Kanin Chronicles, returns to the magical world of the Trylle Trilogy with The Lost City, the first novel in The Omte Origins—and the final story arc in her beloved series.
The storm and the orphan
Twenty years ago, a woman sought safety from the spinning ice and darkness that descended upon a small village. She was given shelter for the night by the local innkeepers but in the morning, she disappeared—leaving behind an infant. Now nineteen, Ulla Tulin is ready to find who abandoned her as a baby or why.
The institution and the quest
Ulla knows the answers to her identity and heritage may be found at the Mimirin where scholars dedicate themselves to chronicling troll history. Granted an internship translating old documents, Ulla starts researching her own family lineage with help from her handsome and charming colleague Pan Soriano.
The runaway and the mystery
But then Ulla meets Eliana, a young girl who no memory of who she is but who possesses otherworldly abilities. When Eliana is pursued and captured by bounty hunters, Ulla and Pan find themselves wrapped up in a dangerous game where folklore and myth become very real and very deadly—but one that could lead Ulla to the answers she’s been looking for.
My Thoughts:
Rating: 4 stars
Many years ago I went through a pretty big Amanda Hocking phase. I read almost every single one of her books I could get my hands on, which at the time was the Trylle series and the My Blood Approves series, followed by Watersong. I still haven’t read her Hollows books. Then came the Kanin Chronicles. I devoured them all so quickly. While things in her stories could be deeper or could be more complex, they were all extremely compelling.
I liked the stories she crafted and wanted to know more about the characters. And it seemed like she was writing the books so quickly. When books would be released they were coming out like a month or two apart. Yes, granted, at first that was because they had been self-published to rampant success, and then when the books were picked up by a bigger publisher, they re-released them quickly. But even with the Kanin, and now with the Omte, the books were scheduled to be released fairly close together. It’s interesting to have an author who completes a trilogy and then the publishing begins. Of course, that makes the wait between series sometimes take a whole lot longer.
But anyway, I was curious to return to the world of the Trylle and the Kanin, so obviously I had to get my hands on these books, and thankfully I was able to get approval for the whole Omte trilogy via NetGalley (so yes, the reviews for the others are coming soon-ish).
The Lost City builds out this world even more, with callbacks to the previous trilogies as well as interesting new characters to follow. Plus we get to learn more about another one of the tribes, which is cool. I like seeing how the different cultures are similar and how they differ.
Also, honestly I really enjoyed that Ulla wasn’t a smaller character. I like that the main characters we focus on have been different with each series. One more of a diplomat, one more of a fighter, one more of a scholar/caregiver. It’s nice to see how they each fit into the world, while also being a bit unique.
This was a good first book to a trilogy, giving us a little bit of mystery, those buildups of friendship and romance and intrigue, and of course giving questions that won’t be answered until the trilogy continues.
Yes, I am writing this review like a year after reading the book, so it’s a bit of a vague review, but I can say that this book intrigued me, and made me want to jump into the next one as soon as I could.
– – –
You can pick up a copy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.
Well, that is all from me for today, but I will be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 