I tend to read a lot of synopses and then choose my books far ahead of reading them, resulting in my forgetting most of what they were supposed to be about before I read them. Thus, I went into my read of The Lost Queen without knowing the connection to history/myth/legend. This may have worked both to my advantage and disadvantage in this case. Pro: I had no preconceived notions of where I expected the book to go or how it should turn out. Con: I had nothing to propel me forward in moments where the pacing was slow, adding some frustration to some pieces of my reading. Spoiler: I think the pro outweighed the con this time around.

This is a good historical fiction that both felt comfortable in the familiarity of its construction and new in its endeavors. I very much enjoyed the historical setting of the novel. 6th century Scotland still has the castles and warring factions of later history, but is rare to find a book of historical fiction from the British Isles that does not encompass the Renaissance or Plantagenet/Tudor England. This was refreshing. However, I will admit that I am a frequent reader of the latter, being a fan of the Philippa Gregory novels about that time period. Because of that, I was happy to have the same sort of focus in this novel. Told from a female point of view, encompassing some true historical fact, and still managing to balance war/politics with normal life and maybe a touch of a romantic side. The addition of the magical/natural healing element also made things interesting, though I definitely wanted more of this content than was provided.

The writing style is comfortable, both presenting historical detail and keeping things lyrical. There is fantastic description of the surroundings and some good background on the political and religious state of the region at the time of the story. I don't have the ability to judge the historical accuracy in full, but there seems to be good attention to different pieces of life during the time, so I would like to assume that the majority of the detail is correct.

The characters are interesting with a mix of both dynamic and static character builds. The primary characters are well described and seem to have unique and identifiable personalities. The secondary characters are a bit more cardboard in their feel, so this could have been improved. There were a few instances where having them better developed could have enhanced the richness of the prose and the overall story, but this didn't pose a big problem for me.

Pacing was my biggest issue with this novel. Though I very much enjoyed the writing style, there were some moments that slogged along a bit. That's quite difficult to brush aside when you've got a 500+ page book staring you in the face. But, the slow start eventually built up speed and there was still enough along the way to keep me intrigued. Once things got moving consistently, I became more wrapped up in the political intrigue of the story and the characters began to gain a little more footing. At that point the pages began to fly by pretty steadily.

There was a bit of cringy instalove, but at the same time the characters involved were both teenagers...so I give it a little latitude because of the whole irrationality of the teenage heart. Don't say you weren't prone to the same type of thing when you were a teen...we all know you were. Crushes happen...this one just had a little more tenacity.

I was really finding myself wrapped up in the story and turning the pages with ferocity when the ending came upon me. Dang it! Because of this, I was a little frustrated with where the book ended. The epilogue in particular made it feel both like a quick wrap up and a cliffhanger. However, I will admit that it does set up the second novel nicely and the approach worked...because I am antsy to get to the sequel.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *