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merin

Read and Reviewed

Merin is a teacher, a book blogger, a baseball addict (Go Cardinals!), lover of music, movies and TV crime dramas, and YA/MG connoisseur. Follow me on my blog at http://ahandfulofconfetti.wordpress.com!

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The Forgotten Ones

The Forgotten Ones - Laura   Howard

I am always interested in books dealing with faerie lore, so was very intrigued when I first read the synopsis for The Forgotten Ones. It's not often that you find a book that uses faeries in a slightly different way - most really tend to focus on the two courts, for example - so this book was very unique because it has the faeries as descendants of the pre-Christian deities of Ireland. (This is actually a "real" mythological group of beings; Google Tuatha Dé Danann if you want more information.) And actually, I very much enjoyed this glimpse into these mythological faeries; for me, the lore behind them, their abilities, and the ways they interact with humans was the main draw of this book for me personally.

 

One thing I want to state upfront is that this was a very fast read. The e-book is listed at 197 pages, but it felt much shorter than that. Because of the length, I found that I never really connected with any of the main characters. Allison, our narrator, is sympathetic to the reader, because her mother is mentally ill and obviously Allison has had to endure a lot with that. She also has a crush on the very attractive Ethan, but for reasons she explains but I sort of eye-rolled at, she keeps pushing him away, even after he makes it clear he's interested in her as well. While I felt for her at times, I never really felt drawn into her narrative or like I cared one way or the other about her. It was sort of just a surface interest, and I found myself more intrigued by the mysteries of the story - and the revelation regarding Aoife at the end - than Allison herself. One character I am definitely interested in, though, is Aodhan. He really seems to have an interesting past, and not just because of what happened to him upon entering the Fae world. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of him in book two.

 

This book was also very well written in terms of grammar and construction. I was extremely impressed with some of the turns of phrase and the solid narration provided by Allison. You can tell that the author has a firm grasp of language and nuance, and definitely knows how to tell an interesting story. While I didn't love Allison, I found her well-constructed, and liked how she was headstrong and stubborn, and also willing to fight for those she cares about. I also liked the way the story was slowly revealed, and truths and facts were brought to Allison's (and the reader's) attention. While the book isn't very long, and things happened at a quick pace, I felt like the way the story was written was done in an un-rushed way that kept the reader interested and focused on what came next. While I would have loved a bit more character development and a slower introduction to the plot and characters - particularly once all the rather unpronounceable names started getting thrown about - I still found the book very readable and entertaining.

 

The Forgotten Ones is a good book for folks who like faeries but want something a little different. While there were certainly things I would have liked to see more of - like the reason Allison likes Ethan and he her, and a bit more insight into Allison's character to make her more relatable to the reader - overall I found this to be a very quick read and definitely a good way to spend an afternoon. I'm also extremely curious as to what's going to happen next, particularly since the book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I will certainly be tuning in to check it out!

 

A copy of this book was provided for blog tour purposes in exchange for an honest review.

 

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