Review of The Lost City by Amanda Hocking

The Lost City by Amanda Hocking

3.47 out of 5 Stars

***Thank you to St. Martin's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.***

In The Lost City is a wonderful spin-off of the author's Trylle Trilogy that follows a new protagonist, Ulla Tulin, as she tries to discover her parents and heritage. You do not need to have read neither the Trylle Trilogy nor the other spin-off series The Kanin Chronicles to follow this book. (Sorry there were so many negatives in that sentence haha!) Personally, I haven't read The Kanin Chronicles, but I totally remember loving the Trylle Trilogy back in high school. Now, I don't want to share my age, but let's just say it's been a minute since I've been in high school, so I read those books a while ago. But I remember loving them and loving the pacing and the originality of a book with trolls as the main characters.

The Lost City dives even deeper into this troll territory and I just love exploring new books that have unique/less common fantastical elements. How many other books are out there with whole troll societies and main characters?? And we really get to see a lot of interesting dynamics between the different kinds of trolls in this book, as well as some Norse mythology which was a delightful added bonus. Ulla is determined to trace her bloodline and any ancient genealogy books she can find in order to figure out who her parents are. She had been left with the owners of an inn back when she was a baby, and the only real working clue she has to guide her on this path is her mother's name, Orra.

The attempted discovery of Ulla's mother is only part of the plot. There's also the exploration of a great magical city (Mimirin) and some random strangers that don't quite fit in with the rest of the trolls. It was all very interesting, but it wasn't clear how all the individual pieces matched up with each other and there was no high-risk plot connecting everything until the end. So unfortunately, all of that great set-up sort of consumed the pages until about 60% of the way through for me. At that point, there were finally enough signals and larger events happening that I was able to go "What's going to happen next?" and really feel engaged with the plot.


Part of what I'm waffling on a little bit here as well is that the book was a really easy read. Like, I think it could be a middle-grade read. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there didn't seem, to me at least, to be any content or themes that would make the book inappropriate for a middle-grade audience. However, it is labeled as a young adult book and the main character is old enough to be venturing into the world on her own. In my mind, that puts the book in a weird market whereby middle-grade readers are trying to relate to a character that is experiencing things that they haven't come to experience yet, but also young adult readers could get frustrated if they feel like they aren't challenged enough.

Reading level and set-up aside, it was a very original world and story that I loved seeing unfold and develop. There were also great relationships between the characters. I absolutely loved how close Ulla was with all of the kids and how she was essentially Hanna's older sister in Mimirin. There's just such a sweet and powerful message there about choosing your family and being accepted by those you love.

The Lost City is perfect for you if you are looking for a fun and light fantasy novel. It had all the creativity and magic with so few pitfalls that I think would really brighten up any reader's TBR. Plus, I have a good feeling about where the series could be heading so I think it's a good idea to check this one out!

Thanks for reading!