ISBN: 1499293739
Pages: 444
Source: Itching For Books
Appearance:
Summary:
A Prophecy made long ago, announced the arrival of the new Ladies of Elements.
And now almost a millennia later, it finally came true …
All her life Arima thought she knew who and what she was. That is until the day of her sixteenth birthday came and her world is turned upside down, when she’s told she’s not a White Witch but Lady Spirit. And that she is the one that has been foretold, will unite the Five Ladies of Elements once again and save Ilendia and the Other Lands from Ahriman, the Demon King.
At first Arima refuses to accept her new fate, but when Shanums come and destroy her village and kill her loved ones, she has no choice but to flee and fall right into the destiny she never wanted.
As she grudgingly starts her journey into the unknown, she is accompanied by her unicorn familiar Sirrim, Blythe, a Vampire with a dark past and Myrddin, a mysterious Ljosalfar.
And the longer her journey lasts, the more Arima begins to realise that she can’t escape her own destiny and she must learn to control her powers and learn to be a Lady for the sake of the Sisters she doesn’t know and the people of Ilendia and the Other Lands.
However, things get more complicated when Arima comes into the possession of a key. Her instincts compel her to go towards danger when she discovers that the key she holds, can unlock the legendary kingdom of Eléssima, the home of the Ladies of Elements.
She will have to make the choice to follow her instincts …
…or stay on the path that has been laid out for her.
And now almost a millennia later, it finally came true …
All her life Arima thought she knew who and what she was. That is until the day of her sixteenth birthday came and her world is turned upside down, when she’s told she’s not a White Witch but Lady Spirit. And that she is the one that has been foretold, will unite the Five Ladies of Elements once again and save Ilendia and the Other Lands from Ahriman, the Demon King.
At first Arima refuses to accept her new fate, but when Shanums come and destroy her village and kill her loved ones, she has no choice but to flee and fall right into the destiny she never wanted.
As she grudgingly starts her journey into the unknown, she is accompanied by her unicorn familiar Sirrim, Blythe, a Vampire with a dark past and Myrddin, a mysterious Ljosalfar.
And the longer her journey lasts, the more Arima begins to realise that she can’t escape her own destiny and she must learn to control her powers and learn to be a Lady for the sake of the Sisters she doesn’t know and the people of Ilendia and the Other Lands.
However, things get more complicated when Arima comes into the possession of a key. Her instincts compel her to go towards danger when she discovers that the key she holds, can unlock the legendary kingdom of Eléssima, the home of the Ladies of Elements.
She will have to make the choice to follow her instincts …
…or stay on the path that has been laid out for her.
Hey everyone! Welcome to my tour stop for The Lost Kingdom by Stephanie Beerden! As always, please check out the other tour stops by clicking the tour banner up above!
So lately, I've been on a crazy huge fantasy kick. And I've been devouring popular fantasy books left and right so reading this book was really refreshing because nobody I watch on Booktube or follow on the blogosphere has ever talked about it. This book was absolutely fantastic. It was so much fun to read, I devoured it completely in a day. The plot was moving and fast paced, the characters were amazingly created, and the overall story was just so much fun. Okay, enough blabbing, let's get into what the book is really about.
Amira is the Lady Spirit, the first of her sisters to have arrived on Ilendia after a millennium. Her quest is to reunite the Five Ladies of Elements and destroy Ahriman, the Demon King who ruthlessly slaughtered her predecessors before assuming the throne of the land. Ahriman is not going to give up easily and he's prepared to send all his forces to destroy Amira before she becomes too powerful. Amira herself doesn't want to be the Lady Spirit, she likes her life just the way it is. However, her fate has already been decided her for and she has no choice but to accept her destiny and save her people.
First of all, I have no idea what it is about this book but the writing just pulled me in from the very start. From the very first page I was hooked. The description of the world, the underlying tone of sarcasm, and overall, the joy of hope that was presented to us in the first chapter just completely draws you in to read more. Fast forward to the second chapter, Amira is now a day from reaching her Awakening and she's the happiest girl alive. You can feel her joy and carefree nature just radiating from the book. Then she awakens and terror strikes the village where she was raised. All of a sudden she's thrown into a destiny that was hidden from her and she has no choice but to flee.
Amira was an amazingly crafted character. We see her first as a happy-go-lucky girl, in love with life itself. Then when her village is attacked by Shanums, everything she loves is ripped away. Amira is sort of a reluctant hero, she doesn't want the destiny she is presented with and adamantly refuses the title of 'Your Highness' and unless the circumstances demand it, 'Lady.' Yet despite being so reluctant, she's driven with this desire for everyone to experience joy again and be free from Ahriman's terrorizing rule and before she (or you) knows it, she's steadily rising towards her future. While she might not be the most kickbutt character, she's full of a burning passion that just grabs you and holds you captive to her character. Her heart, her fire, and her personality just completely capture your heart through the entire story.
Before I knew it, I fell in love with all the side characters as well. Blythe, Myrddin, Sabre, Laggun, the Nymphs, everyone. I'll admit, even Enchantra and Ahriman managed to capture my heart, though not in a loving way. Again with the writing, each character is so mysterious, dark in Ahriman and Enchantra's case, noble and brave in pretty much everyone else's case. I loved the characters and they've all managed to snag a piece of my heart.
Something that I admit I found very refreshing was the lack of romance. There was no person of particular interest that was slowing building a romantic feel for Amira. I will admit that I did hope that Blythe would somehow end up with her, I'm glad at the same time that he didn't. At least not yet... 
The love in the story is a different type of love. It's a hopeful love, a family love, a love that is far more powerful than anything. A love for each other, a love for Amira who represents the hope for the lands, and a love for freedom from tyranny. Even if there's not particular couple-y romance, you can feel love just emanating throughout the story.
The love in the story is a different type of love. It's a hopeful love, a family love, a love that is far more powerful than anything. A love for each other, a love for Amira who represents the hope for the lands, and a love for freedom from tyranny. Even if there's not particular couple-y romance, you can feel love just emanating throughout the story.
Is it even obvious what I think about this book? If you're a fan of YA fantasy, I definitely think you should give this a go. I just think it's such a fun and amazing read and I can't wait for the next book! They're going to find Lady Water!!
DREAM CAST
Amira: Elizabeth Blackmore
Blythe: Santiago Cabrera
Sabre: Kevin Zegers
Echantra: Michelle Ryan
Ahriman: Fintan McKeown
GIVEAWAY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephanie Beerden was born on Friday the 13th (no joke, she really was) in a small city called Genk in Belgium. She has always been fascinated with the occult, magic and books. Her childhood and teen years were filled with reading lots and lots of books and imagining what life would be like as a vampire. Until one day she decided that she wanted to try her hand at writing her own books and that was the beginning of her writing adventure.
4 out of 5 stars
Foreverly Obsessed,
Nice review and dream cast. I like Santiago :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating!
Thanks for commenting!! I had such a hard time picking Blythe, I wanted him to be perfect. Santiago comes pretty close to perfection ;)
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