THE LOST QUEEN – Signe Pike | Looking For a Good Book

It’s Arthurian legend retold time again. This time we focus on Languoreth, a future queen, and her brother Lailoken. They are raised in Scotland as royalty in the old ways – with mysticism and magic. But a new religion is on the rise, threatening their way of life and their future – Christianity.

Languoreth has been promised to wed Rhydderch, son of a Christian king, in order to secure her reign over a larger swath of Britain. But the forces of magic have her in love with Maelgwn, a soldier in the army of Emrys Pendragon. This new landscape of politics and violence could be tough on a gentle soul like Languoreth, but she has her brother and a tough old druid named Myrddin to help her.

I found this book to be boring.

It was clear quite early that this was a romance novel with an Arthurian setting. Which is fine, except 500 pages of mooning and pining gets old. There is more that happens, of course, but none of it is important to Languoreth. so it doesn’t seem important to the reader either.

What makes the book most boring, though, is that Languoreth is not a particularly interesting character. When you narrow it all down and describe her in one paragraph or so, she looks, indeed, like a fascinating character to write about … but she needs something to do other than be confused about love and how to act like a queen.

I had high hopes that this was going to be another Crystal Cave or Mists of Avalon, but it’s not. It’s an angst-y, brooding, YA-like romance that drags on too long.

Looking for a good book? It’s hard to go wrong with a story in the Arthurian legend, but The Lost Queen by Signe Pike does just that.