The Lost City from Amanda Hocking is the first book in the final Trylle World. If you haven’t read the previous two trilogies, Trylle and Kanin Chronicles, you won’t have any problems reading this trilogy. But I do recommend reading them first, just to know a little bit more of the world.
Ulla Tulin was left abandoned in an isolated Kanin city as a baby, taken in by strangers and raised hidden away like many of the trolls of mixed blood. Even knowing this truth, she’s never stopped wondering about her family.
When Ulla gets an internship working alongside the handsome Pan Soriano at the Mimirin, a prestigious institution, she jumps at the chance to use this opportunity to hopefully find her parents. All she wants is to focus on her job and the search for her parents. Suddenly, her attempts to find them fail when she learns her mother may be connected to the Omte royal family.
With little progress made, Ulla and Pan soon find themselves wrapped up in helping Eliana. She’s an amnestic girl with abilities unlike any they have ever seen before—a girl who seems to be running from something. To figure out who she is they must leave the city, and they may learn more about Ulla’s parents.
The Lost City Review
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an Advanced Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Ulla Tulin is a nineteen year old girl who was abandoned by an Omte warrior inside an inn. The family managing the inn took her in and raised her.
When she was old enough to leave them, she got a job working as a nanny taking care of five children.
The one thing she’s always wanted is to find out who her parents are. Fortunately for her, Finn, the father of the children she nannies, has some important connections and she’s able to get accepted into the Mimirin. This is an institute where they dedicate themselves to learn all about troll history and ancestry, giving Ulla an opportunity to find a little bit more about her origins.
Thoughts
Even though they described The Lost City as part of the Trylle World, I honestly don’t think that’s true. Even though The Trylle Trilogy and the Kanin Chronicles are completely two different stories with different main characters, they still show you a little bit of the Trylle World.
The first one, of course, introduces you to the trolls and the way of living of the Trylle. While the Kanin Chronicles show you the Kanins… I know, a little redundant, but it’s important.
I thought Omte Origins was going to show us the Omte culture and their daily lives but it doesn’t. Maybe the sequel will introduce you more into this world but I was expecting that and it didn’t happen.
The Lost Cityjust focuses on the Mimirin Institute and it actually doesn’t focus on the main character! It revolves around a side character that just appears out of the blue.
We know Ulla is looking for her family but even after reading 70% of the book we still don’t know anything new about them. No clues, no names (possibly just a name but it’s not confirmed), basically nothing.
The pacing is very slow and not action packed, it seemed like the story was building up for something major. But that never happened, not until maybe the last 10% of the book.
Final Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong, I think it was an “okay” fast read. I just felt like it was long and drawn out at the same time. Because of this, it was difficult for me to stay interested in the story while reading it.
It’s not necessary to read the other two trilogies from this world because Amanda did an amazing job filling the blanks while, at the same time, not overloading with too much information. Would it help? I think so. It really depends if you would like to know a little bit more about the Trylle and the Kanins, but it doesn’t affect the narrative of The Omte Origins.
Overall, even though it wasn’t my favorite read, I’m still intrigued to know more about Ulla’s real family and I’ll definitely read the sequel. Maybe The Lost City was a very long introduction and there’ll be more action as the series continues.
Looking for more great reviews?
Check out my review of Ruby Red here.