BLOG TOUR REVIEW: ‘FORGOTTEN BY P.C. CAST AND KRISTIN CAST

Hello to all you bookish people *waves*. For my Indian book dragons out there, hope you all had an amazing Diwali experience 💜✨.

Today, I am really happy to announce that I am a part of FFBC’s Forgotten Blog Tour. For my stop, I’ll be reviewing P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast’s ‘Forgotten’. You all are in for another review. ARE YOU BORED YET? 🙊

BOOK DETAILS

Book Title: Forgotten

Author: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Total Number of Pages: 350

Format: eBook (Will be receiving the physical copy soon)

Publication Date: 29th October 2019

Series: House of Night Otherworld

Before he was freed by Neferet, Kalona was imprisoned within the earth for centuries because of the Darkness in his heart. But what happened to the Other World’s Kalona? It’s as though he’s been forgotten, or maybe he never existed at all.

In the present, Other Neferet may have left her House of Night, but she has far from given up her goal of immortality and world domination. As she operates in secret to gain access to Old Magick, the new High Priestess, Anastasia Langford, works toward peace and acceptance for the vampyres of the Other World. But just as Other Kevin’s broken heart will take time to heal, peace in that world will also take time and work–and not all of the Other World vampyres want peace. After all, why should they return to being shunned by humans, especially when they’ve had a taste of how it feels to be in power?

Meanwhile, Zoey is desperate to help rid the Other World of Neferet once and for all, and not knowing what’s going on over there is eating away at her. But, as the Nerd Herd warns, it’s far too dangerous to call on Old Magick time and again. As a distraction, she throws herself into her work and attempts to bring the humans and vampyres of Tulsa closer together with the first human-vampyre swim meet in history! It’s too bad that something always seems to go wrong whenever the stakes are high.

What happens when worlds clash and powers that should be left alone are awakened? Can Other Kevin and his world heal from the wounds Neferet continues to inflict? Can Old Magick ever truly be harnessed and used for good? Or will Darkness extinguish Light and leave our heroes broken, hopeless, and as forgotten as Kalona of the Silver Wings?

Forgotten is the third and latest installment in the ‘House of Night Other World’ series. This book is again in the genre of YA Fantasy which is out of my comfort zone. I won’t lie, it was a bit difficult for me to get into the series. I did a little research to learn a bit about the whole series. The ‘House of Night Other World’ is a spin-off of the actual ‘House of Night’ series (which I haven’t read). I guess people who have already read the original series will be more comfortable getting into this Otherworld series since the characters and the setting will a lot familiarity to them.

I will try to keep this review spoiler free but you guys know me 😅. I won’t be discussing much about the plot because there are A LOT of spoilers in there. Hence, the review will be a lot shorter than my usual 1200 words review.

If you have ever heard of parallel universe or have seen any such shows with two worlds, one the reflection of another; the setting of Forgotten is pretty much that. Without giving away any spoilers, Forgotten focuses on Kalona’s story and what would have happened if he hadn’t fallen. After being trapped by Mother Earth for centuries, Kalona finally gains the forgiveness but since let his anger and darkness consume him, he left a trail of evil on Mother Earth and her human children.

That’s all you are getting from me. There are a lot of characters in this book and discussing about all of them with giving away any spoilers is difficult so, I’ll just leave it here.

Now, moving on to what I thought about the book. As I have mentioned earlier, I haven’t read the original House of Night Series so, reading about the characters in an Otherworld was difficult for me as I was having a tough time connecting the dots. If I were to judge this book solely based on the Otherworld series, I would say that it’s a very complex story with a lot of contrasting characters. I wonder how these two authors didn’t mess things up. If I were writing this book (not that I would ever write something this good), I would probably forget half of the characters’ names and mess up the plotline.

I really liked the narration. The narrative flows smoothly without any bumps. Kalona and Erebus (Kalona’s brother) were definitely sketched out the best. Speaking of Neferet, the Otherworld Neferet is pure evil but I think that is what made the story even more interesting. As much as I disliked her, I have to say that she was the prime catalyst in developing the relationships between the characters.

I also liked the dialogues. They defined the characters and gave them even more depth. The characterization to me was the strong point of this novel. Other than Kalona and Erebus, I also liked the supporting characters. All the characters were given equal importance without any prejudices. The Other World Neferet, as a villain, is written so well. From the inner torment to the evil side, everything was sketched out so well. The entire series is such a complex and beautiful mingling of mythology, fantasy, love and loss. The Otherworld series is definitely both character and plot driven. I don’t see this often in books.

So here’s the thing. Even though I loved the narrative and how everything played out, there are instances in the novel where I felt the scenes were explained too much (again, can’t quote because spoilers) which kind of affected the intensity of those incidences. So, I wasn’t really feeling it despite being shown (does that make sense?). I have read the previous two books in this series, ‘Loved’ and ‘Lost’ and I didn’t feel this while reading those books.

As much as I loved the narrative, it wasn’t as intense as it was in the previous two books. This or maybe I was just dead inside when I read it. At times, I also felt that the writers were trying to justify the personalities of the characters a bit too much. I definitely want to see why the characters ended up the way they did but sometimes too much of rationalisation can disrupt the internal conflicts. Maybe that’s just me but this is a thing that I felt while reading Forgotten.

There is no denying that I loved the overall series and the way it is written. I also loved how the theme of grief and loss has been dealt with in this book. Forgotten also touches on the subject of how men at times are so out of touch with their emotions or do not feel comfortable expressing how they feel. This patriarchal society sees emotion as a feminine characteristic and believes that men shouldn’t associate themselves with such “femininity”. Aren’t boys always told “Boys don’t cry” and are reminded of this again and again throughout their life? I am quoting a few lines from the text because it really spoke to me,

“No, my sweet boy. Do not hide your grief. There is no shame in showing your tears. Kevin, being a man means claiming all your power. Strength without honest emotion is toxic—to yourself, and eventually it makes you toxic to others. How can you truly love without showing sadness, acknowledging loss, dealing openly with despair?”

Will I looking forward to the upcoming books in this series? YES. I am also hoping that nobody dies. Please.

If you have read the ‘A House of Night’ series then you should check out this Otherworld series as well. Fantasy lovers out there, add this series to your TBR list right now!

LET US CHAT!

Have you read the ‘A House of Night’ series or the ‘A House of Night Otherworld’ series? Recommend me a fantasy novel which you think everyone should read!

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Signing off,

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