The Forgotten Ones: Book 1 (The Danaan Trilogy)

As the Book 1 for The Danaan Trilogy, The Forgotten Ones had created a stable ground about the protagonist, Allison, and the faeries. The author was able to create and show the characters, the scenes and had shown glimpses (with some focuses) about the fairy world in a way that is not confounding for a reader; the facts were not thrown out like a bomb so there was no information-overload of some sort. The plot was clear and had reflected the title itself. Lastly, it was an easy read – the scenes were very light, no need to decipher the events because the details were already vivid.When I realized that this was a fairy book, I had this gut feeling that might be similar to Julie Kagawa’s the Iron Fey Series. And true enough, they were similar in some sorts like the place was Tir na n’Og, they don’t get old, and what kills or weakens a fairy was an iron blade or any kind of iron. But The Forgotten Ones was different in a way that the enemy was from the inside itself, Aoife, the daughter of the Queen and King; and this book has its own twists that is for a reader to find out.One of the first things I noticed from the book itself was the pages: only have 177; so I did have this challenge in mind for the author to relieve my doubt on how she can pull it off in a short-read. And I am glad to say, she didn’t fail. This was one of those books that had the mixed amount of action, mystery, romance, humor but primarily adventure. And since I had acknowledged, Iron Fey Series, I would say this book was different because this has a more 'human' feel in it because the character, Allison, was more of a human (than a part-fairy) and that she lives in the human world. The problem I had encountered when I was reading the story was the names. It was really hard to pronounce, and I had accepted the reason: Irish and Faeries. But you can freely call me weird because I was excited when I saw ‘The Pronunciation Guide,’ I even enunciated all the names before reading.So shall we focus more on the story? The opening chapter of the book was already direct; in the summary we were already informed that Allison’s mother was schizophrenic. It was an eye-opener for me, as a reader, to see how life was for Allison. Since the story was in Allison’s POV, it made the reader delve into the world of the character itself. It makes you feel like you are some part Allison because even the emotions she felt during the book was real and her reactions were genuine in a sense that if I was in her shoes, I would do the same.The book itself was an easy read since the words were not highfalutin and it had that enjoyable feeling. The summer vibe created a mixture of cool and somewhat relaxed feel. I even felt the warmth, though I am not sure if it was the book itself or the summer heat here in the Philippines. So as stated, the time was set in summer so I really felt that the pacing was a tad slow, but aside from the summery feel, it also shows that the author wanted the reader to comprehend ‘Allison’: herself, her life, what and who she is, just about how normal her life was and how knowing that the faeries were real had affected her. In the first few chapters, it showed Allison’s life: her only friend was her cousin, Nicole (also Jeff – Nic’s boyfriend; Ethan –Jeff’s brother and Al’s love interest; and Sean –a childhood friend), she worked at a hardware shop, very close to her grandparents and what she wanted in life was to enter grad school and to take care of her mother but then he, Ethan, comes along (Ethan was always there but he amped up a little) and made our dear heroine plans crumbling for a little bit. In the middle, Liam, Allison’s father came; and Al’s life was getting more complicated. She also had some occasional dreams which in the latter part dubbed her as a seer, and had this part-fairy blood. So when Liam entered, I just knew that story had just began and when something happened to Allison’s mother, Elizabeth, it was surely the start of some kick-ass adventure – and the pace just got a little quicker.There were moments, especially when Liam came, that I was constantly asking myself if they couldn't put two-and-two-together – I mean Allison looks like Liam’s carbon copy but no one noticed or acknowledged them. I was expecting someone coming up and asking if they were siblings (since the ‘age’ was quite similar). But that aside, I was impressed by Allison during the middle towards the end of the book, because it felt like she was thrown to a scene wherein she needed to do everything to save her mother, and the only clues that can help her were only her dreams (and sometimes Liam and some little information).And then romance part, though was short, I had enjoyed it and was looking forward on what Ethan will do next (thought it somehow lacked connection or a tad forced). Their romance was the “they want to be together but the girl has a reason why they can’t be together.” But it was reasonable, even though I really had this urge to push Al already, I understood why she was hesitant, why she was resisting... She explained herself: grad school, take care of mom, and no relationship in between. However, Ethan was really putting his moves on: they had a deal, they had a date (which I really love), but then the happenings to Al’s mom – he was there all the time, and you just know that he really have true feelings towards Al. On the latter part, when Allison wanted to suck up all the lies and had found this courage to tell Ethan how she felt… it was just in a wrong timing.

I wasn't really sure if I wanted to read this book, I was so torn! However, when I saw it was going on tour, I decided to give it a read. I'm so glad I did though because this is a good read!Because the blurb does such a good job of explaining the plot, I won't put it in my own words. Plus, the official book blurb puts it much better then I could.I was amazed at just how well the title suits the book. The book explains why the Danaan are a forgotten race of people.The cover is absolutely gorgeous! When I first saw the cover, I thought it'd be about something magical. It's a fantastic choice!The world building was done fantastically, as was the setting. I enjoyed the difference between the two worlds and how much of a smooth transition it was going between both worlds. The author did a fantastic job at making this book come alive with her awesome descriptions!This is a fairly short story, but the pacing doesn't suffer because of it. The pacing flows naturally and smoothly throughout the whole story. There's no confusion and no boredom when it comes to The Forgotten Ones.The plot is fantastic! Allison wants her mother to be coherent and just be a mother. We see how Allison tries to make that happen. It's also interesting to see the relationship between Ethan and Allison and how she handles that. I also loved that it involved faeries! I was also glad that the ending wasn't one huge cliffhanger. While there is a cliffhanger, it isn't one that makes you want to slam your head against a brick wall in annoyance. Just be aware that if you're looking for a standalone book, this isn't one.I did enjoy the characters and thought that they were really well-written. However, I just found Allison a tad too gullible to accept the alternate reality. When she's told about the Danaan people, she doesn't believe it at first, but it only takes her a few more minutes to accept it. Also, while she's in the Danaan world, she believes everything she's told! Overall, Allison is a very likable character who I could actually see myself being friends with. Ethan is a womanizer, and I can understand Allison's reluctance to have anything to do with him, but deep down, he is a good guy. I really hope there's more about him in the next book because I felt like we didn't get enough Ethan-ness in this book.The dialogue is very enjoyable and easy to understand. It flows quite easily between the characters and doesn't feel forced. There's also no swearing, so it's a clean read. The only problem I had was the pronunciation of names and places. There is a pronunciation guide at the back of the Kindle version of the book, but I didn't know it was there. It would've been better had it been in the front of the book where I would've been able to go back to it whenever I needed to. Also, the actual world the Danaan live in wasn't in the pronunciation guide.Overall, The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard is a very enjoyable read. The world building is fantastic, the plot is amazing, and the characters are interesting.I'd recommend this book to those 14+ who would like to escape reality for a bit .I'd give The Forgotten Ones (The Danaan Trilogy #1) by Laura Howard a 4.25 out of 5.(This review can also be found on my blog).

Argggghhhh! Why do I do this to myself? Once again I have had a great book sat on my kindle for forever and time after time I have put off reading it only to finally sit down to it and read it all in one sitting. I was blown away by Howard's writing style which is all the more impressive by the fact that this is her debut novel.. and it has left me with an urge to read more of her work. Luckily for me I have her second book in this series, Stone of Destiny, already loaded on my Kindle waiting for me.From the very first few pages I was drawn to Allison and I knew almost immediately that I was going to love this book. I'm not saying that Allison is perfect, she made a couple of choices I wouldn't have made.. Like constantly casting Ethan aside. Even when she was 'giving him a chance' she was really quick to shut him out. And while I understand her reasoning that doesn't mean I have to agree with them. I'm still trying to work out if she was overly harsh on her father when he arrives, especially given his reason for not being there.. totally valid. But I did like the way their relationship developed throughout the story.Looking through other reviews and it would seem that Howard has come under fire for her choice of names for her characters, or rather the spelling of those names. But personally I found it to be a great addition to the story, it adds a real Irish flavour to a story that is thick in Irish mythology. If you are going to have a centuries old Irish character it would seem rather out of place if his name was spelled Aiden or Declan. Easier to pronounce, yes, but not authentic. And that is one of the things that gives this book its charm. Howard stayed true to her story and for that I applaud her.

The forgotten Ones (The Danaan Trilogy) by Laura Howard3 starsI downloaded this book free from Amazon sometime ago and for some reason failed to read it, I was reminded about it when I saw book 2 is about to be released, so decided to give it a try. I had no expectations, I didn’t read the blurb, I just jumped right in.The book began by giving me the impression it was a coming of age drama about a young girl with a schizophrenic mother, and that we were going to follow her struggles of dealing with a difficult home life while trying to juggle school and a social life, so I was shocked when Ali’s absentee father turned up after 22 years and that he was an Irish fairy. Half of me wishes it had continued as the teenage drama with a dose of puppy love, and omitted the paranormal twist altogether, but it didn’t so I read on.I couldn’t accept that Alison was 22/23 years old, she didn’t come across any older than 16 or 17 in attitude or dialogue. And the story wasn’t very complex, it had a simplicity to it that made me feel it was aimed at tweens rather than any older and perhaps another reason I failed to connect to Alison as a 22 year old woman.There was a hint of attraction between Ali and Ethan and my romantic side was disappointed that we weren’t given more than a glimpse of it here. Ali’s reluctance at a relationship with him frustrated me, she had clearly liked him for a long time but refused to let things develop and I don’t know why.I always become sceptical when we have seemingly normal people in a book that discover there is a magical world out there and they instantly accept it without question. It wouldn’t happen so easily in the real world and a little resistance to the facts would be nice for a change.It will be no shock to anyone who knows me that I don’t like unusual or difficult to pronounce names when I read, and I had that problem with the Irish names here. It ruins the read for me because trying to say the names interrupts the flow and distracts from the story.For a quick read and an instant fantasy fix this book will suffice, it isn’t complicated and doesn’t take much thought to keep up with the plot, I would recommend it for the younger scale of YA readers purely because of it’s simplicity.

Four years ago Terry Goodkind, with the increasingly absurd ‘The Confessor’ and ‘The Omen Machine’, destroyed my earlier interest (Tolkein, Robert Jordan et al) in the fantasy genre. And then, a couple of weeks ago, along came Laura Howard and ‘The Forgotten Ones’, the first part of the Danaan trilogy…Skilfully written in the first person present tense – always a challenge – ‘The Forgotten Ones’ deftly brings together the world of the humans and the world of fairie. All the human characters, particularly Allison, are skilfully drawn and completely believable; those from the world of fairie are, very subtly, slightly ‘different’.As Allison moves between those two worlds she slowly begins to understand, and unravel, the background to her mother’s – so-called but misdiagnosed – schizophrenia. Her evolving relationship with Liam, her newly-discovered father, and with Ethan, her would-be and real-world boyfriend, form a deft counterpoint to the intrigues of the fairie kingdom. And, from Liam, Allison discovers she’s inherited certain fairie skills…There’s one caveat: be aware that ‘The Forgotten Ones’ is the first part of a trilogy and Allison’s story continues seamlessly in ‘The Stone of Destiny’, reaching a finale in ‘A Place Beyond’.Read and enjoy.

I’ve had my eye on The Forgotten Ones for a while, and I jumped at the chance to read a non-contemporary new adult novel. 21-year-old Alison’s only life plans revolve around taking care of her schizophrenic mother, who has never been the same since Alison’s father left just before her birth. She keeps people at a distance, even Ethan, her childhood crush, but he seems to be showing an interest in her, and she isn’t sure she can resist. Then her father turns up out of nowhere, and suddenly she’s hearing voices in her head and having strange dreams. Her father is actually from Tir na n’Og, the faerie world, a world that might be the last hope for her mother’s sanity.This was an enjoyable read and I really enjoyed the use of Irish faerie mythology. I was caught up in the story and the magic and suspense were superb. I especially liked how the contemporary world and the faerie world were intertwined in Allison’s life, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the romance with Ethan develops. This is a fast-paced and engaging read and will appeal to any fans of fantasy, mythology and romance – well worth checking out!

I'm giving this two stars only because the plot is interesting enough that I actually want to continue the series.The book is written in first person, and consequently reads like a bit like a preteen's poorly written self-insert fanfiction.The main character Allison is utterly detestable. She thinks of herself as sacrificing her own happiness for the sake of taking care of her mother, but we don't actually see her take care of her mother. She says hello to her here and there, but the grandparents are clearly her mother's primary caregivers. It is a miracle Allison has any friends as she is constantly ignoring them, avoiding them, or moping while they are hanging out.Unfortunately, there is also the old tired cliche of a boy relentlessly perusing the main character because of how "beautiful" and "special" she is. It is especially baffling in this story because of how awful and selfish Allison is.While I am likely going to continue this series, I would never in a million years recommend it to anyone else.