The Forgotten Ones (The Danaan Trilogy, #1)

by Laura Howard

[inlibrisveritas]

The Forgotten Ones centers around 21 year old Allison O’Malley, who is trying to juggle working and taking care of her schizophrenic mother but gets way more than she bargains for when her father shows up and brings a whole lot of trouble with him.The Forgotten Ones is a pretty decent start to a series with a rich mythology and fast paced plot.

I do wish I had enjoyed this one more as I hate being firmly in the middle of my rating scale, it some how becomes harder to put together a review. There were many things about The Forgotten Ones that I did like, but I’m also hoping to find more in the second book. The plot is fairly fast paced and starts out with a more contemporary feel to it, there are some fantasy type elements mixed in but they don’t come into play until the second half. I loved reading about the Tuatha and it was clear that Howard really did her research on them, but at the same I wished I had gotten a better sense of what makes some of them tick. I’ve sort of come to accept that the Fae just ARE. They are not necessarily evil or good, and most of the time they are written as self serving individuals and while I do think that applies here I would have loved to know the Tuatha characters more. The pacing is pretty good for most of the book, except for a few moments where it either fell flat or moved too quickly. The plot in itself was pretty entertaining though and I loved the unique quality of the story.

There is a bit of romance in this book, but it doesn’t take center stage and it’s also not insta-love so it gets huge points from me there. Ethan is an incredibly sweet guy and I really liked seeing Allison open up with him after years of trying not to. Of course after the Tuatha enter the picture things get a bit hectic, but I’m sure we’ll see more of him in the second book. I can’t say I connected with Allison, but I did enjoy reading about her and it’s clear she’s no cookie cutter female.

Overall The Forgotten Ones was a good start to a series that has me ready to read the next one! It’s pretty entertaining and has a lot going for it, so I’m looking forward to seeing if any of the areas I had trouble with improve and what is going to happen now that Allison knows about the Tuatha.