The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick

Reading time: 14 hours
Rating:
New knowledge 7/10
Need to pay attention 4/10
Emotional connection 7/10
Unquantifiable satisfaction 8/10
Overall 8/10

The Forever Queen is a historical fiction novel that follows the story of Emma of Normandy, who marries into England in early 1000s and becomes intertwined with England's fate and history for the next six decades. As most historical fiction, this tale builds upon events that actually occurred - births, deaths, wars - and takes a a bit of an artistic license to imagine what might have happened within friendships and romantic encounters.

Though quite long, this book is an easy read. Despite many characters to keep track of, the sole narrative manages to keep the reader from getting too confused and conveniently locates reminders regarding historical events and roles of different characters throughout the book. The character development is the main focus of this book, as it demonstrates how wars and power change people as they age from innocent children to power-hungry individuals. Though there are many romantic relationships described through the novel, the primary theme is emotional tolls of war and battle.

This is the first novel in The Lost Kingdom series. The series consists of two books - The Forever Queen and I am the Chosen King.

The Forever Queen on Amazon