M.T. Decker

Book Review – The Forgotten by R.L. King

• Author R.L. King
• Title: The Forgotten
• Pages: 498
• Formats: Trade Paper, Kindle and Nook
• Availability: Amazon
• Website: R.L. King Writing

Book Blurb

When a friend asks Alastair Stone to question a disturbed child who’s committed a horrific act, Stone has no idea what kind of rabbit hole he’s starting down. His investigations uncover more instances of appalling crimes, all committed by people with no history of violence. And other people have turned up missing…

It’s not long before Stone crosses paths with Jason Thayer, a young man searching for his runaway sister who might be a victim of the same bizarre affliction. Together, Stone and Jason are embroiled in a network of odd homeless people, strange symbols, a growing conspiracy, and deadly danger. Even if they find Jason’s sister in time, there’s no way to know if they can help her–and it’s soon clear that the problem is a lot worse than they originally suspected.

What do you do when you discover an extradimensional plot that threatens the safety of the entire world, but you can’t tell anyone about it because literally anyone on Earth could be part of it?

 The concept – I have to admit to having a weakness for stories that take place in the ‘real world’ or a slightly altered version of our world.  In this case magic and the supernatural exist alongside the world as we know it.    It’s why I like things like Mercedes Lackey’s Diana Tregarde Series and Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files.  (It’s also why I smiled when I saw a youngster stick his head in the fridge at a grocery store and exclaim “There’s a whole miniature world in there.”)

It makes it easy to believe it could be happening right next door.

The Characters:  I liked that the characters were real.  They made mistakes, they didn’t see a pattern in things– they were thrown into a situation and had to do their best to get through it.  They were human and believable.

Main Character:

Alastair Stone: Acerbic occult studies professor and practicing mage… well actually he’s a tad out of practice practicing mage.  He’s been doing more research than practical lately and his practical has been leaning towards protective magic.

What works – Alastair’s personality and curiosity make him interesting to follow.

Least Favorite trait – His quickness to dismiss things that turn out to be important.

Why it works/doesn’t work:  This works because if you don’t like the lead character, no matter how good the rest of the story is- you aren’t going to enjoy the read.  His dismissal of seemingly unrelated things works because he doesn’t know he’s in the middle of a mystery and isn’t privy to the other instances the readers see.

What I liked: 

I liked the fact that this was a character driven story and didn’t bog itself down in mechanics.  It was a story that drew me in and made me want to read more.

What I didn’t like:

I so wanted to slap a few characters’ heads together.  When the apprentice is doing stupid kid things, I wanted to cringe and hide, but that’s my quirk and I know it too well.  It’s one of those double edged swords where is is very real for a youngster to be a youngster and do stupid things– and yet I have trouble watching it.

I enjoyed the story immensely and was surprised to realize that my back seat driving would have saved one character… but would have pretty much destroyed the world and killed everyone else.