The Lost City by Amanda Hocking

Amanda Hocking, the New York Times bestselling author of The Kanin Chronicles, returns to the magical world of the Trylle Trilogy with The Lost City, the first novel in The Omte Origins—and the final story arc in her beloved series.

The storm and the orphan

Twenty years ago, a woman sought safety from the spinning ice and darkness that descended upon a small village. She was given shelter for the night by the local innkeepers but in the morning, she disappeared—leaving behind an infant. Now nineteen, Ulla Tulin is ready to find who abandoned her as a baby or why.

The institution and the quest

Ulla knows the answers to her identity and heritage may be found at the Mimirin where scholars dedicate themselves to chronicling troll history. Granted an internship translating old documents, Ulla starts researching her own family lineage with help from her handsome and charming colleague Pan Soriano.

The runaway and the mystery

But then Ulla meets Eliana, a young girl who no memory of who she is but who possesses otherworldly abilities. When Eliana is pursued and captured by bounty hunters, Ulla and Pan find themselves wrapped up in a dangerous game where folklore and myth become very real and very deadly—but one that could lead Ulla to the answers she’s been looking for.

Book 1
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Jordan – ☆☆☆
I have read several books by Amanda Hocking that take place in the same world as The Lost City, but it has been awhile since I’ve been back in Hocking’s world of Trylle. The Lost City is the final arc for Hocking’s Trylle world, but prior knowledge or reading of the previous arcs do not seem necessary to read prior to starting The Lost City.

The Lost City focuses on the secretive Omte tribe and follows the story of Ulla Tulin, who was abandoned as a baby. Now, 20 years later, Ulla has landed a prestigious internship at the Mimirim institute, where she will finally have an opportunity to search for her birth parents.

I have mixed feelings about The Lost City because I kind of expected it to be more attention grabbing, but I felt like it only got interesting the last 30% of the book and the first 70% just seemed to drag on forever without anything worthwhile actually happening. Normally I find Hocking’s books to be more alluring, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t dislike it, however, I just hoped I would have enjoyed it more than I did. That being said, I will of course give book two, The Morning Flower, a shot because I am just intrigued enough by the last 30% of The Lost City to think I might enjoy book two more.


Erica – ☆☆☆
In anticipation, I reread the Trylle Trilogy to remember Hocking's world building, hoping to pave the way for The Lost City.

Immediately diving straight into this novel, I was excited for whatever was to come my way... eight days of attempts, when I binge-read three entire books in a day... and it was a struggle to finish.

Fingers crossed The Lost City is the first book curse, where it spent every page building up to book two. The mystery behind Ulla's history is the only thing that kept the pages turning. The characters were all one-note, other than physical features, they didn't truly have any personality traits. The pacing was slower than molasses. I felt no realistic connection between the characters, which would have had me rooting for them, curious to see what the future had in store for them.

What was the worst impediment for the novel would be the info-dumpage. After reading the Trylle Trilogy to brush up on the mythology and world building, every page of this novel was a rundown with a confusing overabundance added. It flowed organically in the original trilogy, Wendy discovering the ins and outs with the reader, not too much so the reader couldn’t digest it and retain it. During The Lost City, Ulla was just as ignorant to the hows and whys, but since she was raised in a troll community, she understood what was being listed by the characters, while the reader didn't. Entire histories for each of the troll lines were written on the pages, but not in a storytelling fashion – a textbook.

I felt as if I needed to take notes, fearing I was missing something important. Just too much information at once, delivered on every page, before the reader could digest what they previously read. I just started winging it – if I missed something, I missed it, because there was no way I was going to remember a textbook of information chapters ago.

I needed more. I needed deeper character building to cause me to become invested in the story. I needed three-dimensional characters, who showed their personality traits, outside of mundane everyday events of going to work and going home. I needed an organic flow of information to keep my eyes from crossing. I needed faster pacing to keep my interests. I needed answers, since none of the mysteries presented in the novel were revealed by the end – I understand this is a series, but some progression forward would have kept my interests.

There was a plot and a story there, but it was used as a vehicle to give an entire history of the troll lines, as if the plot and story were secondary to creating the world building. But since the story itself wasn’t the focus, it wasn’t a rich universe created like in its predecessors, but just words on a page.

Honestly, if I didn't already have the second in the series, I'm not sure if I would continue reading. I'm just hoping upon hope that The Lost City was merely a heavy on the info introduction for the second in the series, where it will all pick up and keep me engaged.

The novel read exactly as a scholar in a city dedicated to recording history would...
I wanted to love it, and I wish I could recommend it.

AMANDA HOCKING is the author of over twenty young adult novels, including the New York Times bestselling Trylle Trilogy and Kanin Chronicles. Her love of pop culture and all things paranormal influence her writing. She spends her time in Minnesota, taking care of her menagerie of pets and working on her next book.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Lost City (The Omte Origins #1) by Amanda Hocking to read and review.