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.
(Summary from Amazon)
I received an uncorrected ARC of The Lost City from a Goodreads giveaway.
This book is set in the same world as Amanda Hocking's Tyrelle world, which I have not read. Because of that I was a little confused going in, but it was pretty easy to understand the world. It's Earth, but with Trolls hidden from the humans. There are five tribes of Trolls, each with differences. They are working together to find a way to stop the decline of the Troll population.
This is about a girl named Ulla, who doesn't know who her parents are. She gets to work at a prestigious college for a week or so. There she can look up any information about her parents, as well as donate her blood so that the college can have better information about their people. Ulla meets another college student/worker named Pan who helps her out. They have a nice little growing romance with each other. I don't usually like romance, but this one was cute.
Ulla also meets a young woman named Eliana, who has lost her memory. She can't remember anything of her past and has trouble remembering new concepts as well. She says she is from a mythical city, but no one really believes her until stuff starts getting weird. Ulla gets help from her roomate, Dagny, who works with a doctor that does genetic testing basically.
Meanwhile, Ulla has trouble getting information on her mother who is a cousin of royalty. Any other information is blackout and the tribe that Ulla is from isn't very forthcoming with information. While gathering information on herself, Ulla also helps Eliana try to remember anything and take a blood test, which has surprising results. In the end, Eliana is taken and Ulla and Pan go after her.
I liked the Asexual representation in Dagny, it was slight but it was there. I also liked how Ulla was able to bond with Pan because they were both different than other Trolls working at the college. At one point Ulla gets paranoid about all of her superiors and the information they aren't giving her about her mom, which I also thought was nice. Never trust people in power, in my opinion.
I also enjoyed how Ulla found out about myths, a cult, and the Lost City of the title and it all turned out to be semi-based in truth, like most myths. I also liked the Ögonen. They are tall, slender, leathery things that protect the city with a magic barrier so humans can't find them. They are creepy and cool at the same time.
However, I felt that this book was definitely the first in a series. It explained a lot, but gave no real resolution. Overall, I liked this book. It wasn't what I thought it was and I might have to check out the other books in this world, because it seems interesting. And I do want to pick up the second book, so I can find out what happens with Ulla and her family.
Here's an amazon affiliate link to help me out if you want to pre-order the book, which comes out July 7th:
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