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The Lost Queen
A heroine like no other, ancient magic unleashed, a fated epic battle--the first book in an enchanting YA fantasy duology inspired by Vietnamese lore, weaving magic, sisterhood, and self-discovery.
Jolie Lam, a high school sophomore in San Jose, is known for two her bizarre freakout at last year’s swim meet and her fortuneteller grandfather with visions of dragons and earthquakes. Friendless and ostracized, Jolie's life takes a dramatic turn for the better when she saves the school's it-girl, Huong Pham, during a haunting vision of her own. Taken under Huong's wing, Jolie's world transforms, in more ways than one.
As Jolie and Huong's bond deepens, they unlock long lost telepathic abilities, fluency in Vietnamese, and eerie premonitions. This leads them to a shocking they are the reincarnates of legendary queens and goddesses, the Trung Sisters. While a thrilling discovery, it also sets them on a perilous journey.
The girls must navigate dreams and portals to piece together their past lives and reclaim their immortal elements before their ancient enemies strike again. But all is not what it seems, and Jolie must determine friend from foe, truth from lie, and ultimately right from wrong in this battle for all she loves and the fate of the world.
Jolie Lam, a high school sophomore in San Jose, is known for two her bizarre freakout at last year’s swim meet and her fortuneteller grandfather with visions of dragons and earthquakes. Friendless and ostracized, Jolie's life takes a dramatic turn for the better when she saves the school's it-girl, Huong Pham, during a haunting vision of her own. Taken under Huong's wing, Jolie's world transforms, in more ways than one.
As Jolie and Huong's bond deepens, they unlock long lost telepathic abilities, fluency in Vietnamese, and eerie premonitions. This leads them to a shocking they are the reincarnates of legendary queens and goddesses, the Trung Sisters. While a thrilling discovery, it also sets them on a perilous journey.
The girls must navigate dreams and portals to piece together their past lives and reclaim their immortal elements before their ancient enemies strike again. But all is not what it seems, and Jolie must determine friend from foe, truth from lie, and ultimately right from wrong in this battle for all she loves and the fate of the world.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2025
33 people are currently reading
11030 people want to read
About the author
Aimee Phan
3 books112 followersAimee Phan is the author of The Reeducaion of Cherry Truong (2012) and We Should Never Meet (2004.) She is chair of the undergrad Writing and Literature program at California College of the Arts. She is married to the poet Matt Shears (10,000 Wallpapers, Where a Road Had Been.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
May 7, 2025
જ⁀➴ 2 stars
Thank you to NetGalley, Aimee Phan, and Putnam Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Lost Queen is out now! (P.S. Support Asian authors!)
❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶
I finished reading this book LATE last night; the last couple of days have been busy for me, and the only thing I can say about it is..."what?! (That's not a good "what," in case you were wondering.) Again, this ARC review will be short and sweet because there's not a whole ton to say about it.
Jolie is an outcast at her San Jose high school. After what was deemed to be a psychotic breakdown at a county swim meet last year where she saw a vision of her friends getting attacked, her friends have abandoned her, she's the subject of cyberbullying, and overall just the laughingstock of her school. When she meets Huong, the pretty, popular, Vietnamese foreign exchange student, she starts to change. She suddenly can speak Vietnamese fluently, her grades started getting better, but most importantly, she starts to have visions of ancient Vietnam...and perhaps a previous life. She quickly realizes that she's meant to be more, and with Huong's help, they discover that they're part of a much larger plan in the world: they're the reincarnations of the Trung sisters.
I thought that reading a book that's based on my OWN culture, my own heritage, and stories that have been passed down for generations and generations of people in Vietnam would make sense in my head. Considering the Trung sisters are such a large part of Vietnamese culture to the point where there's a national holiday celebrated for the Trung sisters every year in February, I would be excited to read this ARC. Instead, I was left confused. EXTREMELY confused.
The only thing I can say I love about the book is the writing and the references and the influence of Vietnamese culture throughout the story. The writing was easy to read and follow along, and I guess that's all I can really ask for. Jolie is 15 or 16 in the story, so I wasn't expecting super sophisticated writing. It was simple to read and follow along, and beginners and first-time readers of stories that are based on Vietnamese history and culture should be able to easily understand what's going on...for the most part. More on this later. (Also, the cover is REALLY pretty.)
On the flip side, I feel like the last 30% of the story was EXTREMELY rushed. Granted, I read an ARC, so things may have changed in the final copy that went out in stores yesterday. I was perfectly understanding everything in the first 70% of the book, I swear! By the last 30%, it felt like I was reading a foreign language. There were so many things that were thrown in at the last-minute that had NO buildup, no context given prior, and the entirety of the last scene felt so unorganized, messy, and not thought-out. I wish I could go further into this, but it would be a massive spoiler. Even as someone who is 100% Vietnamese, I had a hard time following everything that was involved in the last third of the book, and it made me feel as if readers who aren't familiar with Vietnamese folklore and history would have an even HARDER time understanding what was going on at the end. The ending made me feel as if you needed prior knowledge of the Trung sisters' story and Vietnamese history to figure out what was going on and why certain things were present and whatnot.
(THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FOR THE OVERALL PLOT, BUT.... that random part in the story where Huong is talking to Jolie about her sex life gave me the ick. I can only hope that part of the story is removed in the final draft because it came out of nowhere and was totally unnecessary.)
Overall, while this was a good idea in theory for a book, I think it fell flat in execution. It seems like this is the first book in a series and the ending was semi-cliffhanger-like, so I think I'll be picking up the next book to figure out what happens next, if there is a second book.
❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶
Trigger/content warnings: violence, death of a loved one
⋆˙⟡ 𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹: HAPPY AAPI MONTH!🎉 As a Vietnamese American, I had to request this on NetGalley. I love a good fairy tale or mythology retelling, and this being based on Vietnamese mythology and a Vietnamese author writing this, nonetheless, was a no-brainer for me.🇻🇳 This isn't even me bringing up the absolutely stunning cover art!💙✨🌌
This will be ARC 3/8 that I need to read this month, and the last ARC I need to finish by Tuesday!
Thank you to NetGalley, Aimee Phan, and Putnam Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Lost Queen is out now! (P.S. Support Asian authors!)
"A queen is supposed to lead. A queen is supposed to protect her people. A queen is supposed to know what to do. What can a lost queen do?"
❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶
I finished reading this book LATE last night; the last couple of days have been busy for me, and the only thing I can say about it is..."what?! (That's not a good "what," in case you were wondering.) Again, this ARC review will be short and sweet because there's not a whole ton to say about it.
Jolie is an outcast at her San Jose high school. After what was deemed to be a psychotic breakdown at a county swim meet last year where she saw a vision of her friends getting attacked, her friends have abandoned her, she's the subject of cyberbullying, and overall just the laughingstock of her school. When she meets Huong, the pretty, popular, Vietnamese foreign exchange student, she starts to change. She suddenly can speak Vietnamese fluently, her grades started getting better, but most importantly, she starts to have visions of ancient Vietnam...and perhaps a previous life. She quickly realizes that she's meant to be more, and with Huong's help, they discover that they're part of a much larger plan in the world: they're the reincarnations of the Trung sisters.
I thought that reading a book that's based on my OWN culture, my own heritage, and stories that have been passed down for generations and generations of people in Vietnam would make sense in my head. Considering the Trung sisters are such a large part of Vietnamese culture to the point where there's a national holiday celebrated for the Trung sisters every year in February, I would be excited to read this ARC. Instead, I was left confused. EXTREMELY confused.
The only thing I can say I love about the book is the writing and the references and the influence of Vietnamese culture throughout the story. The writing was easy to read and follow along, and I guess that's all I can really ask for. Jolie is 15 or 16 in the story, so I wasn't expecting super sophisticated writing. It was simple to read and follow along, and beginners and first-time readers of stories that are based on Vietnamese history and culture should be able to easily understand what's going on...for the most part. More on this later. (Also, the cover is REALLY pretty.)
On the flip side, I feel like the last 30% of the story was EXTREMELY rushed. Granted, I read an ARC, so things may have changed in the final copy that went out in stores yesterday. I was perfectly understanding everything in the first 70% of the book, I swear! By the last 30%, it felt like I was reading a foreign language. There were so many things that were thrown in at the last-minute that had NO buildup, no context given prior, and the entirety of the last scene felt so unorganized, messy, and not thought-out. I wish I could go further into this, but it would be a massive spoiler. Even as someone who is 100% Vietnamese, I had a hard time following everything that was involved in the last third of the book, and it made me feel as if readers who aren't familiar with Vietnamese folklore and history would have an even HARDER time understanding what was going on at the end. The ending made me feel as if you needed prior knowledge of the Trung sisters' story and Vietnamese history to figure out what was going on and why certain things were present and whatnot.
(THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FOR THE OVERALL PLOT, BUT.... that random part in the story where Huong is talking to Jolie about her sex life gave me the ick. I can only hope that part of the story is removed in the final draft because it came out of nowhere and was totally unnecessary.)
Overall, while this was a good idea in theory for a book, I think it fell flat in execution. It seems like this is the first book in a series and the ending was semi-cliffhanger-like, so I think I'll be picking up the next book to figure out what happens next, if there is a second book.
❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶༄❄︎❀✶
Trigger/content warnings: violence, death of a loved one
⋆˙⟡ 𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹: HAPPY AAPI MONTH!🎉 As a Vietnamese American, I had to request this on NetGalley. I love a good fairy tale or mythology retelling, and this being based on Vietnamese mythology and a Vietnamese author writing this, nonetheless, was a no-brainer for me.🇻🇳 This isn't even me bringing up the absolutely stunning cover art!💙✨🌌
This will be ARC 3/8 that I need to read this month, and the last ARC I need to finish by Tuesday!
May 4, 2025
I was looking forward to reading this especially with its Vietnamese representation and the modern retelling inspired by the legendary Trung Sisters. The premise was so interesting with dragons, reincarnation, a rich cultural element in a contemporary YA setting..
It took me until around the 40% mark to really feel any connection to the characters. And just when I thought I was starting to get invested, my interest kind of fizzled out again toward the end. The pacing felt off, with a mix of dreams, flashbacks, and even time travel thrown in. It left me confused about what exactly was happening scene to scene. I couldn’t get a sense if it was one of the dreams or time travel. The magical elements were vague and not clearly explained.
I did enjoy Jolie’s character arc, particularly her fallout and eventual reconciliation with her friends. Her personal growth felt real. But I do wish the story focused more on the dragon mythology and reincarnation lore, rather than the high school swim meet drama that seemed to take up much of the book.
One part that left me feeling especially awkward was the early relationship between Jolie and Huong. Their relationship initially felt more romantic in tone, only for it to be revealed later that they were actually sisters. That shift felt jarring and a little confusing in retrospect.
As for the supposed side villains, they weren’t fleshed out enough for me to understand their motives beyond the usual hunger for power. Given their centuries long history with the main character, I expected more complexity. The final villain reveal and the plot twist that came with it didn’t wow me either. The twist involving the Trung Sisters, turning on each other out of jealousy felt like a betrayal of their legacy. These women are symbols of resistance, unity, and strength in Vietnamese history. To see their bond reduced to petty rivalry felt disappointing, especially when I was expecting a narrative centered around in sisterhood and solidarity.
Thank you Penguin Teen and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC.
It took me until around the 40% mark to really feel any connection to the characters. And just when I thought I was starting to get invested, my interest kind of fizzled out again toward the end. The pacing felt off, with a mix of dreams, flashbacks, and even time travel thrown in. It left me confused about what exactly was happening scene to scene. I couldn’t get a sense if it was one of the dreams or time travel. The magical elements were vague and not clearly explained.
I did enjoy Jolie’s character arc, particularly her fallout and eventual reconciliation with her friends. Her personal growth felt real. But I do wish the story focused more on the dragon mythology and reincarnation lore, rather than the high school swim meet drama that seemed to take up much of the book.
One part that left me feeling especially awkward was the early relationship between Jolie and Huong. Their relationship initially felt more romantic in tone, only for it to be revealed later that they were actually sisters. That shift felt jarring and a little confusing in retrospect.
As for the supposed side villains, they weren’t fleshed out enough for me to understand their motives beyond the usual hunger for power. Given their centuries long history with the main character, I expected more complexity. The final villain reveal and the plot twist that came with it didn’t wow me either. The twist involving the Trung Sisters, turning on each other out of jealousy felt like a betrayal of their legacy. These women are symbols of resistance, unity, and strength in Vietnamese history. To see their bond reduced to petty rivalry felt disappointing, especially when I was expecting a narrative centered around in sisterhood and solidarity.
Thank you Penguin Teen and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC.
April 30, 2025
Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day 2025 #6
I'm 0/2 on these Trưng sisters' rebellion retellings 🤞🏼
I really thought I was going to enjoy this one. The first third was solid. I got a little PTSD from high school swimming, but at least that brought out some emotion in me.
This isn't a spoiler, so I don't know why I was surprised, but things went downhill for me as soon as the reincarnation plotline emerged. I know we're supposed to be angry with Huong, but it's Jolie I'm annoyed with. The thầy bói also annoyed. Everything annoyed.
The last third was a, "WTF WTF," moment one after the other. Not in a good way. What were the eggs? What was the Han plotline? Who were the alluded to siblings? You know what? Don't answer me. I don't care.
The most unbelievable thing of all was Jolie learning how to drive and successfully merge onto a California freeway in days. And being good at it. Reincarnation? Sure. San Jose rush hour? No way.
🥃 Take a shot every time I'm triggered by high school swimming
🥃 Take a shot every time Vietnamese grandparents absolutely destroy your mental health
🥃 Take a shot every time we make an allusion to r/WMAF
rep: Vietnamese American
Book pairings: BRONZE DRUM | CHLORINE
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
I'm 0/2 on these Trưng sisters' rebellion retellings 🤞🏼
I really thought I was going to enjoy this one. The first third was solid. I got a little PTSD from high school swimming, but at least that brought out some emotion in me.
This isn't a spoiler, so I don't know why I was surprised, but things went downhill for me as soon as the reincarnation plotline emerged. I know we're supposed to be angry with Huong, but it's Jolie I'm annoyed with. The thầy bói also annoyed. Everything annoyed.
The last third was a, "WTF WTF," moment one after the other. Not in a good way. What were the eggs? What was the Han plotline? Who were the alluded to siblings? You know what? Don't answer me. I don't care.
The most unbelievable thing of all was Jolie learning how to drive and successfully merge onto a California freeway in days. And being good at it. Reincarnation? Sure. San Jose rush hour? No way.
🥃 Take a shot every time I'm triggered by high school swimming
🥃 Take a shot every time Vietnamese grandparents absolutely destroy your mental health
🥃 Take a shot every time we make an allusion to r/WMAF
rep: Vietnamese American
Book pairings: BRONZE DRUM | CHLORINE
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
June 23, 2025
firstly, thank you to the publishers for an arc!
this was an interesting historical fantasy retelling of the trung sisters!
this was an interesting historical fantasy retelling of the trung sisters!
June 26, 2025
"A heroine like no other, ancient magic unleashed, a fated epic battle--the first book in an enchanting YA fantasy duology inspired by Vietnamese lore, weaving magic, sisterhood, and self-discovery."
What to expect:
💫YA fantasy duology
💫Vietnamese lore
💫Magic
I genuinely enjoyed the blend of Vietnamese folklore, mythology, and magic in this book. It transports you into a captivating fantasy world that you won’t want to leave. While there are some areas that could use improvement, overall, it's a solid start to the series.
Thank you, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons, for this ARC. I can't wait to begin this story.
Pub Date: May 06, 2025
As always, all thoughts are my own. 🖤✨
What to expect:
💫YA fantasy duology
💫Vietnamese lore
💫Magic
I genuinely enjoyed the blend of Vietnamese folklore, mythology, and magic in this book. It transports you into a captivating fantasy world that you won’t want to leave. While there are some areas that could use improvement, overall, it's a solid start to the series.
Thank you, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons, for this ARC. I can't wait to begin this story.
Pub Date: May 06, 2025
As always, all thoughts are my own. 🖤✨
February 8, 2025
It has been some time since I really fell into a YA Fantasy book.
Harry Potter and Percy Jackson have been two literary characters that I have read and re-read time and time again, but as a middle-aged woman, YA has been on my TBR less and less.
So when I won a handful of YA books recently, I put aside some of my darker and smuttier stuff and decided to read a few YAs in a row.
I began with The Lost Queen, and it was an excellent choice.
Immediately I remembered why YA Fantasy is so fun- the MAGIC and wonder!
In this we meet Jolie Lam, a high school sophomore who's having a pretty bad year. No one can forget the swim meet when she had a mild freakout, in front of everyone! Her fortuneteller grandmother doesn't help by spewing visions of earthquakes and other devastation on a daily basis. Like most sophomores, Jolie is just trying to survive the year.
So when she saves the life of Huong, the IT girl, and starts having telepathic thoughts of her own, well, let's just say it's another obstacle in the path of "surviving the year"
Enter Vietnamese folkalore, mythology, magic and destiny. This book will sweep you up into a world of fantasy, you will NOT want to escape.
Thank you to NetGalley for this E-book, but I feel a physical copy deserves to sit on my Percy Jackson/Harry Potter shelf. It was engrossing and enjoyable!
Harry Potter and Percy Jackson have been two literary characters that I have read and re-read time and time again, but as a middle-aged woman, YA has been on my TBR less and less.
So when I won a handful of YA books recently, I put aside some of my darker and smuttier stuff and decided to read a few YAs in a row.
I began with The Lost Queen, and it was an excellent choice.
Immediately I remembered why YA Fantasy is so fun- the MAGIC and wonder!
In this we meet Jolie Lam, a high school sophomore who's having a pretty bad year. No one can forget the swim meet when she had a mild freakout, in front of everyone! Her fortuneteller grandmother doesn't help by spewing visions of earthquakes and other devastation on a daily basis. Like most sophomores, Jolie is just trying to survive the year.
So when she saves the life of Huong, the IT girl, and starts having telepathic thoughts of her own, well, let's just say it's another obstacle in the path of "surviving the year"
Enter Vietnamese folkalore, mythology, magic and destiny. This book will sweep you up into a world of fantasy, you will NOT want to escape.
Thank you to NetGalley for this E-book, but I feel a physical copy deserves to sit on my Percy Jackson/Harry Potter shelf. It was engrossing and enjoyable!
Read
March 30, 2025At the center of this YA novel about sisters, brothers, siblings, parents and grandparents as well as friend dynamics and a whole lot of other intense themes, is mythology that has grown up around the Trung sisters, a pair of military generals who nearly two thousand years ago mnaged for two years to resist the massive Han invasion of Vietnam.
We begin with Jolie Lam, who has lost her two best friends after a sports incident. These two have become mean girls, but to her defense comes Huang, a cool girl who offers her friendship and support. It's set in and around San Jose, working in earthquakes and drought and other area-specific phenom.
Meanwhile, Jolie is dealing with visions, and her grandfather's apparent dementia. But when inexplicable magic enters her life, everything the sixteen year old thought she knew goes seriously sideways.
At that point, the book becomes a brakeless roller-coaster, getting more and more intense and weird, the pacing faster and faster until the sudden end. I thought the end kinda cool, and yet there had been so much setup at the start that I couldn't help wishing for a coda: emotional resolution especially, but also I really wanted to see how the "new" Jolie would pick up her high school life.
Still, a terrific read.
We begin with Jolie Lam, who has lost her two best friends after a sports incident. These two have become mean girls, but to her defense comes Huang, a cool girl who offers her friendship and support. It's set in and around San Jose, working in earthquakes and drought and other area-specific phenom.
Meanwhile, Jolie is dealing with visions, and her grandfather's apparent dementia. But when inexplicable magic enters her life, everything the sixteen year old thought she knew goes seriously sideways.
At that point, the book becomes a brakeless roller-coaster, getting more and more intense and weird, the pacing faster and faster until the sudden end. I thought the end kinda cool, and yet there had been so much setup at the start that I couldn't help wishing for a coda: emotional resolution especially, but also I really wanted to see how the "new" Jolie would pick up her high school life.
Still, a terrific read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2025
The first half of this book really had me hooked and hit all the elements I usually like in a YA contemporary fantasy. Jolie is a Vietnamese-American teenager living with her grandparents and attending a San Jose high school. I loved the colorful, grounded details about teenage angst, bullying and the high school experience, with the hint of supernatural underpinnings. Jolie's grandfather is a fortune teller and the book is interspersed with ancient Vietnamese folk legends.
Then weird stuff keeps happening to Jolie, like she has a psychotic break at a swim meet and alienates her two best friends, who become mean girl enemies. In gym class she rescues popular girl Huong, who befriends her. This could have been an opportunity to explore Jolie's character and identity as she navigates this new world of popularity, but instead she just becomes a bland character as her identity is completely taken over by the supernatural. She keeps seeing visions. It turns out she and Huong are the reincarnations of two ancient Vietnamese goddess queens, the Trung sisters, into the bodies of two teenage girls.
That could have been a really interesting conceit, and indeed I appreciated the deep-dive into Vietnamese folklore. But I wanted more insight into Jolie's immigrant roots and how this identity juxtaposed with such strong elements of Vietnamese culture, and I wanted more grounding in reality with a whisper of the supernatural.
Instead the second half of the book felt like a completely different book as we are transported into a cartoonish world of vengeful, battling immortals with elemental powers and I stopped caring about the characters as they lost touch with their humanity and reality. Jolie did hang on to her humility and mercy, but everything was so larger than life that it felt too cerebral and superhero-adjacent for my taste.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Then weird stuff keeps happening to Jolie, like she has a psychotic break at a swim meet and alienates her two best friends, who become mean girl enemies. In gym class she rescues popular girl Huong, who befriends her. This could have been an opportunity to explore Jolie's character and identity as she navigates this new world of popularity, but instead she just becomes a bland character as her identity is completely taken over by the supernatural. She keeps seeing visions. It turns out she and Huong are the reincarnations of two ancient Vietnamese goddess queens, the Trung sisters, into the bodies of two teenage girls.
That could have been a really interesting conceit, and indeed I appreciated the deep-dive into Vietnamese folklore. But I wanted more insight into Jolie's immigrant roots and how this identity juxtaposed with such strong elements of Vietnamese culture, and I wanted more grounding in reality with a whisper of the supernatural.
Instead the second half of the book felt like a completely different book as we are transported into a cartoonish world of vengeful, battling immortals with elemental powers and I stopped caring about the characters as they lost touch with their humanity and reality. Jolie did hang on to her humility and mercy, but everything was so larger than life that it felt too cerebral and superhero-adjacent for my taste.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2025
3.5
The Lost Queen is a surreal YA coming-of-age story that blends Vietnamese mythology with the perils of being an outcast teenager in California. Following Jolie Lam, after an embarrassing and disastrous swim meet that has her labelled as ‘Loser Lam’, when she starts experiencing strange visions and dreams that link her to the legendary goddesses of ancient Vietnam she quickly realizes that the world she knew is about to be changed forever.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book, I loved the juxtaposition between Jolie’s school life and her learning more about Vietnamese mythology and coming to terms with her newfound powers. However, at the 60% mark, I felt the pacing of the story to be a bit strange, there was a lot of information being thrown at the reader then everything comes to a head in the final battle in the end and the revelation from both Jolie and Huong at the end seemed really rushed before the story ended.
I will say, I always love surrealist and dreamy explorations of myth and identity, and I really enjoyed the way we got to see these Vietnamese tales being brought to life in the novel!
Thank you to Penguin Teen for this e-arc. All opinions in this review are my own.
The Lost Queen is a surreal YA coming-of-age story that blends Vietnamese mythology with the perils of being an outcast teenager in California. Following Jolie Lam, after an embarrassing and disastrous swim meet that has her labelled as ‘Loser Lam’, when she starts experiencing strange visions and dreams that link her to the legendary goddesses of ancient Vietnam she quickly realizes that the world she knew is about to be changed forever.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book, I loved the juxtaposition between Jolie’s school life and her learning more about Vietnamese mythology and coming to terms with her newfound powers. However, at the 60% mark, I felt the pacing of the story to be a bit strange, there was a lot of information being thrown at the reader then everything comes to a head in the final battle in the end and the revelation from both Jolie and Huong at the end seemed really rushed before the story ended.
I will say, I always love surrealist and dreamy explorations of myth and identity, and I really enjoyed the way we got to see these Vietnamese tales being brought to life in the novel!
Thank you to Penguin Teen for this e-arc. All opinions in this review are my own.
April 11, 2025
Review: 2.5 stars
We are introduced to Jolie, who is a high school sophomore who has been ostracized due to her freak out incident a year ago. She is now the loner in school and her best friends, Lana and Daphne avoid her like a plague. Everything changes when she saves Huong, a popular girl from an incident at the pool. Huong takes her under her wing and as they spend more time together, they discover lost powers and realise that they were the legendary Trung sisters, queens who were meant to fight their brothers who bring calamity to the world…
This book was told in Jolie’s POV. I empathise with her character as she started as this nervous and bullied kid who lost her way through high school since a freak accident. It doesn’t help that her grandpa, a renowned fortune teller, is also having bouts of confusion and freak accidents leading her family to be ostracized. The author captured the growing pains of teenagers perfectly in this world. However, I have to question how the author portray the teens in their manner of speaking etc: I mean who finds the bible interesting
While I did enjoy the lore that the author based this book on, I struggled with this book. I was so lost in at least 50% of this book since Jolie had no idea what was going on. The pacing of the book was so slow in the first half especially with the introduction of their powers and their hunt for it. There were parts where the book felt repetitive and confusing with the back and forth from modern to ancient Vietnam and when it shifts from past to present suddenly.
The worldbuilding itself felt flat with vague descriptions such as the glossover of the magic system and how the elements work. It was so confusing to grasp. I could see all the major twists coming and the book got predictable and boring. And of course, the ending was so rushed that there were still many things left unresolved.
Overall, it was an okay read due to the ease of the writing style and the short concise chapters and it wasn’t for me. There were some points where I was close to dnf’ing since I failed to grasp the concept of the book until I reached the 50% mark and once I did, it felt flat.
Thank you PenguinTeen for the physical ARC.
We are introduced to Jolie, who is a high school sophomore who has been ostracized due to her freak out incident a year ago. She is now the loner in school and her best friends, Lana and Daphne avoid her like a plague. Everything changes when she saves Huong, a popular girl from an incident at the pool. Huong takes her under her wing and as they spend more time together, they discover lost powers and realise that they were the legendary Trung sisters, queens who were meant to fight their brothers who bring calamity to the world…
This book was told in Jolie’s POV. I empathise with her character as she started as this nervous and bullied kid who lost her way through high school since a freak accident. It doesn’t help that her grandpa, a renowned fortune teller, is also having bouts of confusion and freak accidents leading her family to be ostracized. The author captured the growing pains of teenagers perfectly in this world. However, I have to question how the author portray the teens in their manner of speaking etc: I mean who finds the bible interesting
While I did enjoy the lore that the author based this book on, I struggled with this book. I was so lost in at least 50% of this book since Jolie had no idea what was going on. The pacing of the book was so slow in the first half especially with the introduction of their powers and their hunt for it. There were parts where the book felt repetitive and confusing with the back and forth from modern to ancient Vietnam and when it shifts from past to present suddenly.
The worldbuilding itself felt flat with vague descriptions such as the glossover of the magic system and how the elements work. It was so confusing to grasp. I could see all the major twists coming and the book got predictable and boring. And of course, the ending was so rushed that there were still many things left unresolved.
Overall, it was an okay read due to the ease of the writing style and the short concise chapters and it wasn’t for me. There were some points where I was close to dnf’ing since I failed to grasp the concept of the book until I reached the 50% mark and once I did, it felt flat.
Thank you PenguinTeen for the physical ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2025
Well-crafted and imaginative fantasy based on the Vietnamese legend of the Trung sisters, queens who led the Vietnamese army against the Han warriors. It is surprisingly difficult to find English literature, retellings, or translations on Vietnamese folk tales, and I actually never learned about the Trung sisters until last year.
Jolie is a high school student who’s a descendant of thầy bói (fortune tellers). She starts getting unsettling visions in her classes that become stronger after rescuing her classmate Huong during swim class. Soon, she finds her grandfather’s ever-changing book on Vietnamese myths, is finally able to understand Vietnamese, and can read other people’s minds.
This tale blends modern day San Jose with ancient Vietnam, magic, and dragons. Once the story gets moving, it doesn’t stop, and there’s an element of mystery surrounding the past that ropes you in. Plus, the cover for this book is absolutely breathtaking.
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are independently my own.
Jolie is a high school student who’s a descendant of thầy bói (fortune tellers). She starts getting unsettling visions in her classes that become stronger after rescuing her classmate Huong during swim class. Soon, she finds her grandfather’s ever-changing book on Vietnamese myths, is finally able to understand Vietnamese, and can read other people’s minds.
This tale blends modern day San Jose with ancient Vietnam, magic, and dragons. Once the story gets moving, it doesn’t stop, and there’s an element of mystery surrounding the past that ropes you in. Plus, the cover for this book is absolutely breathtaking.
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are independently my own.
Currently reading
October 4, 2025(Progress: pg. 104/356)
I really don't want to be a hater because I was SUPER stoked about a VIETNAMESE MYTHOLOGY centered fantasy book with VIETNAMESE CHARACTERS!!! The plot sounded so intriguing (like, a long line of family psychics is SO cool, come on) and promising, and I am so eager for any non-romantic/platonic/familial relationships on display. I have a few complaints though:
#1. Why are people so weirdly...gate-keepy with culture? The cultural depictions/sharing in here are so bad
Not a complaint exclusive to this book (and honestly it's not even bad here), but with the increased rise of lots of ethnic and cultural books in YA, I notice there's a lot of just...straight up slapping another language in with no context, translation, or explanation. We'll sometimes get like whole sentences and conversations in another language with absolutely NO explanation or clues as to what they're talking about. I get it's supposed to be like a "Hey, this one's for the (insert diaspora here)! ;)" thing, but it just feels like a weird exclusionary tactic. Like a, "Only REAL (Vietnamese) allowed! We're so cool!" kind of thing. Same with culture-specific terms, food dishes, objects, etc. I find it annoying, stupid, and needlessly exclusionary, even though I'm well-versed and fluent enough in the demographics I tend to read for (Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and some Japanese) that I can understand everything!!!! I just get really annoyed that the author doesn't make sure OTHER people can't!!!
There's an absolutely bizarre-looking (to a non-Vietnamese person) exchange between some Vietnamese parents and Jolie on page 25.
Like...bro. Not even italics, con, to indicate that THIS IS VIETNAMESE???? WHAT???? With absolutely NO context or explanation (and there is absolutely NONE), you would have NO idea that this is Vietnamese. It sounds like she's calling her a con-man or something!!! How the hell are you supposed to just pick up on/understand that con means "child" in Vietnamese, and that it's a term/pronoun older people use to address much-younger people????
Similarly, it's an extremely weird pick-and-choose between what Vietnamese dishes (a lot of them obscure to people who only eat at Vietnamese restaurants and not home-cooking) will be explained or not. She throws in a lot of dishes like bún riêu that they'll have for dinner with no further explanation of what it is or what's in it, and rattle off a long list of obscure (to non-Vietnamese) dishes like chả cá lã vọng. I expected she wouldn't explain ANYTHING, but then she randomly throws this in on page 102:
And this on another page:
Like, do you want people to learn this stuff or not? lol.
#2. The writing in terms of exposition, narration, and clarity is.....not good
Yeah the other reviewers were right. I get a lot of confusion and whiplash with how the narration handles flipping between reality and the visions and delusions. Even worse is that this isn't just exclusive to the (understandably confusing) back-and-forth of fantasy/reality...even narrating between PAST AND PRESENT tense/moments is poorly written.
(She spontaneously develops mind-reading powers, but the way it's presented makes it sound like she's reading the pencil graffiti, which made it super confusing)
Like...WHAT??? She was describing her present reality of looking at the book, then switched to a flashback, and then immediately went back into the present. But WHY WOULD YOU PHRASE IT LIKE THAT RIGHT AFTER A FLASH BACK??? Instead of just "I opened the mythology book, but it appeared blank." When you say "When I first opened," it makes it sound like a continuation of the flashback or something in the past!!!
This is just the mundane examples and there's a lot of them. It gets even worse with the fantasy/reality flashbacks lol
#3. Insta-....""""sibling""" love??? Why does no one know how to develop a relationship properly???
You know how insta-love is an extremely annoying thing in YA? You know how the creators of Frozen (Disney) were very obviously each an only child, because they did NOT know how to write a sibling relationship, and it instead came off as incestuously and creepily romantic between Anna and Elsa?
Yeah, this book has a mild case of the latter and a lot of the former lol. Huong and Jolie have only JUST met and barely interacted and in every single interaction, they both irrationally REALLY REALLY like each other. Like, REALLY. To a discomforting degree that feels unnatural (their first ever hang-out together, their third time ever talking to each other in person, they're already hanging out on Huong's bed with Huong's HEAD ON HER SHOULDER while they talk and then falling asleep pressed next to each other, and then Huong's boyfriend and friends walk in and make creepy sexual insinuations that they slept together, WTF????)
Don't even get me started on the way Jolie starts, literally, to GLOW after their first time speaking to each other, and she spends the whole rest of the day describing her euphoria and bliss bubble of how happy she is from that interaction. Like bro, wtf???? 😭😭😭 It's so borderline weird and uncomfortable
#5. Why are we spending SO LONG on HIGH SCHOOL BULLYING??? PLEASE JUST LET IT END!!!
It's soooooo boring and soooooo dumb and petty and so mean girl high school cliche kind of stuff that I HIGHLY DOUBT real-life high schoolers would care THIS much about. Please just make it stop can we advance the plot already?!?! I'm 28% in and we're still so focused on this dumb shit when the world is supposed to be ending soon and I want to read about THAT!!!!
(Also a SUPER minor nitpick, but on page 36 there's a typo where it says Ông Nội' with a misplaced apostrophe. Why was this not proofread better??)
I really don't want to be a hater because I was SUPER stoked about a VIETNAMESE MYTHOLOGY centered fantasy book with VIETNAMESE CHARACTERS!!! The plot sounded so intriguing (like, a long line of family psychics is SO cool, come on) and promising, and I am so eager for any non-romantic/platonic/familial relationships on display. I have a few complaints though:
#1. Why are people so weirdly...gate-keepy with culture? The cultural depictions/sharing in here are so bad
Not a complaint exclusive to this book (and honestly it's not even bad here), but with the increased rise of lots of ethnic and cultural books in YA, I notice there's a lot of just...straight up slapping another language in with no context, translation, or explanation. We'll sometimes get like whole sentences and conversations in another language with absolutely NO explanation or clues as to what they're talking about. I get it's supposed to be like a "Hey, this one's for the (insert diaspora here)! ;)" thing, but it just feels like a weird exclusionary tactic. Like a, "Only REAL (Vietnamese) allowed! We're so cool!" kind of thing. Same with culture-specific terms, food dishes, objects, etc. I find it annoying, stupid, and needlessly exclusionary, even though I'm well-versed and fluent enough in the demographics I tend to read for (Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and some Japanese) that I can understand everything!!!! I just get really annoyed that the author doesn't make sure OTHER people can't!!!
There's an absolutely bizarre-looking (to a non-Vietnamese person) exchange between some Vietnamese parents and Jolie on page 25.
"Jennifer loved being a Vaquero," Mrs. Phan cooed. "She was on student government, and the varsity tennis and volleyball teams. What about you, con?"
Like...bro. Not even italics, con, to indicate that THIS IS VIETNAMESE???? WHAT???? With absolutely NO context or explanation (and there is absolutely NONE), you would have NO idea that this is Vietnamese. It sounds like she's calling her a con-man or something!!! How the hell are you supposed to just pick up on/understand that con means "child" in Vietnamese, and that it's a term/pronoun older people use to address much-younger people????
Similarly, it's an extremely weird pick-and-choose between what Vietnamese dishes (a lot of them obscure to people who only eat at Vietnamese restaurants and not home-cooking) will be explained or not. She throws in a lot of dishes like bún riêu that they'll have for dinner with no further explanation of what it is or what's in it, and rattle off a long list of obscure (to non-Vietnamese) dishes like chả cá lã vọng. I expected she wouldn't explain ANYTHING, but then she randomly throws this in on page 102:
She'd prepared thịt kho--braised pork belly and hard-boiled eggs in a caramel sauce over steamed rice--with a side of mustard greens.
And this on another page:
When Huong introduced us, Phung smiled joyfully and called me em--Vietnamese for "sister"--even though we'd just met.
Like, do you want people to learn this stuff or not? lol.
#2. The writing in terms of exposition, narration, and clarity is.....not good
Yeah the other reviewers were right. I get a lot of confusion and whiplash with how the narration handles flipping between reality and the visions and delusions. Even worse is that this isn't just exclusive to the (understandably confusing) back-and-forth of fantasy/reality...even narrating between PAST AND PRESENT tense/moments is poorly written.
The room exploded in laughter. Harsha grabbed Milo's beanie and threw it across the room, but the jerk continued to flap his arms, his mouth open and snarling. My eyes returned to the desk in front of me and the tiny, faint pencil and pen graffiti on the chair.
Stop talking. You need to stop talking.
I looked back at Lana, surprised she'd say that aloud. "Excuse me?"
(She spontaneously develops mind-reading powers, but the way it's presented makes it sound like she's reading the pencil graffiti, which made it super confusing)
[Jolie is looking at and describing her grandpa's mythology book]
There was no text on the cover or spine, similar to a blank journal. When I was little, Ong Noi said that it made the book more special: only those who knew could read and discover what lay in these pages.
One time in fifth grade when Daphne was over after swim, I tried to show her the book. After turning a few pages, she said the stories sounded unbelievable, even for Vietnamese folktales. [...] I never showed her the book again.
When I first opened the mythology book, it appeared blank. I frowned, turning the pages. Maybe I'd mistaken an unused journal for Ong Noi's book [...]
Like...WHAT??? She was describing her present reality of looking at the book, then switched to a flashback, and then immediately went back into the present. But WHY WOULD YOU PHRASE IT LIKE THAT RIGHT AFTER A FLASH BACK??? Instead of just "I opened the mythology book, but it appeared blank." When you say "When I first opened," it makes it sound like a continuation of the flashback or something in the past!!!
This is just the mundane examples and there's a lot of them. It gets even worse with the fantasy/reality flashbacks lol
#3. Insta-....""""sibling""" love??? Why does no one know how to develop a relationship properly???
You know how insta-love is an extremely annoying thing in YA? You know how the creators of Frozen (Disney) were very obviously each an only child, because they did NOT know how to write a sibling relationship, and it instead came off as incestuously and creepily romantic between Anna and Elsa?
Yeah, this book has a mild case of the latter and a lot of the former lol. Huong and Jolie have only JUST met and barely interacted and in every single interaction, they both irrationally REALLY REALLY like each other. Like, REALLY. To a discomforting degree that feels unnatural (their first ever hang-out together, their third time ever talking to each other in person, they're already hanging out on Huong's bed with Huong's HEAD ON HER SHOULDER while they talk and then falling asleep pressed next to each other, and then Huong's boyfriend and friends walk in and make creepy sexual insinuations that they slept together, WTF????)
(Jolie) "Thanks for defending me, but you didn't have to.
"Why not?" [Huong] asked.
"You barely know me."
"But I really like what I do know." (pg. 80)
[I shit you not, their 2ND EVER interaction with each other and they've spoken a total of THREE PARAGRAPHS TOGETHER!!!]
"How are you?" Huong asked [on the phone].
"Fine," I said, smiling. "Why are you calling?"
"You don't want to talk to me?"
"Why don't you just text?"
"I like hearing your voice. It feels good."
I understood what she meant. Huong sounded warm and comforting inside my ear. (pg. 104)
[After their first and only hangout together. BRUH!!!!!]
Don't even get me started on the way Jolie starts, literally, to GLOW after their first time speaking to each other, and she spends the whole rest of the day describing her euphoria and bliss bubble of how happy she is from that interaction. Like bro, wtf???? 😭😭😭 It's so borderline weird and uncomfortable
#5. Why are we spending SO LONG on HIGH SCHOOL BULLYING??? PLEASE JUST LET IT END!!!
It's soooooo boring and soooooo dumb and petty and so mean girl high school cliche kind of stuff that I HIGHLY DOUBT real-life high schoolers would care THIS much about. Please just make it stop can we advance the plot already?!?! I'm 28% in and we're still so focused on this dumb shit when the world is supposed to be ending soon and I want to read about THAT!!!!
(Also a SUPER minor nitpick, but on page 36 there's a typo where it says Ông Nội' with a misplaced apostrophe. Why was this not proofread better??)
May 18, 2025
Review to come! 🐉
(FINAL REVIEW:)
This was a nice younger YA take on the Trung Sisters of Vietnamese folklore and history as well as a reimagining of them through Vietnamese mythology. While the beginning was a bit too slow and the ending too fast in my opinion and the magic system did take some time to get into and understand, I still had a rather good time in this story and cast of characters. Please know that while this review might sound a bit negative, it’s really more a heads up for those who are looking into read this book. ❗️
The story follows Jolie, a young sophomore in San Jose, California who has been ostracized by her friends, school, and community. She is lonely and desperate for the connection that she felt with her former friends who have turned their backs on her and are the instigators of her ousting and bullying. While I understand that teens can be brutal to each other and have also been on the receiving end of bullying during my high school days, I felt like it was taken the extreme in this story and felt like something that could be seen more in a Netflix dramatization of American high schools (ie. Thirteen Reasons Why for example) than something that happens in real life. Again, this is my guess so please don’t take me for granted on this since I haven’t been in a high school setting in over ten years and teens might’ve gotten even more abusive since then. 🤔
In the story, Jolie finds herself drawn into the circle of the most popular junior in school, Huong, who changes her circumstances as well as outlook on life. I felt like the bond that forms between the girls (and later leads to other realizations that I won’t spoil here) was at first sweet and very well done only for it to suddenly take a turn into emotional manipulation. It’s further explained why Huong is the way that she is and why she did what she did, but I still felt like this could’ve been handled a bit better for the characterization of her, but it just rubbed me the wrong way half the time. 😒
Story wise though, I did think was done very well, but I did wish that it picked up the pace a bit sooner than say about 40% in. While I don’t mind a slow build, since it’s a contemporary fantasy, I did assume that it didn’t need that much of a build up (and this is probably why I’m not a fan of contemporary/urban fantasies in the first place). On the opposite end, the ending did feel rather rushed and I wish it could’ve made a bigger impact on the reader than a sudden change of heart for both sisters. The other little tidbit that I think might throw some reads for a loop is that it reads a bit immature for a fifteen-year-old teen. Sure that age is a weird period in life, but I would put this book somewhere in the older middle-grade/younger YA section because of its narration style. Now this is in no ways a bad thing, I just think if you are going into this expecting a mature teenaged girl who can kick-ass while still studying for her chemistry quizzes, it might lead you to a rather frustrating read. 🤭
But really though, once I switched gears to an older middle grade/younger YA mindset, I think it was a pretty decent read! The focus on the Vietnamese diaspora community and its recent immigrants was done very well in my opinion (and again, take this with a grain of salt since I’m an adopted Chinese-American so someone who is Vietnamese might say something otherwise), and I really liked the heavy focus on the country’s folklore and mythology throughout the book. 🪷
Thank you goes out to Penguin Teens and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest (and very late) review! I’m interested to see where the story goes in the second book since the ending was a cliffhanger! ❤️
Publication date: May 6!
Overall: . . . I’m rounding it up to a 3.5/5 ⭐️ for the entire reading experience
(FINAL REVIEW:)
This was a nice younger YA take on the Trung Sisters of Vietnamese folklore and history as well as a reimagining of them through Vietnamese mythology. While the beginning was a bit too slow and the ending too fast in my opinion and the magic system did take some time to get into and understand, I still had a rather good time in this story and cast of characters. Please know that while this review might sound a bit negative, it’s really more a heads up for those who are looking into read this book. ❗️
The story follows Jolie, a young sophomore in San Jose, California who has been ostracized by her friends, school, and community. She is lonely and desperate for the connection that she felt with her former friends who have turned their backs on her and are the instigators of her ousting and bullying. While I understand that teens can be brutal to each other and have also been on the receiving end of bullying during my high school days, I felt like it was taken the extreme in this story and felt like something that could be seen more in a Netflix dramatization of American high schools (ie. Thirteen Reasons Why for example) than something that happens in real life. Again, this is my guess so please don’t take me for granted on this since I haven’t been in a high school setting in over ten years and teens might’ve gotten even more abusive since then. 🤔
In the story, Jolie finds herself drawn into the circle of the most popular junior in school, Huong, who changes her circumstances as well as outlook on life. I felt like the bond that forms between the girls (and later leads to other realizations that I won’t spoil here) was at first sweet and very well done only for it to suddenly take a turn into emotional manipulation. It’s further explained why Huong is the way that she is and why she did what she did, but I still felt like this could’ve been handled a bit better for the characterization of her, but it just rubbed me the wrong way half the time. 😒
Story wise though, I did think was done very well, but I did wish that it picked up the pace a bit sooner than say about 40% in. While I don’t mind a slow build, since it’s a contemporary fantasy, I did assume that it didn’t need that much of a build up (and this is probably why I’m not a fan of contemporary/urban fantasies in the first place). On the opposite end, the ending did feel rather rushed and I wish it could’ve made a bigger impact on the reader than a sudden change of heart for both sisters. The other little tidbit that I think might throw some reads for a loop is that it reads a bit immature for a fifteen-year-old teen. Sure that age is a weird period in life, but I would put this book somewhere in the older middle-grade/younger YA section because of its narration style. Now this is in no ways a bad thing, I just think if you are going into this expecting a mature teenaged girl who can kick-ass while still studying for her chemistry quizzes, it might lead you to a rather frustrating read. 🤭
But really though, once I switched gears to an older middle grade/younger YA mindset, I think it was a pretty decent read! The focus on the Vietnamese diaspora community and its recent immigrants was done very well in my opinion (and again, take this with a grain of salt since I’m an adopted Chinese-American so someone who is Vietnamese might say something otherwise), and I really liked the heavy focus on the country’s folklore and mythology throughout the book. 🪷
Thank you goes out to Penguin Teens and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest (and very late) review! I’m interested to see where the story goes in the second book since the ending was a cliffhanger! ❤️
Publication date: May 6!
Overall: . . . I’m rounding it up to a 3.5/5 ⭐️ for the entire reading experience
April 23, 2025
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan is a first person YA contemporary fantasy retelling the story of the Trưng sisters. After a freakout the previous year, Jolie Lam has lost her old friends, Daphne and Lana, and is going through high school as an ostracized loner. When she saves Huong, a popular new student from Vietnam, after an accident at the school pool, Huong takes a liking to her. Their friendship will be the beginning of the end of a story centuries in the making.
I rarely comment on covers, but I feel compelled to talk about this one, especially after finishing the book. The purple and yellow color scheme matches the colors associated with Huong and Jolie, respectively, and are the two colors that appear the most often in the text. The dragons are the brothers of the Trưng sisters and the bright white castle has a traditional Vietnamese structure that draws the eye to the center without overwhelming any of the other pieces. My favorite part is the magical girl-esque composition, especially with the bottom of the cover being a reflection that features a modern setting and Jolie’s current life.
The rest of this review is not spoiler free
A major theme is toxic friendships and finding out who you can trust after someone has wormed their way into your life and destroyed your other relationships. I think a lot of people want obvious red flags when finding abusers, but some people are extremely good at hiding it and people who are trusting or lonely can miss obvious signs. Isolated, compassionate people are often targeted for a reason and it’s never their fault. I think it’s great for YA to explore these themes with friendships, not only romance, because friendships can be just as destructive and abusive as a romantic or familial relationship. I thought something was weird was going on, but it took a long time for me to start seeing any signs and I suspect that the centuries of waiting played a part in how well so much was hidden.
I really appreciated how there was a bit of a history lesson at the beginning of the book regarding the tensions between the Han and Vietnam and then expanded out to highlight tensions between some other Asian nations, though not in detail. I wasn’t surprised at all that some of the students of Asian descent drew lines and started treating each other with distrust as the impact of these historical events can have far-reaching consequences and it was rarely just one conflict, but was often a series of them. Things are often skipped in world history classes and a focus on European history is, unfortunately, common, so taking the time to spell this out a bit will help readers who are unfamiliar with the history of Vietnam will have a bit more background to better understand the significance of the Trưng sisters.
Content warning for abusive friendships
I would recommend this to fans of contemporary fantasy retellings and readers of YA looking for biracial leads exploring complex topics
The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan is a first person YA contemporary fantasy retelling the story of the Trưng sisters. After a freakout the previous year, Jolie Lam has lost her old friends, Daphne and Lana, and is going through high school as an ostracized loner. When she saves Huong, a popular new student from Vietnam, after an accident at the school pool, Huong takes a liking to her. Their friendship will be the beginning of the end of a story centuries in the making.
I rarely comment on covers, but I feel compelled to talk about this one, especially after finishing the book. The purple and yellow color scheme matches the colors associated with Huong and Jolie, respectively, and are the two colors that appear the most often in the text. The dragons are the brothers of the Trưng sisters and the bright white castle has a traditional Vietnamese structure that draws the eye to the center without overwhelming any of the other pieces. My favorite part is the magical girl-esque composition, especially with the bottom of the cover being a reflection that features a modern setting and Jolie’s current life.
The rest of this review is not spoiler free
A major theme is toxic friendships and finding out who you can trust after someone has wormed their way into your life and destroyed your other relationships. I think a lot of people want obvious red flags when finding abusers, but some people are extremely good at hiding it and people who are trusting or lonely can miss obvious signs. Isolated, compassionate people are often targeted for a reason and it’s never their fault. I think it’s great for YA to explore these themes with friendships, not only romance, because friendships can be just as destructive and abusive as a romantic or familial relationship. I thought something was weird was going on, but it took a long time for me to start seeing any signs and I suspect that the centuries of waiting played a part in how well so much was hidden.
I really appreciated how there was a bit of a history lesson at the beginning of the book regarding the tensions between the Han and Vietnam and then expanded out to highlight tensions between some other Asian nations, though not in detail. I wasn’t surprised at all that some of the students of Asian descent drew lines and started treating each other with distrust as the impact of these historical events can have far-reaching consequences and it was rarely just one conflict, but was often a series of them. Things are often skipped in world history classes and a focus on European history is, unfortunately, common, so taking the time to spell this out a bit will help readers who are unfamiliar with the history of Vietnam will have a bit more background to better understand the significance of the Trưng sisters.
Content warning for abusive friendships
I would recommend this to fans of contemporary fantasy retellings and readers of YA looking for biracial leads exploring complex topics
April 3, 2025
I received a copy from PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Jolie Lam used to be just like any other teenager until she had a strange outbreak at a swim meet. She’s since quit the swim team, her former friends are now among her many bullies. Jolie is the most lonely and miserable she’s ever been! Everything changes when she saves a classmate, Huong Pham, after a terrible accident that happened during PE. There’s something familiar about Huong. Now that they’re friends, Jolie quickly discovers there’s a reason why Huong feels like the sister she never had: they’re the Trung sisters reincarnated!
I absolutely loved this book! We follow Jolie, a high school sophomore, during the roughest year of her life. She’s lost all her friends, she’s being heavily bullied, and even her home life is stressful. Her grandfather is known as a fortune teller, but his visions have begun to take a toll on his mind, and now her bullies are dragging him into things! Thankfully, everything starts to change once Huong enters the picture.
Jolie’s story is inspired by the story of the Trung sisters, who led a rebellion against the Han in Vietnam. Jolie and Huong are the Trung sisters who have been reincarnated and are currently teenagers living in San Jose. As the story continues, we learn what history tells us about the Trung sisters and then what Jolie and Huong remember happened. Plus, we also see them find their elements, unravel a mystery, and prepare to continue the war against their brothers.
I was so excited to read this because it sounded like it was going to be a great book, and it did not disappoint! Plus, I was not familiar with Vietnamese mythology and this book is heavily wrapped up in Vietnamese history and mythology. If you’re a fan of books like the Percy Jackson series, Aru Shah and the End of Time, or We Shall Be Monsters, then this is a book you’re going to want to pick up. I loved every single page. While I do think it was a little heavy handed with some of the typical teenage stereotypes, it was an excellent read. I’m looking forward to checking out more from this author.
Jolie Lam used to be just like any other teenager until she had a strange outbreak at a swim meet. She’s since quit the swim team, her former friends are now among her many bullies. Jolie is the most lonely and miserable she’s ever been! Everything changes when she saves a classmate, Huong Pham, after a terrible accident that happened during PE. There’s something familiar about Huong. Now that they’re friends, Jolie quickly discovers there’s a reason why Huong feels like the sister she never had: they’re the Trung sisters reincarnated!
I absolutely loved this book! We follow Jolie, a high school sophomore, during the roughest year of her life. She’s lost all her friends, she’s being heavily bullied, and even her home life is stressful. Her grandfather is known as a fortune teller, but his visions have begun to take a toll on his mind, and now her bullies are dragging him into things! Thankfully, everything starts to change once Huong enters the picture.
Jolie’s story is inspired by the story of the Trung sisters, who led a rebellion against the Han in Vietnam. Jolie and Huong are the Trung sisters who have been reincarnated and are currently teenagers living in San Jose. As the story continues, we learn what history tells us about the Trung sisters and then what Jolie and Huong remember happened. Plus, we also see them find their elements, unravel a mystery, and prepare to continue the war against their brothers.
I was so excited to read this because it sounded like it was going to be a great book, and it did not disappoint! Plus, I was not familiar with Vietnamese mythology and this book is heavily wrapped up in Vietnamese history and mythology. If you’re a fan of books like the Percy Jackson series, Aru Shah and the End of Time, or We Shall Be Monsters, then this is a book you’re going to want to pick up. I loved every single page. While I do think it was a little heavy handed with some of the typical teenage stereotypes, it was an excellent read. I’m looking forward to checking out more from this author.
May 10, 2025
Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions below are my own.
This was one of my most anticipated reads of this year. I generally love the weaving of mythological fantasy into the modern world. There have been a lot of recent books that have taken Asian mythology and weaved those characters into modern settings and wow-ed me. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark a bit for me. I know it's YA but the writing of the modern setting was actually written like a teenager wrote it. That balanced with the flowery language of the myths made for such abrupt transitions. The story has a ton of bullying, which I'm sure is accurate but it didn't make for an easy read. The second half was better than the first from a mythology standpoint but it still felt a bit predictable.
This was one of my most anticipated reads of this year. I generally love the weaving of mythological fantasy into the modern world. There have been a lot of recent books that have taken Asian mythology and weaved those characters into modern settings and wow-ed me. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark a bit for me. I know it's YA but the writing of the modern setting was actually written like a teenager wrote it. That balanced with the flowery language of the myths made for such abrupt transitions. The story has a ton of bullying, which I'm sure is accurate but it didn't make for an easy read. The second half was better than the first from a mythology standpoint but it still felt a bit predictable.
May 3, 2025
I recieved this book as an ARC as a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you for this chance! What follows is my honest review.
I am a white person in the my 30s. I am well aware that I am not the target audience and I so hope that a Vietnamese teenage girl finds this book and feels seen. I credit some of my complaints being that I am not the ideal reader.
I think this book was much stronger in the latter half. In the beginning, I was really struggling with feeling connected. A lot of the characters are unlikable and until you have a clearer idea of why, it makes for an unpleasant reading experience. When things begin to knit themselves together in the latter half (avoiding spoilers on how exactly), it becomes much more engaging.
In fact, the big reveal of one of the characters (avoiding who especially since this was an ARC) was excellent. In my reading journal, I even wrote "I am getting horrible vibes from [character]" but I also felt so guilty about that. I wanted to believe the best of them, just like Jolie did. When the doubts pay off though, when it ends up being even worse than you thought, it's so brilliant. Everything was there. And we even spotted some of the clues but Phan plays on the YA expectation of certain character tropes being trustworthy that you doubt yourself.
Until you can't avoid the truth anymore.
I am a white person in the my 30s. I am well aware that I am not the target audience and I so hope that a Vietnamese teenage girl finds this book and feels seen. I credit some of my complaints being that I am not the ideal reader.
I think this book was much stronger in the latter half. In the beginning, I was really struggling with feeling connected. A lot of the characters are unlikable and until you have a clearer idea of why, it makes for an unpleasant reading experience. When things begin to knit themselves together in the latter half (avoiding spoilers on how exactly), it becomes much more engaging.
In fact, the big reveal of one of the characters (avoiding who especially since this was an ARC) was excellent. In my reading journal, I even wrote "I am getting horrible vibes from [character]" but I also felt so guilty about that. I wanted to believe the best of them, just like Jolie did. When the doubts pay off though, when it ends up being even worse than you thought, it's so brilliant. Everything was there. And we even spotted some of the clues but Phan plays on the YA expectation of certain character tropes being trustworthy that you doubt yourself.
Until you can't avoid the truth anymore.
April 16, 2025
This one’s hard to review. I loved the first 40ish% and absolutely tore through it. We had unexplained / unwanted powers, dangerous visions, high school mean girls, a sprinkling of Vietnamese mythology, fraught family dynamics (made even more fraught with the added pressure of dementia). Jolie (though her name wasn’t mentioned until almost 1/3 into the book, whoops) was a very relatable protagonist; she has normal teenage girl problems, mixed race kid problems, absent father problems, bullying victim problems. And then we add some supernatural problems and things get much more interesting.
However, once the first layer of truth falls into place, we get kind of repetitive. Jolie loses her defined edges and gets swept up in Huong without really doing much. This is where it kind of started to lose me. We were told that Jolie was getting more confident, more popular (?), but we didn’t really see it. So little of the book actually takes place at school. It took us a long time to get to the “so what” - like, why do we care about the things Huong is telling us to care about.
And then when things shifted again, the villains all felt very cartoonish. We have the same sort of “why should anyone care about weak, mortal humans? Blah blah blah” speech over and over by 4 different people.
I did like the end a lot and think it really brought our sisters full circle, but it also felt a little too neat.
{Thank you Putnam for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
However, once the first layer of truth falls into place, we get kind of repetitive. Jolie loses her defined edges and gets swept up in Huong without really doing much. This is where it kind of started to lose me. We were told that Jolie was getting more confident, more popular (?), but we didn’t really see it. So little of the book actually takes place at school. It took us a long time to get to the “so what” - like, why do we care about the things Huong is telling us to care about.
And then when things shifted again, the villains all felt very cartoonish. We have the same sort of “why should anyone care about weak, mortal humans? Blah blah blah” speech over and over by 4 different people.
I did like the end a lot and think it really brought our sisters full circle, but it also felt a little too neat.
{Thank you Putnam for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
Read
April 24, 2025DNF - too much high school drama, not enough fantasy for me!
April 14, 2025
Unfortunately this is a DNF for me. I really tried to give it a shot but it comes across veryyy young even for a YA. I typically love YA fantasy so this was a bit of a disappointing surprise. I also did not enjoy the interactions between characters a lot of the time. It was giving me flashbacks to the cringy dialogue and characters I wrote on wattpad in middle school…
I’m sure I would’ve loved this if I were younger but sadly adult me cannot get through this.
I’m sure I would’ve loved this if I were younger but sadly adult me cannot get through this.
April 11, 2025
Am I the villain? Am I the drama?
I did not like this one for so many reasons, and I was so mad by the end of this book that I will not be picking up the rest of this duology.
First of all, I felt like this duology could've been a standalone. By the end of this book, it was giving "this meeting could've been an email" energy. The first 50% is so slow and all we do is linger in Jolie's sad sack life. All the twists were predictable, and these immortal gods all felt like immature children rather than powerful beings of earth and time.
I also found some of the dialogue to be filled with racial self hatred. Like what do you mean the full Viet teenager thinks the Bible is cooler than Viet history and mythology?? Also, one of the MCs racially discriminates against mixed people?? It felt very icky reading that. I kind of get how it plays into characterization, but it's barely countered so it almost normalizes it. There's also classism. Again, feeds into the character but the language felt out of place for a couple of high schoolers.
That leads me to dialogue and language as a whole. So much exposition, high schoolers sounding either too hauty or too over-the-top cruel, and immortals sounding like sixteen year old brats (you're hundreds of years old, get your life together??). I read an ARC, so I hope a lot of that is cleaned up for the final copy.
Lastly, the world building was okay. The mythology was mildly interesting, but it also started to become a mess in the second half. After a while, I kind of gave up on trying to follow the world building elements because the magic was all kind of everywhere. There's no real distinction between what the divine elements versus the prime elements do, and they all kind of are able to just make anything happen, so I don't see what makes one more special than the other?? Either way, it was kind of chaotic and the book ended the way it did in that kind of felt like someone took a breath in, but didn't get to exhale. So, there is drama, but it didn't capture me enough to want to read book two.
This was a highly anticipated book for me, and the version of it I read just didn't hit the mark in any way, shape, or form.
TW: vomit, injury detail, body shaming, dementia, ableism/ableist language, bullying, cyber bullying, death of a parent, war, fire/fire injury, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, gaslighting, grooming, alienation as a tactic for manipulation, emotional abuse, racism, micro-aggressions, suicidal ideation; mentions a pool accident, pregnancy, cancer, death, earthquake, car accident, disappearance of a minor, injury leading to blindness
ARC gifted by Penguin Teen Canada in exchange for an honest review.
I did not like this one for so many reasons, and I was so mad by the end of this book that I will not be picking up the rest of this duology.
First of all, I felt like this duology could've been a standalone. By the end of this book, it was giving "this meeting could've been an email" energy. The first 50% is so slow and all we do is linger in Jolie's sad sack life. All the twists were predictable, and these immortal gods all felt like immature children rather than powerful beings of earth and time.
I also found some of the dialogue to be filled with racial self hatred. Like what do you mean the full Viet teenager thinks the Bible is cooler than Viet history and mythology?? Also, one of the MCs racially discriminates against mixed people?? It felt very icky reading that. I kind of get how it plays into characterization, but it's barely countered so it almost normalizes it. There's also classism. Again, feeds into the character but the language felt out of place for a couple of high schoolers.
That leads me to dialogue and language as a whole. So much exposition, high schoolers sounding either too hauty or too over-the-top cruel, and immortals sounding like sixteen year old brats (you're hundreds of years old, get your life together??). I read an ARC, so I hope a lot of that is cleaned up for the final copy.
Lastly, the world building was okay. The mythology was mildly interesting, but it also started to become a mess in the second half. After a while, I kind of gave up on trying to follow the world building elements because the magic was all kind of everywhere. There's no real distinction between what the divine elements versus the prime elements do, and they all kind of are able to just make anything happen, so I don't see what makes one more special than the other?? Either way, it was kind of chaotic and the book ended the way it did in that kind of felt like someone took a breath in, but didn't get to exhale. So, there is drama, but it didn't capture me enough to want to read book two.
This was a highly anticipated book for me, and the version of it I read just didn't hit the mark in any way, shape, or form.
TW: vomit, injury detail, body shaming, dementia, ableism/ableist language, bullying, cyber bullying, death of a parent, war, fire/fire injury, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, gaslighting, grooming, alienation as a tactic for manipulation, emotional abuse, racism, micro-aggressions, suicidal ideation; mentions a pool accident, pregnancy, cancer, death, earthquake, car accident, disappearance of a minor, injury leading to blindness
ARC gifted by Penguin Teen Canada in exchange for an honest review.
February 13, 2025
I've always loved a well-crafted fantasy retelling—color me curious when you throw in dragons and magic—and The Lost Queen does a fantastic job blending the Vietnamese folklore of the Trung Sisters/Queens with modern-day struggles. Stories based on Vietnamese legends are rare, so I truly appreciated the chance to learn more about this history and culture.
Jolie, a high school student and descendant of a thầy bói (fortune teller), begins experiencing unsettling visions in class, which leads to her being labeled a pariah. As she unravels the mysteries of her past, the narrative moves at a fast pace. While I found some of the puzzle pieces easy to put together (I had more Huong tendencies, growing a bit impatient for Jolie to catch up), there were still some great surprises and satisfying "aha" moments when everything clicked into place. I also appreciated how we got to uncover Jolie’s past alongside her, experiencing each revelation as she did.
One of my favorite aspects was how seamlessly the story wove California’s earthquakes and wildfires into magic and mythology, bridging past and present in a way that felt natural and immersive.
Now, my complaint—or rather, my protest—is that I wanted more time with the supporting characters. Since this is a duology, I’m hopeful we’ll get to meet Jolie’s biological father from the modern world. I understand that this story was primarily about Jolie and Huong (and in some ways, Jolie’s journey of self-discovery), but I wished for more interactions with her grandfather and more insight into her training with him. The small moments we did get were lovely, and I wanted to see even more of her biological family and friends. Also, the ending felt like it needed a stronger hook—just a little more insight into what’s to come would have made it more impactful.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel!
**Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.**
Jolie, a high school student and descendant of a thầy bói (fortune teller), begins experiencing unsettling visions in class, which leads to her being labeled a pariah. As she unravels the mysteries of her past, the narrative moves at a fast pace. While I found some of the puzzle pieces easy to put together (I had more Huong tendencies, growing a bit impatient for Jolie to catch up), there were still some great surprises and satisfying "aha" moments when everything clicked into place. I also appreciated how we got to uncover Jolie’s past alongside her, experiencing each revelation as she did.
One of my favorite aspects was how seamlessly the story wove California’s earthquakes and wildfires into magic and mythology, bridging past and present in a way that felt natural and immersive.
Now, my complaint—or rather, my protest—is that I wanted more time with the supporting characters. Since this is a duology, I’m hopeful we’ll get to meet Jolie’s biological father from the modern world. I understand that this story was primarily about Jolie and Huong (and in some ways, Jolie’s journey of self-discovery), but I wished for more interactions with her grandfather and more insight into her training with him. The small moments we did get were lovely, and I wanted to see even more of her biological family and friends. Also, the ending felt like it needed a stronger hook—just a little more insight into what’s to come would have made it more impactful.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel!
**Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.**
July 31, 2025
The Lost Queen was a great YA fantasy that includes interesting Vietnamese lore, looks into the bonds of sisterhood, and has a great cast of characters that together create this beautiful little gem. I can't wait for the next one!! I wish I had it NOW!
Aimee Phan has a very lyrical writing style that takes you right into the heart of Vietnam and San Jose. I really appreciated the tales written throughout the book as well as learning more about Vietnam history and culture. I especially loved learning about the Trung sisters!!
I loved the theme of self discovery throughout the novel especially because our main character happens to be a teenager. We are all still discovering ourselves at that time and I feel like the author really brought me back to that time in my life where it was a constant worry about being liked. I myself was also an outcast so I really related to Jolie and all she was going through. I was so proud of her growth and where she was by the end of the book.
I highly recommend The Lost Queen to all my fellow fantasy fans, anyone interesting in Vietnamese lore and/or culture, and any fans of dragons!
Aimee Phan has a very lyrical writing style that takes you right into the heart of Vietnam and San Jose. I really appreciated the tales written throughout the book as well as learning more about Vietnam history and culture. I especially loved learning about the Trung sisters!!
I loved the theme of self discovery throughout the novel especially because our main character happens to be a teenager. We are all still discovering ourselves at that time and I feel like the author really brought me back to that time in my life where it was a constant worry about being liked. I myself was also an outcast so I really related to Jolie and all she was going through. I was so proud of her growth and where she was by the end of the book.
I highly recommend The Lost Queen to all my fellow fantasy fans, anyone interesting in Vietnamese lore and/or culture, and any fans of dragons!
April 15, 2025
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.
As a Vietnamese-American who was highly anticipating this book, it breaks my heart to be rating this so low. I was so excited for the incorporation of Vietnamese myth and culture, and to be fair, those were the parts of the book I enjoyed the most, but everything else was...disappointing, to say the least. I wanted a lot more from this book than it gave me. The prose was not lyrical as I was promised but lackluster; the dialogue tags were littered with very basic "said"s with little exploration of how the characters were actually feeling/acting. I feel like Jolie's numerous realizations came out of nowhere because there was no real exploration of how she reached them. The characters' dialogue and interactions came across flat and basic; I felt a lot of times like they were repeating the same arguments to each other. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing, particularly in the last 25% which I really struggled through because of all the sudden revelations that weren't properly foreshadowed until the moment they're revealed and also because the sequence of events was just plain confusing. I think the author was going for a surreal and dreamy atmosphere but the transitions between the mundane and the fantastical were jarring and didn't flow very well. I also never really felt transported back to ancient Vietnam in certain portions because of how bare-bones the descriptions were, and I feel like I had a difficult time understanding how the elements worked and what "realms" are even supposed to be. Speaking of the elements, it felt very underwhelming every instance I think this is part of the reason why I didn't feel like I fully grasped their significance.
A major issue with this book also is the lack of depth in the characters and relationships. I thought there was a lot of potential with Jolie and Huong's relationship in the beginning and I see what the author was going for, but it just wasn't executed very well. I don't mind To be fair, this can be realistic in real life relationships but I think here it could've been executed more smoothly in a subtler way. Another area where I feel like there was missed potential was Jolie's relationships with her two former friends. Because Jolie is hanging out with Huong for most of the book, we never really get to have a good sense of how good friends they were before Jolie's incident and are again just told that they were, so it makes There was a similar lack of development for Huong's relationships with KT and Harsha, and I get the focus of the book is on Jolie and Huong but the rest of the characters should've appeared much more and been fleshed out more for these ideas to work. I did like Jolie's relationship with Ông Nội, however, but I have to admit, .
All in all, I didn't hate this book but it was underwhelming to me and I had more issues with it than things I liked. I'm not sure I'll pick up the sequel, but I'm not opposed to reading more of the author's work in the future and I wish her the best.
As a Vietnamese-American who was highly anticipating this book, it breaks my heart to be rating this so low. I was so excited for the incorporation of Vietnamese myth and culture, and to be fair, those were the parts of the book I enjoyed the most, but everything else was...disappointing, to say the least. I wanted a lot more from this book than it gave me. The prose was not lyrical as I was promised but lackluster; the dialogue tags were littered with very basic "said"s with little exploration of how the characters were actually feeling/acting. I feel like Jolie's numerous realizations came out of nowhere because there was no real exploration of how she reached them. The characters' dialogue and interactions came across flat and basic; I felt a lot of times like they were repeating the same arguments to each other. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing, particularly in the last 25% which I really struggled through because of all the sudden revelations that weren't properly foreshadowed until the moment they're revealed and also because the sequence of events was just plain confusing. I think the author was going for a surreal and dreamy atmosphere but the transitions between the mundane and the fantastical were jarring and didn't flow very well. I also never really felt transported back to ancient Vietnam in certain portions because of how bare-bones the descriptions were, and I feel like I had a difficult time understanding how the elements worked and what "realms" are even supposed to be. Speaking of the elements, it felt very underwhelming every instance I think this is part of the reason why I didn't feel like I fully grasped their significance.
A major issue with this book also is the lack of depth in the characters and relationships. I thought there was a lot of potential with Jolie and Huong's relationship in the beginning and I see what the author was going for, but it just wasn't executed very well. I don't mind To be fair, this can be realistic in real life relationships but I think here it could've been executed more smoothly in a subtler way. Another area where I feel like there was missed potential was Jolie's relationships with her two former friends. Because Jolie is hanging out with Huong for most of the book, we never really get to have a good sense of how good friends they were before Jolie's incident and are again just told that they were, so it makes There was a similar lack of development for Huong's relationships with KT and Harsha, and I get the focus of the book is on Jolie and Huong but the rest of the characters should've appeared much more and been fleshed out more for these ideas to work. I did like Jolie's relationship with Ông Nội, however, but I have to admit, .
All in all, I didn't hate this book but it was underwhelming to me and I had more issues with it than things I liked. I'm not sure I'll pick up the sequel, but I'm not opposed to reading more of the author's work in the future and I wish her the best.
June 1, 2025
“The last few weeks, I’d been suppressing and wishing away these visions, but they kept coming, infringing upon my reality.”
I loved that part, when we don’t know what is a dream, a true event, hallucinations, or the rising of fantasy elements. Our reality wobbled at the same time as the MFC’s, and adding the challenges her grandfather had to deal with at the same time just increased that feeling, making the reading truly engaging. These blurry lines, moving all the time, and the helping hand that emerges from that fog constituted my favorite parts of the book.
The WB made me discover some Vietnamese folklore, which was new to me. I loved that it first happened through her grandfather and his book (that book is something!) as it made the MC get back in touch with her roots and her cultural legacy, as much as it introduced the information to the reader in a very progressive –and not overwhelming– way. It helped to keep some mystery too, and honestly I could never say which character could be trusted, and which couldn’t. I loved that uncertainty, just as much as I loved the Sisterhood motif, pictured in all its beauty –and “ugliness”. In the end, Joli Lam has to face many twists and turns and to learn how one can take responsibilities, and that making choices isn’t always easy –and certainly never black or white. I loved that she had to do that without having all information in hands, as its probably the best way to picture how life works, and made of this story a great initiatic journey, with an end that completely left me hanging, (im)patiently waiting for book 2.
Thank you to the author, ColoredPages PR and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the eARC on NetGalley. My opinions are my own.
I loved that part, when we don’t know what is a dream, a true event, hallucinations, or the rising of fantasy elements. Our reality wobbled at the same time as the MFC’s, and adding the challenges her grandfather had to deal with at the same time just increased that feeling, making the reading truly engaging. These blurry lines, moving all the time, and the helping hand that emerges from that fog constituted my favorite parts of the book.
The WB made me discover some Vietnamese folklore, which was new to me. I loved that it first happened through her grandfather and his book (that book is something!) as it made the MC get back in touch with her roots and her cultural legacy, as much as it introduced the information to the reader in a very progressive –and not overwhelming– way. It helped to keep some mystery too, and honestly I could never say which character could be trusted, and which couldn’t. I loved that uncertainty, just as much as I loved the Sisterhood motif, pictured in all its beauty –and “ugliness”. In the end, Joli Lam has to face many twists and turns and to learn how one can take responsibilities, and that making choices isn’t always easy –and certainly never black or white. I loved that she had to do that without having all information in hands, as its probably the best way to picture how life works, and made of this story a great initiatic journey, with an end that completely left me hanging, (im)patiently waiting for book 2.
Thank you to the author, ColoredPages PR and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the eARC on NetGalley. My opinions are my own.
April 25, 2025
I was torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one. I was not left totally satisfied with the ending but then coming onto Goodreads and seeing that this is actually a duology, I have since revised my feelings on the ending.
If you’ve read my reviews before you know that I’m not a magical realism girlie. I like my worlds all real or all magical 😂 - however, I did actually like the blend here.
Another element that I really loved was the Vietnamese lore and mythology woven into the story. I feel like that’s a culture that I don’t see represented often in fantasy but there is such a rich world of inspiration to draw from that I’d love to see more of it! I also found myself wanting to research the mythology after I finished reading which is always a good sign especially in YA books. Reading diversely in itself is great but wanting to educate yourself further on diverse topics brings it to the next level. I love when books inspire me to want to learn more about a topic or culture.
Although this wasn’t pitched as a romance, I was kind of expecting something? I feel like a deeper relationship of some kind was missing from the book. The main character does bond with another character but I felt like there was something missing for her. I’d love to see romance or mending of her previous friendships explored in the second book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I’d read more from this author and I’d continue this series.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you’ve read my reviews before you know that I’m not a magical realism girlie. I like my worlds all real or all magical 😂 - however, I did actually like the blend here.
Another element that I really loved was the Vietnamese lore and mythology woven into the story. I feel like that’s a culture that I don’t see represented often in fantasy but there is such a rich world of inspiration to draw from that I’d love to see more of it! I also found myself wanting to research the mythology after I finished reading which is always a good sign especially in YA books. Reading diversely in itself is great but wanting to educate yourself further on diverse topics brings it to the next level. I love when books inspire me to want to learn more about a topic or culture.
Although this wasn’t pitched as a romance, I was kind of expecting something? I feel like a deeper relationship of some kind was missing from the book. The main character does bond with another character but I felt like there was something missing for her. I’d love to see romance or mending of her previous friendships explored in the second book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I’d read more from this author and I’d continue this series.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May 31, 2025
If you’re looking for a YA fantasy packed with ancient magic, reincarnation, self-discovery, dragons, friendship, and sisterhood—then you can give this one a try!
The Lost Queen instantly caught my eye—the premise and cover drew me in, and I was excited to dive into a story inspired by Vietnamese lore, which I haven’t explored much before.
I loved how the book brought Vietnamese culture and mythology to life. The dragons, the legendary Trưng sisters, and even the Thai boy—everything was beautifully woven together and fascinating to follow!
Jolie’s journey of self-discovery was really engaging. Watching her unravel the memories of her past lives and search for her true identity kept me hooked. I also liked seeing her reconnect with her old friends, though, honestly, they were kind of frustrating—too mean and annoying at times.
There’s a twist that genuinely surprised me, but aside from that, the pacing felt a bit off. Some parts, especially the dreams and flashbacks, were confusing. The last 30% of the book was probably the hardest to follow—it felt rushed, with no time to process one major event before another unfolded.
It wrapped up with a small cliffhanger, setting up the final book in the duology.
I might continue reading, but I’m hoping things will be more developed and explored in the next installment!
Thank you to Colored Pages Book Tour, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!
⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: bullying, toxic friendship, death, violence, brief mention of blood, murder and war
The Lost Queen instantly caught my eye—the premise and cover drew me in, and I was excited to dive into a story inspired by Vietnamese lore, which I haven’t explored much before.
I loved how the book brought Vietnamese culture and mythology to life. The dragons, the legendary Trưng sisters, and even the Thai boy—everything was beautifully woven together and fascinating to follow!
Jolie’s journey of self-discovery was really engaging. Watching her unravel the memories of her past lives and search for her true identity kept me hooked. I also liked seeing her reconnect with her old friends, though, honestly, they were kind of frustrating—too mean and annoying at times.
There’s a twist that genuinely surprised me, but aside from that, the pacing felt a bit off. Some parts, especially the dreams and flashbacks, were confusing. The last 30% of the book was probably the hardest to follow—it felt rushed, with no time to process one major event before another unfolded.
It wrapped up with a small cliffhanger, setting up the final book in the duology.
I might continue reading, but I’m hoping things will be more developed and explored in the next installment!
Thank you to Colored Pages Book Tour, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!
⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: bullying, toxic friendship, death, violence, brief mention of blood, murder and war
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June 1, 2025I wanted to love this book (was hoping for similar vibes as The Epic Crush of Genie Lo), but…it fell completely flat for me.
Mainly because this book reads like it was written by an adult who has not interacted with a teenager recently. The high school characters had bizarre dialogue, like the girls constantly commenting on each other’s boobs, or making jokes about girls being angry because they’re on their period (because…it’s not misogynistic if it’s another girl making the joke…?). Also, there is no Asian American teen who cares about the wars the country of their heritage waged thousands of years ago, or even a few decades ago. I can guarantee second (or third, etc.) generation Chinese Americans barely know enough about World War II to go around despising Japanese Americans. That was just so unrealistic (and felt kind of problematic?).
The pacing was pretty slow, most of the characters ranged from flat to unlikeable, and the magic system didn’t make sense to me. (Why did Jolie and Huong have mind-reading powers? It seems like that should’ve broken the plot?) Sadly, this was a DNF.
Mainly because this book reads like it was written by an adult who has not interacted with a teenager recently. The high school characters had bizarre dialogue, like the girls constantly commenting on each other’s boobs, or making jokes about girls being angry because they’re on their period (because…it’s not misogynistic if it’s another girl making the joke…?). Also, there is no Asian American teen who cares about the wars the country of their heritage waged thousands of years ago, or even a few decades ago. I can guarantee second (or third, etc.) generation Chinese Americans barely know enough about World War II to go around despising Japanese Americans. That was just so unrealistic (and felt kind of problematic?).
The pacing was pretty slow, most of the characters ranged from flat to unlikeable, and the magic system didn’t make sense to me. (Why did Jolie and Huong have mind-reading powers? It seems like that should’ve broken the plot?) Sadly, this was a DNF.
May 29, 2025
The Lost Queen is the retelling of the Trung sisters' rebellion retellings, the story of China's invasion of Vietnam. Jolie is high school student who does not really feel like she fits in. It does not help her grandfather is seen as a joke within their community of being some sort of fortune teller. One day, she finds herself saving Huong, a popular girl, and developing a bond that will unlock buried secrets and past lives.
The longer I sit on this and think about the review, the more I am inclined to feel a little let down by this story. It was very confusing at times the when reality was being blurred by the characters' abilities to jump through realms and times. So the events that were happening were questionable of "how is this happening in a pool?" The Lost Queen deserved to have more time and better editing, as it has the potential to be a great story. I did enjoy some aspects, such as the mixing in the mythology and retellings with the story, and of course the dragons. However, no matter how much I loved certain parts of the book, the parts that were lacking were hard to overlook. Rooting for the next book.
Thank you to Netgalley, GP Putnam's Sons books for Young Readers for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review. Full reviews on Storygraph and GR.
The longer I sit on this and think about the review, the more I am inclined to feel a little let down by this story. It was very confusing at times the when reality was being blurred by the characters' abilities to jump through realms and times. So the events that were happening were questionable of "how is this happening in a pool?" The Lost Queen deserved to have more time and better editing, as it has the potential to be a great story. I did enjoy some aspects, such as the mixing in the mythology and retellings with the story, and of course the dragons. However, no matter how much I loved certain parts of the book, the parts that were lacking were hard to overlook. Rooting for the next book.
Thank you to Netgalley, GP Putnam's Sons books for Young Readers for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review. Full reviews on Storygraph and GR.
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