4 out of 4 stars
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What would you do if you knew the world was coming to an end? How would you prepare, who would be by your side? What if you could stop it? What if you helped instigate this end?
In his novel, A Kingdom Forgotten, Charles W. McDonald Jr. introduces his readers to life beyond planet Earth. Each of these planets holds their own uniqueness. Some permit more use of magic than others; some are more technologically advanced. The entire novel covers a timespan of about a thousand years, often jumping between ‘a long time ago’, ‘present day’, and ‘near future’ as well as covers the happenings on each of the planets.
These worlds all start to form links between one another as we follow Damon’s quest in advancing his ‘Master Plan’. Damon is a famously known dark knight, whose home planet is in Kaleion. Alongside Damon, there are many other powerful characters including Banthis, Eldrac, Talemar, Evanyil, and Radin.
The main plot of the novel centres around “Creation Undone”, in other words, Armageddon. Just as in many societies and cultures, each of these planets has their own version of how the world ends. It’s just a matter of when and how. There is a general feeling that this time is coming soon. Especially with the outbreak of WWIII on Earth. The use of technology and magic on these planets have slowly degraded their inhabitant’s lives. There is a legend that the beginning of the end will begin with the first prophecy being fulfilled. While an unlikely group band together to help fight this prophecy from coming true, Damon continues his work so he can be prepared for when the end comes.
With a plot spanning thousands of years, multiple planets and dimensions, there is a lot of information to absorb. I give the author credit, he did an amazing job at not blurting all the information out at once. He introduced each character and a new scene with clarity that allowed the reader to digest and get comfortable with it before adding more. I’ll admit, I had to write down the names of various characters with little descriptors to keep from getting confused. But this only lasted for a small portion of the novel until I got familiar with what was going on. As I read further, I really began to appreciate the thought and the planning that went into each part of this novel. The characters have a unique story and the author really challenges what makes a character a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ person. I think this planning is what sets this novel apart from other science fiction novels. Though the ideas are far-fetched, this planning made it easy to immerse yourself in the characters’ world.
One of the things that jumped out at me right off the bat was the author’s description of magic. Magic isn’t portrayed as the key to every problem. It is simply a tool. Like any other piece of technology, it takes time and skill to hone in on its powers. Damon is shown taking time and plenty of strength to create spells. Often, characters are shown completing tasks physically instead of using their magical powers, or only using their powers for a small portion of the task. For example, Damon’s late wife has a blacksmith wield her the perfect sword for her husband as a gift. While magic is used to enchant it, the sword is formed physically.
While I really enjoyed the development of the plot and characters, I found the presence of the many subplots to be distracting. Often it felt like the plot was going off on a tangent and then just ending. For the first three-quarters of the book, I was pretty much lost as to what was going on. There were moments when it felt like the plot was at a standstill and what I was reading was just filler. These parts weren’t very enjoyable and I felt there was a lot of repetition in the descriptions. It wasn’t until the last part of the book that everything started to become clear and come full circle.
At first, I was tempted to rate this novel a 3 out of 4 stars on basis that I feel it could have been shortened substantially by eliminating a lot of the complex descriptions and replacing them with ‘short and sweet’ ones. But as I finished the novel, I really began to appreciate the novel and all the complexities that come with it. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a complex, thought-provoking novel. Despite a few errors, the novel deserves a 4 out of 4 stars rating.
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A Kingdom Forgotten
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