Journey Across Realms With The Lost Queen By Aimee Phan

With AAPI month in full swing, there’s no better time to release a book like The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan! This new YA novel combines a Vietnamese-inspired historical fantasy with a contemporary coming-of-age story.

The Lost Queen follows fifteen-year-old Jolie Lam, who’s left friendless and shunned at school after a meltdown at a swim meet last year. Jolie’s life turns around when she saves Huong Pham, the most popular girl at school.

Only Jolie doesn’t know just how much her life would change or how deep her history with Huong actually is. Buckle in for a journey across dreams and realms in Aimee Phan’s The Lost Queen!

Book Overview: The Lost Queen

Content warnings: deaths of family members, suicide, violence, slight gore, bullying, cyber bullying, warfare, weapons, vomiting, natural disaster, plague

Summary: Jolie Lam, a high school sophomore in San Jose, is known for two things: 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 powers: telepathic abilities, fluency in Vietnamese, and eerie premonitions. This leads them to a shocking revelation: they have ties to legendary queens and goddesses of ancient Vietnam. 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.

Vietnamese Representation

We at THP make it our mission to expand the diversity of our reading lists with every new book review. And The Lost Queen gives us the Vietnamese representation we’ve been searching for! From the legend of the Trung sisters to magical folktales about dragons, it oozes Viet culture. Trung Trac and Trung Nhi led the first rebellion against the Chinese Han dynasty. Today, their legacy remains a proud symbol of Vietnamese nationalism. We love how this book highlights such a core part of Viet history. We also adore Jolie’s bond with her grandparents, who help keep her heritage alive.

Sealed Magic & Interconnected Realms

In The Lost Queen, Jolie soon finds out she’s the reincarnation of Trung Nhi, a ruler and goddess of ancient Vietnam. In order to access her true power, she must navigate through dreams and memories to find it. She sealed her elements centuries ago, keeping them away from her greedy, destructive siblings. Jolie and Huong (Trung Trac) freely travel from modern-day San Jose to ancient Vietnam. Time works differently between both locations. They meet up in dreams and even venture into a realm of their origins as twin dragons by the end. We loved every bit of this adventure and can’t wait for more!

Preparing For The Sequel

Luckily for us, Aimee Phan’s The Lost Queen is only the first book of a duology. With the unexpected ending of book one, we can only imagine how powerful Jolie/Trung Nhi is now. She has fully claimed the elements from her parents and can transform into a dragon. (Talk about OP!) We don’t quite know her three brothers’ fate yet, but we imagine their existence will remain in conflict with her own. But Jolie has also changed for the better, now that she has a better support system and friends she can trust. We’re confident she can survive anything else that may come her way in the sequel.

The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan comes out May 6th, and you can order a copy of it here!

What do you think of our book review for Aimee Phan’s The Lost Queen? Are you planning to read it? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

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