The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan
Series: The Lost Queen #1
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on May 6, 2025
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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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.

Read if you like:

• Mythology/folklore
• Reincarnation
• Vietnamese history
• Fantasy elements
• Gorgeous writing

My thoughts:

The Lost Queen had so much potential and while it lived up to it in some ways, it fell flat in so many others. I wanted to love this one but I just ended up being confused by much of it.

Aimee Phan’s gorgeous writing is the only saving grace when it comes to The Lost Queen. The writing, while being easy to read and rather simple at times, was absolutely lovely. Aimee Phan painted such a vivid picture of both modern day San Jose as well as historical Vietnam.

The Vietnamese mythology was fascinating but ultimately hard to follow. I admit to knowing nothing about Vietnamese folklore and history so that may have caused some of the confusion. It may be easier to follow if you are already familiar with the story of the Trung sisters. The pacing of the story didn’t quite work either. It felt like there was a lot of buildup only for the big battle at the end to be extremely rushed and anticlimactic.

There was some confusion for me regarding the flashbacks and the stories from Jolie’s mythology book. There were times when I couldn’t tell what was myth and what was supposed to be an actual flashback from her past life.

As far as the characters go, I’m torn. I both loved and hated Jolie. She was so easy to relate to in some aspects, like her family situation and the bullying she was dealing with from her classmates and former friends. However, she was so meek at times that I couldn’t stand it. She let people use her and walk all over her. I wanted her to stand up for herself so badly. She did come into her own a bit over the course of the book but there wasn’t enough growth to satisfy me. The remaining characters were so one-dimensional I honestly struggled to tell some of them apart. The male characters in particular all just blended together. There really weren’t any stand out characters in the book and most of the secondary characters were entirely forgettable.

Don’t even get me started on the magical aspects of The Lost Queen. Most of the magical elements to this story were beyond baffling. The different elements, distributing/sharing the elements, the portals; none of it made any sense to me. This book genuinely made me feel stupid at times because I struggled so hard to follow along.

Overall, The Lost Queen wasn’t for me. I appreciate the idea behind it and I loved learning about the Trung sisters but there were too many confusing elements for me to fully enjoy it.

TL;DR

The Lost Queen presents a fascinating and gorgeously written look at the Vietnamese story of the Trung sisters. A truly unique premise, it unfortunately didn’t quite work in the execution. A lack of character development and some puzzling magical elements made The Lost Queen fall flat and while I enjoyed most of it, I couldn’t fully immerse myself in this story. I cannot see myself reaching for the second book in this duology.

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