Reviews

A Drowned Kingdom by P.L. Stuart

amy_harboredinpages's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

As began my reading I found myself wanting to know how the kingdom drowned, and why so many were lost during this event. where would these survivors go, how would they rebuild... so many questions... as the book ended... who to trust... political/royal machinations... betrayal... more questions... I will just have yo puck ip book 2...

drewkheard's review

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challenging slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

marshmallowbits's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

kevinscorner's review

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4.0

A Drowned Kingdom is a high fantasy series opener by P.L. Stuart. What makes this so different is that it is an Atlantean fantasy (the first I’ve read) and is very reminiscent of Arthurian fantasies, except it’s about Atlantis. Told in the first person from the exiled prince Othrun’s perspective, it follows his journey as second prince to rebel to the savior of the survivors of his drowned kingdom.

It is apparent that P.L. Stewart has a vision, and he has written a detailed and well-thought-out world in A Drowned Kingdom. The first part starts off a bit exposition-heavy and relies a bit too much on Othrun narrating most of the events. But once the the cataclysm happens, the book really ramps up on the action and character interactions. Not only that, it also adds a whole new layer of angels and gods into the initially straightforward narrative—making the book feel more like a fantasy than a historical (as much as an story about Atlantis can be). I am intentionally being vague to avoid spoilers.

Throughout the book, I really questioned whether Othrun is a hero or villain because there is just a quality to him that feels both earnest and somewhat sinister. What is it that makes a hero or a villain anyway? The story really makes you think about his worldview and how he conveys himself in it. By the end, I got a better grasp of who he is.

Overall, A Drowned Kingdom is a long but engaging first installment with a compellingly conflicting lead that promises of more to come.

*I received an ebook copy of this book as part of a book tour in exchange for a review/post.

birdieandthebooks7's review

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The link connected below is an interview that I did with the author about the book. The interview contains spoilers

https://www.youtube.com/live/5Sc7eddcWZ8?feature=share

dragontomes2000's review

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2.0

I have been sitting on this review for like a full day now. A Drowned Kingdom is a book I struggled with at the very beginning. I did start this book and put it down after the first 50 pages but decided to give it another go. Was it still a struggle, very much so, but by the end my interest is piqued. For how long, we shall see.

A Drowned Kingdom is split into three parts and part one is nothing but world building and the main character describing his past. It is like 128 pages with little dialogue. I am almost certain it is like 10 pages of dialogue, the rest is pretty much inferred that it happened. It is very jarring and makes part one really hard to get through. But then you come to Parts two and three and it is almost as if the book was written by a different author. The story starts to develop and the pace is much quicker although not a lot really happens. I have seen places that this will be a seven book series so there is still a lot of story to be told.

The last thing I will talk about really briefly is that what saved this book, is the world building because it is really fascinating. It is very religious focused (which I myself am not religious so that was hard for me but didn't hinder me in anyway). It is also very rich and there is much potential. What really hindered this book, besides the pacing, was the main character of Othrun and the characters in general. Othrun is only memorable because being inside his head and his head only is hard. He is a man stuck in his ways and his way is just not hitting it. He is quite insufferable and I want the other characters to shake some sense into him.

I am intrigued enough to see how the story develops in book two. I enjoyed what was transpiring in parts two and three, I hope the author continues in that style rather then what he did in part one. I don't know if this review is going to help people or deter people. Honestly, this book seems like one you just have to read for yourself.

wolfmantula's review

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adventurous slow-paced

5.0

A couple things got me onto this book, first was the cover, it’s absolutely stunning for being so minimalistic with two shapes and some water. The second thing that got me was the name of the book and series, when I saw it I immediately added it to my TBR, I just knew I had to read it. What took me so long to read this was waiting for an opening in my scheduled TBR. With book 1 of the Daevabadtrilogy by S.A. Chakraborty not being Whispersync’d, I decided to push that down my list and bring A Drowned Kingdom up!

“There was a saying in Atalantyx. Fools fall for tricks. Fools then fall.”


This is the first novel of a seven book series, A Drowned Kingdom is broken into 3 parts, part 1 has been described as a “slow burn” because it has a lot of focus on world and character building, it reminds me of how Robert Jackson Bennett starts off his Divine Cities trilogy with a chunk of the book creating the beautiful world and it’s people. It is told in a 1st person POV of past tense style of how the kingdom has fallen and how it happened. Parts 2 & 3 kick up the pace of the story with the characters off to discover a new land. There is still minimal action and magic that happens, even though the action is minimal, when it comes, it’s breath-takingly written and intricately detailed, it’s brutal and thrilling, which makes it worth the wait. The magical element of the story is simplistic in that it deals with elemental magic and divine intervention which both are limited in use so far in the story.

“But though he was big, I thought to myself, even a giant could never be as big as my ambitions.”


The story’s focus is based around religion, as our MC, Othrun, 2nd prince of Atalantyx, is a believer in the Single God and wants to conquer the pagan, multi-god believers and bring them under his control and belief of the one true god. Stuart being a history aficionado with a major in English/medieval lit and minor in history, dips his toes into real historical events to help weave his own beautiful tale that reads more like historical fiction than it does fantasy, it really feels like this could’ve been real historical events or at least part of an ancient mythology tale being retold with how well it is written. There are a bunch of influences that I caught while reading, some may be more accurate, some some may be my imagination running wild. The one that’s very easy to spot is Atlantis, as the home of Othrun is Atalantyx, maybe the destruction of Pompeii, this could also be part of the Atlantis influence as well. There is also a little tie in to the Roman persecution of the pagans. I also felt like there was a little bit of The Illiad and King Henry Viii story mixed in a tad, and finally there is a small nod to Norse mythology. Again, I might be reaching on a few of these.

“I slew a giant, but the real giant was still to be dealt with, which was my insecurity.”


Stuart creates our MC, Othrun, the second prince of Atalantyx to be massively flawed, he’s pompous, arrogant and a bigot. While this can be seen as a character you hate, it is somewhat of a signature of the time that Mr.Stuart is alluding to in the historical references that he uses to create his world, which is about 11th century-ish. To me, it’s showing how deeply flawed the time was, but also that when his character starts to redeem himself of these flaws later on in the series, it’s going to be that much bigger of a redemption arch.

“To bend knee to a heathen lord, even to secure my own kingdom, is a bitter taste.”


The fact that Mr. Stuart got two narrators in Adam Kurton & Sean Polite, is awesome. It gives the story a lot more of complexity and range of character voices with the different destinations that are explored within the story. The only thing I didn’t like about the the audio, is that the female voice used by the secondary narrator is too deep. He has a great booming voice, but the feminine range just isn’t there for him. Also, the lack of names for the gods, specifically the elementals is not anything significant, but there is power in names, so it did feel like something was missing on that part. Single God also felt a bit bland, although in real faith there is a God, named God. My hope is that names are revealed later on to give more credence to these gods. 

This was such a wonderful read/listen and I recommend this to everyone that loves a great story. If you’re looking for action packed this may not be for you, but I would suggest to at least give this a shot because you might just fall in love with the story being told.



a_night_bird's review

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
A Drowned Kingdom is written from the perspective of Othrun, an insufferably arrogant person, though it’s not a surprise that Othrun turned out so insufferably arrogant, given his background and how he was raised. Nonetheless, it’s absurd. He’s not typically selfish. He will risk his life and all that he owns for his religion, his god, and his people. But he is so entitled, he takes his superiority and his right to be served for granted in such an irritating way, as if he is not even aware of it. He is so superior and dismissive and hostile towards other peoples and their religions, and he is just so proud of himself. 

His perception of other people is as shallow and one-dimensional (for the most part) as he himself is complicated. As a result, there is a degree to which the other characters feel shallow, since the perspective is entirely Othrun’s, as if he is telling the tale to the reader. Or writing it for the reader to read, perhaps, but it is not just a narration of the story and events, it is an in-depth dive into Othrun’s thoughts and feelings, his perspectives and conclusions, and one gets a sense of how he thinks. However, I got the impression that the other people are as real as Othrun, and probably a lot more complicated in their intentions and motivations than Othrun thinks they are. 

The novel starts with a prologue that I think does a great job of introducing us to Othrun’s self-perception and his voice, which is quite distinctive (in my opinion). From there, the story flashes back to Othrun’s thoughts about long ago and other things and to a narrative beginning when he and his older brother, Erthal, were sent to the pagans, ostensibly to bring peace, and returned with a pagan bride for Erthal, the events Othrun believes to have led to the downfall of Atalantyx, as the Single God judged his people for turning into pagans. 
I found the narrative easy to follow for the most part, however there is a great deal of description of places and things, which I often skimmed to an extent. The one place where it really lost my attention was in a chapter narrating a lot of history of Atalantyx. There’s a lot of times when Othrun thinks back to and recalls things, whether in his past, or in the past of his nation before he was born, and most of the time I did not mind it. Most of the time I don’t mind info-dumping. However, there were pages and pages of history a lot of which I did not see how it had any relevance or import to the story, but that felt more like a meaningless history lecture to me. Otherwise, I did not mind. 

A Drowned Kingdom is very much a first in the series book. It’s intriguing, interesting, and complex, and it caught a fair amount of my interest: how will Othrun develop in the long run? What is the author going for, with the pagan magic and the Single God and the Anchali’s claims about and promises to Othrun? What about the relationship of the mage to Othrun? This looks like a book that is not aiming to be so much entertainment as an exploration of character and many other issues, something that interests me in a book (though I typically prefer fantasy that is less directly correlated with this world). However, A Drowned Kingdom offers no resolution, hardly even a hint what direction that paths will take. 

If a long series like that interests you, this book might be interesting. I, personally, am quite interested in the directions the author takes with this story and how it develops, but I don’t think I can put up with Othrun for six more books of this size (and I think P.L. Stuart said he is aiming for a seven book series). I didn’t mind Othrun for one book, and I might be able handle two or three, but I think I’d get seriously sick of Othrun long before I get to all seven. The series might be worth my time and I might regret not delving into it, but there are so many books out there to read, and only so many resources I have to read them with. Maybe I’ll read the last book when it comes out, and then decide whether to read more of them. (These intentions are subject to change.) 

Due to the fact that A Drowned Kingdom is more the beginning of a series than the first book in a series, I don’t feel a need to write an expanded review for it. That content that tells me, at any rate, whether something is something I’ll love or hate, and almost certainly find intriguing, is mostly absent in the book, though the series promises to be rich with it in the long run.

This review appeared first and in full on Enthralled By Love (Paths of Fantasy).

novoaust's review

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adventurous informative mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Drowned Kingdom is a story that follows Othrun, second prince of Atalantyx. This is a book filled with detailed world building, interesting characters, rich prose, great battle scenes, and it touches on some issues that are very relevant today. 

The world building in this one shines. Between the histories of ancient cities, genelogies, multiple cultures and religion, this world is incredibly well fleshed out. The more I read, the more immersed I became into this world. 

The writing felt quite unique to me. It had an old fashioned feel, but once I got used to it, it read smooth and easily. I felt that the rich writing style felt the slow burn of the story and it is a style that is rarely seen in modern fantasy. 

Othrun as a character was quite fun to read. I found myself struggling to know whether I should be cheering for him or wishing for his demise. He is a flawed character. Egotistical, self centered, and while he is often times naive, he is not a bad man. Throughout the book, I found myself strongly disliking him, but there would always be a scene where I found myself cheering for him. 

This is not just a fantasy book where a prince loses his homeland and goes on a journey to find a new one. Stuart does not shy away from highlighting issues. Cultural differences, various races, religions, and traditions all challenge the main character's status quo in a very natural way. 

This was a slow story, and often times, I did find some of it to be a slog to get through. Some trimming and editing could have cut the info dumping down. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to seeing where the story goes.

miggins1610's review against another edition

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4.0

A really fun read, with the first 50% a deep dive into Atalantean society and history, the 2nd an expedition into growing above prejudice to protect the last people of the Atalantean empire. I have #2 ready to go, and i am very excited as a lot of setup is now out the way, paving the way for an truly meaningful journey from ignorance to enlightenment by way of war, ruin, and adventure