The Kingdoms

Natasha Pulley

2021 • 448 pages

Ratings25

Average rating4.1

LONGLISTED FOR THE BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION 2021 BEST NOVEL For fans of Matt Haig, Stuart Turton and Bridget Collins comes a sweeping historical adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street 'Original, joyous and horrifying, The Kingdoms is an awe-inspiring feat of imagination and passion which had me in tears by the end' - Catriona Ward Come home, if you remember The postcard has been held at the sorting office for ninety-one years, waiting to be delivered to Joe Tournier. On the front is a lighthouse – Eilean Mor, in the Outer Hebrides. Joe has never left England, never even left London. He is a British slave, one of thousands throughout the French Empire. He has a job, a wife, a baby daughter. But he also has flashes of a life he cannot remember and of a world that never existed – a world where English is spoken in England, and not French. And now he has a postcard of a lighthouse built just six months ago, that was first written nearly one hundred years ago, by a stranger who seems to know him very well. Joe's journey to unravel the truth will take him from French-occupied London to a remote Scottish island, and back through time itself as he battles for his life – and for a very different future.

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Alana

And my first read of June was A SUCCESS! This time-traveling novel deals with the consequences of time travel, has the best characters, cute romance, good rep, and a plot to die for! Pulley writes an intricate yet not too complicated - and far too fun - novel that I devoured in a few sittings.

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Andrew

I really wanted to enjoy this book, and I did in parts. The first half before Joe travels back in time and it follows his journey up to the lighthouse in Scotland, it was really enjoyable to see how much different this timeline was compared to our own.

However, once Joe traveled back in time, I felt the story had lost its legs. It became too focused on the relationship between Joe and Kite which had far too much tension for too long to make the rest of the book truly interesting. It was pretty obvious to me at least that Joe was actually Gem all along but that wasn't revealed until the final part of the book. The way the two treated each other never really made sense to me, especially Kite in the long run knowing full well who Joe really was.

However, when the narrative wasn't focused on the relationship between the two it was quite enjoyable. The final part, part VI, was very entertaining as Joe finally returns home, and Kite finds him again in the future. Things have changed, and Joe slowly begins to notice the changes around him.

All in all the book was good, I enjoyed it and intend to read more of Natasha Pulley in the future, however, I don't know if I can recommend this out right.

January 17, 2023

Amina Kara

Wow, that was such a fascinating read! I've thoroughly enjoyed it, although it took a good deal of concentration to follow what was going on!

I'm really going to miss this book and the characters in it! It was so different to the kind of books I normally read!

Thank you to PH and Natasha for the chance to read this.

February 10, 2022