Reviews

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

reaofsunshine's review against another edition

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5.0

I love rereading the most heart wrenching pieces of literature and calling it a comfort read

alittlebookishlibrary's review against another edition

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5.0

I read The Kingdoms for the first time last year, and it instantly became one of my favourite novels of all time. I recommend it to everyone - romance fan? Read The Kingdoms. Historical fiction? The Kingdoms. Amnesia trope? Kingdoms. Time-travel? Found family? Mystery? I want to shout it from the rooftops: Read The Kingdoms

I had delayed my inevitable re-read of this book for as long as I could because I was afraid that the magic and mystery that held my attention throughout my first time would never be obtainable again. How wrong I was! Knowing the twists and turns that this novel takes only made re-reading it somehow more heartbreaking than it was the first time. The little details that Natasha Pulley sneaks in that seem almost unimportant the first time you read this book really smack you in the face the second time around.

This novel had me from the first chapter, and kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the very end. I couldn’t put it down, and when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. The ending was incredibly satisfying, and I genuinely felt giddy reading the last forty or so pages of this novel. It physically hurt to close it and place back on my shelves - I wanted to live with Missouri Kite and Joe Tournier for as long as I could.

Natasha Pulley is a talent, and I’m absolutely here for whatever novels she writes - her command of the English language results in some absolutely breath-taking imagery, heart-wrenching scenes, fuzzy feel-good moments and, most importantly, relatable and humanising characters.

echotechne's review against another edition

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

4.0

kalkwiese's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

twofries's review against another edition

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

4.25

trishellis's review against another edition

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

smithel's review against another edition

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5.0

This is the story of Joe Tournier, who suddenly finds himself at Gare du Roi in Londres, with no memory at all of who he is and where he’d come from. His only clue to his past comes in the form of a postcard that had been posted from a Scottish lighthouse almost a hundred years previously and a vague recollection of a man waiting for him on an island. As with all of Natasha Pulley’s books, reading this was an intense experience, a battle between not being able to put it down and dreading finishing it and having to say goodbye characters. It’s the tender and traumatic time travel napoleonic wars romance I never knew I needed.

s_ja's review against another edition

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

4.25

sashahc's review against another edition

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

5.0

#Book rec!  I’m working my way through Natasha Pulley’s books and just read “The Kingdoms.”  Intense, tragic, beautiful, and mysterious.  It’s got time travel from an alternate past to an other more distant alternate past.  And the horrors of war and identity and trauma and family (blood and chosen).  And queerness.  I’ll be chewing on it for a while.

kepheus's review against another edition

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2.0

DNF

If you like plodding story and milquetoast characters, by all means. Maybe things pick up but, judging by the other reviewers, not enough for me to warrant spending more time on it.