Thank you NetGalley for an e-arc of this amazing book in exchange of a review.

I kind of asked for it without really reading the blurb.
I thought it was going to be an Isekai kind of story when in fact it was even better.

The story is a mix between the Vietnamese lore and the modern world. A battle between sisters. Magic and powers that can be shared.

I just cannot wait to read it’s sequel because when I turned the last page I was just begging for more of it 💞

This book delivered on most of what I expected from the description. I really loved the setting, and all of the references to Vietnamese folklore. The main character, Jolie, experiences a lot of character development throughout the book, and I think her character development is, for the most part, done well.
However, I did feel that the pacing was a little off, and that affected other aspects of the story. The pacing was slower for the first half of the book, and then picked up in the second half. Normally I enjoy books with a quicker pace, but I think the pace change was really to the detriment of plot points. There is a lot of being told what is happening in the second half of the book, rather than seeing those things actually happen. There were opportunities to have more developed side characters, and more character development for them was hinted at, but never actually achieved.
Overall, I enjoyed reading The Lost Queen, and I look forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy!
Rating: 3.75/5, rounded to 4

The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan was a surprising ride—slow to start but deeply rewarding by the end. What begins as a story about a bullied teenage girl slowly transforms into something much richer, blending contemporary teen issues with Vietnamese history, mythology, and unexpected emotional turns.

In the first half, we follow Jolie as she tries to navigate life after being targeted by her former friends. The bullying is intense and isolating, and it’s clear Jolie is struggling to find her place. At this point, I thought I was reading a standard coming-of-age YA. But then Huong enters the picture, and the story takes a sharp and fascinating turn.

The second half is where the novel truly shines. With the introduction of Huong’s backstory, we’re pulled into themes of heritage, reincarnation, and the powerful legacy of the Trung sisters—legendary warrior queens from Vietnamese history. This was my first time learning about them, and their story added incredible depth to the novel. There were moments that felt like filler early on, but they ultimately paid off, especially as the threads of the past and present began to intertwine.

Jolie’s character development was a highlight. Watching her transform from a timid, bullied girl into someone who begins to understand her strength and identity was incredibly satisfying. Huong, on the other hand, caught me completely off guard. She had me in the first half, and then—well, let’s just say the twist was wild.

While I wished some of the supporting characters had a bit more depth, the story’s emotional focus made up for it. It’s not just about bullying or family secrets—it’s about the weight of history, the bonds between women, and what it means to reclaim your voice.

The Lost Queen takes sophomore Jolie Lam through the journey of unlocking who she really is, the history of her family and the foundational story of Vietnam.
This book started out really strong and I really liked. I got bogged down with last part and the ending felt very abrupt. I really enjoyed the mythology and characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this DRC.
#TheLostQueen #NetGalley

This one’s hard to review. I loved the first 40ish% and absolutely tore through it. We had unexplained / unwanted powers, dangerous visions, high school mean girls, a sprinkling of Vietnamese mythology, fraught family dynamics (made even more fraught with the added pressure of dementia). Jolie (though her name wasn’t mentioned until almost 1/3 into the book, whoops) was a very relatable protagonist; she has normal teenage girl problems, mixed race kid problems, absent father problems, bullying victim problems. And then we add some supernatural problems and things get much more interesting.

However, once the first layer of truth falls into place, we get kind of repetitive. Jolie loses her defined edges and gets swept up in Huong without really doing much. This is where it kind of started to lose me. We were told that Jolie was getting more confident, more popular (?), but we didn’t really see it. So little of the book actually takes place at school. It took us a long time to get to the “so what” - like, why do we care about the things Huong is telling us to care about.

And then when things shifted again, the villains all felt very cartoonish. We have the same sort of “why should anyone care about weak, mortal humans? Blah blah blah” speech over and over by 4 different people.

I did like the end a lot and think it really brought our sisters full circle, but it also felt a little too neat.

The premise here is fantastic: reincarnated warrior sisters, magic rooted in Vietnamese folklore, and a modern setting. It sounded like exactly the kind of book I’d want to love. And I do think there’s something really valuable about what it’s trying to do.

But the execution didn’t land for me. The pacing felt off, and the emotional moments that should have hit just didn’t. I liked the idea of the sister dynamic, but it stayed surface-level when I wanted more depth. It’s not that it was bad. It just felt like it could have been so much more.

Still, I’m glad it exists. Readers who connect with the cultural elements or who like quieter YA fantasy might get more out of it than I did.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

As a Vietnamese-American who was highly anticipating this book, it breaks my heart to be rating this so low. I was so excited for the incorporation of Vietnamese myth and culture, and to be fair, those were the parts of the book I enjoyed the most, but everything else was...disappointing, to say the least. I wanted a lot more from this book than it gave me. The prose was not lyrical as I was promised but lackluster; the dialogue tags were littered with very basic "said"s with little exploration of how the characters were actually feeling/acting. I feel like Jolie's numerous realizations came out of nowhere because there was no real exploration of how she reached them. The characters' dialogue and interactions came across flat and basic; I felt a lot of times like they were repeating the same arguments to each other. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing, particularly in the last 25% which I really struggled through because of all the sudden revelations that weren't properly foreshadowed until the moment they're revealed and also because the sequence of events was just plain confusing. I think the author was going for a surreal and dreamy atmosphere but the transitions between the mundane and the fantastical were jarring and didn't flow very well. I also never really felt transported back to ancient Vietnam in certain portions because of how bare-bones the descriptions were, and I feel like I had a difficult time understanding how the elements worked and what "realms" are even supposed to be. Speaking of the elements, the whole quest (if you can call it that) to hunt them down felt very underwhelming; I think this is part of the reason why I didn't feel like I fully grasped their significance.

A major issue with this book also is the lack of depth in the characters and relationships. I thought there was a lot of potential with Jolie and Huong's relationship in the beginning and I see what the author was going for, but it just wasn't executed very well, with Jolie's feelings seeming to flip flop at certain times. To be fair, this can be realistic in real life relationships but I think here it could've been executed more smoothly in a subtler way. Another area where I feel like there was missed potential was Jolie's relationships with her two former friends. Because Jolie is hanging out with Huong for most of the book, we never really get to have a good sense of how good friends they were before Jolie's incident and are again just told that they were, so interactions with them felt very shallow. There was a similar lack of development for Huong's relationships with KT and Harsha, as well as certain other characters around her. I get the focus of the book is on Jolie and Huong but the rest of the characters should've appeared much more and been fleshed out more for the author's ideas to work. I did like Jolie's relationship with Ông Nội, however.

All in all, I didn't hate this book but it was underwhelming to me and I had more issues with it than things I liked. I'm not sure I'll pick up the sequel, but I'm not opposed to reading more of the author's work in the future and I wish her the best.

Unfortunately this is a DNF for me. I really tried to give it a shot but it comes across veryyy young even for a YA. I typically love YA fantasy so this was a bit of a disappointing surprise. I also did not enjoy the interactions between characters a lot of the time. It was giving me flashbacks to the cringy dialogue and characters I wrote on wattpad in middle school…

I’m sure I would’ve loved this if I were younger but sadly adult me cannot get through this.

This book was an advance reader copy given by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was the story of Jolie, a bullied teenager, who learns she is a reincarnated goddess. This revelation changes her life as she puts together the pieces of her past life, discovering her sister and brothers and a power that she never realized she had.

The pacing felt slow to me, which is why I gave it the rating I did.

I was new to Vietnamese Mythology going into this book, so I can’t speak with any knowledge on the comparison, but I loved the concept of dragons and reincarnation.

The world was original and wonderfully vibrant. I’m excited that this will be more of a late spring, early summer read for most because that is the perfect season for this. I felt transported into this colorful world through lush descriptions and an interesting plot.

The characters were fully developed, interesting to follow, and had their own struggles. I was rooting for Jolie the whole time.

If you’re a lover of YA fantasy, this is a must read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers for this ARC!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan is a first person YA contemporary fantasy retelling the story of the Trưng sisters. After a freakout the previous year, Jolie Lam has lost her old friends, Daphne and Lana, and is going through high school as an ostracized loner. When she saves Huong, a popular new student from Vietnam, after an accident at the school pool, Huong takes a liking to her. Their friendship will be the beginning of the end of a story centuries in the making.

I rarely comment on covers, but I feel compelled to talk about this one, especially after finishing the book. The purple and yellow color scheme matches the colors associated with Huong and Jolie, respectively, and are the two colors that appear the most often in the text. The dragons are the brothers of the Trưng sisters and the bright white castle has a traditional Vietnamese structure that draws the eye to the center without overwhelming any of the other pieces. My favorite part is the magical girl-esque composition, especially with the bottom of the cover being a reflection that features a modern setting and Jolie’s current life.

The rest of this review is not spoiler free

A major theme is toxic friendships and finding out who you can trust after someone has wormed their way into your life and destroyed your other relationships. I think a lot of people want obvious red flags when finding abusers, but some people are extremely good at hiding it and people who are trusting or lonely can miss obvious signs. Isolated, compassionate people are often targeted for a reason and it’s never their fault. I think it’s great for YA to explore these themes with friendships, not only romance, because friendships can be just as destructive and abusive as a romantic or familial relationship. I thought something was weird was going on, but it took a long time for me to start seeing any signs and I suspect that the centuries of waiting played a part in how well so much was hidden.

I really appreciated how there was a bit of a history lesson at the beginning of the book regarding the tensions between the Han and Vietnam and then expanded out to highlight tensions between some other Asian nations, though not in detail. I wasn’t surprised at all that some of the students of Asian descent drew lines and started treating each other with distrust as the impact of these historical events can have far-reaching consequences and it was rarely just one conflict, but was often a series of them. Things are often skipped in world history classes and a focus on European history is, unfortunately, common, so taking the time to spell this out a bit will help readers who are unfamiliar with the history of Vietnam will have a bit more background to better understand the significance of the Trưng sisters.

Content warning for abusive friendships

I would recommend this to fans of contemporary fantasy retellings and readers of YA looking for biracial leads exploring complex topics

3.5

The Lost Queen is a surreal YA coming-of-age story that blends Vietnamese mythology with the perils of being an outcast teenager in California. Following Jolie Lam, after an embarrassing and disastrous swim meet that has her labelled as ‘Loser Lam’, when she starts experiencing strange visions and dreams that link her to the legendary goddesses of ancient Vietnam she quickly realizes that the world she knew is about to be changed forever.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book, I loved the juxtaposition between Jolie’s school life and her learning more about Vietnamese mythology and coming to terms with her newfound powers. However, at the 60% mark, I felt the pacing of the story to be a bit strange, there was a lot of information being thrown at the reader then everything comes to a head in the final battle in the end and the revelation from both Jolie and Huong at the end seemed really rushed before the story ended.

I will say, I always love surrealist and dreamy explorations of myth and identity, and I really enjoyed the way we got to see these Vietnamese tales being brought to life in the novel!

Thank you to Penguin Teen for this e-arc. All opinions in this review are my own.

A novel YA fantasy story rich in vietnamese culture and lore. This story is set in modern day California - following our heroine Jolie, a mix vietnamese American. This start to get weirder when she starts having visions and magical ability.

The pacing of the story is good imbued with the lore that helps propel the story along. I like the interpretation of the Lore. I have never heard of vietnamese lore so this was very unique.

The cover art is fantastic with the ao dai contribution.
And who does not love dragons

Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This is a wonderful blend of Vietnamese mythology in a contemporary fantasy setting. Great characters, fast moving action filled plot that grips you and doesn’t let you go till the end. Would love to see more written in this world.

Thank you to Netgallery & the publisher for a free arc for review. All opinions are my own.

I made it 4% in and it's just so bad. The writing is just awful. The story has contractions, and multiple times I had to reread pages to even try to read it.

Review: 2.75 stars

We are introduced to Jolie, who is a high school sophomore who has been ostracized due to her freak out incident a year ago. She is now the loner in school and her best friends, Lana and Daphne avoid her like a plague. Everything changes when she saves Huong, a popular girl from an incident at the pool. Huong takes her under her wing and as they spend more time together, they discover lost powers and realise that they were the legendary Trung sisters, queens who were meant to fight their brothers who bring calamity to the world…

This book was told in Jolie’s POV. I empathise with her character as she started as this nervous and bullied kid who lost her way through high school since a freak accident. It doesn’t help that her grandpa, a renowned fortune teller, is also having bouts of confusion and freak accidents leading her family to be ostracized. The author captured the growing pains of teenagers perfectly in this world. However, I have to question how the author portray the teens in their manner of speaking etc: I mean who finds the bible interesting

While I did enjoy the lore that the author based this book on, I struggled with this book. I was so lost in at least 50% of this book since Jolie had no idea what was going on. The pacing of the book was so slow in the first half especially with the introduction of their powers and their hunt for it. There were parts where the book felt repetitive and confusing with the back and forth from modern to ancient Vietnam and when it shifts from past to present suddenly.

The worldbuilding itself felt flat with vague descriptions such as the glossover of the magic system and how the elements work. It was so confusing to grasp. I could see all the major twists coming and the book got predictable and boring. And of course, the ending was so rushed that there were still many things left unresolved.

Overall, it was an okay read due to the ease of the writing style and the short concise chapters and it wasn’t for me. There were some points where I was close to dnf’ing since I failed to grasp the concept of the book until I reached the 50% mark and once I did, it felt flat.

Thank you Netgalley and PenguinTeen for the eARC.

I liked this more than I thought I would! The first part of this book actually feels like a magical mean girls, but there is a good twist that I predicted. I loved the mythology strewn throughout the book.

Jolie Lam used to be just like any other teenager until she had a strange outbreak at a swim meet. She’s since quit the swim team, her former friends are now among her many bullies. Jolie is the most lonely and miserable she’s ever been! Everything changes when she saves a classmate, Huong Pham, after a terrible accident that happened during PE. There’s something familiar about Huong. Now that they’re friends, Jolie quickly discovers there’s a reason why Huong feels like the sister she never had: they’re the Trung sisters reincarnated!

I absolutely loved this book! We follow Jolie, a high school sophomore, during the roughest year of her life. She’s lost all her friends, she’s being heavily bullied, and even her home life is stressful. Her grandfather is known as a fortune teller, but his visions have begun to take a toll on his mind, and now her bullies are dragging him into things! Thankfully, everything starts to change once Huong enters the picture.

Jolie’s story is inspired by the story of the Trung sisters, who led a rebellion against the Han in Vietnam. Jolie and Huong are the Trung sisters who have been reincarnated and are currently teenagers living in San Jose. As the story continues, we learn what history tells us about the Trung sisters and then what Jolie and Huong remember happened. Plus, we also see them find their elements, unravel a mystery, and prepare to continue the war against their brothers.

I was so excited to read this because it sounded like it was going to be a great book, and it did not disappoint! Plus, I was not familiar with Vietnamese mythology and this book is heavily wrapped up in Vietnamese history and mythology. If you’re a fan of books like the Percy Jackson series, Aru Shah and the End of Time, or We Shall Be Monsters, then this is a book you’re going to want to pick up. I loved every single page. While I do think it was a little heavy handed with some of the typical teenage stereotypes, it was an excellent read. I’m looking forward to checking out more from this author.

I really enjoyed learning more about Vietnamese mythology and how that was woven into the story. The different twists that were revealed as Jolie regained more of her powers were captivating. The characters were interesting, I did find some of the motivations and actions a little hard to understand though some of that was later explained. The pacing also felt a little off at times, but mostly i really enjoyed seeing Jolie and Huong's complicated friendship and sisterhood as Jolie uncovered more of their past. Overall the blending of the past, present, modern high school drama, magic, and sisterhood was so cool and kept me engaged in the book.

4.5 rounded to 5


At the center of this YA novel about sisters, brothers, siblings, parents and grandparents as well as friend dynamics and a whole lot of other intense themes, is mythology that has grown up around the Trung sisters, a pair of military generals who nearly two thousand years ago mnaged for two years to resist the massive Han invasion of Vietnam.

We begin with Jolie Lam, who has lost her two best friends after a sports incident. These two have become mean girls, but to her defense comes Huang, a cool girl who offers her friendship and support. It's set in and around San Jose, working in earthquakes and drought and other area-specific phenom.

Meanwhile, Jolie is dealing with visions, and her grandfather's apparent dementia. But when inexplicable magic enters her life, everything the sixteen year old thought she knew goes seriously sideways.

At that point, the book becomes a brakeless roller-coaster, getting more and more intense and weird, the pacing faster and faster until the sudden end. I thought the end kinda cool, and yet there had been so much setup at the start that I couldn't help wishing for a coda: emotional resolution especially, but also I really wanted to see how the "new" Jolie would pick up her high school life.

Still, a terrific read.