thistlechaser | Book #90 of 2026: The Lost Kingdom

The Lost Kingdom by Matthew J. Kirby.

Quick synopsis: An alternative history story set in the American territories before the US existed. A group of philosophers and scientists (and a son of one of them) head into the wilds on a one-of-a-kind airship in search of a rumored army that they hope will help them (England) against the French.

Brief opinion: I really enjoyed most of it! Unfortunately the parts I didn't like marred the parts I did.

Plot: Billy Bartram, his father, and a group of scientists and philosophers use the world's only airship to head into the wilds of not-yet-America. They travel from "state to state" (territory to territory, like the Ohio Territory) in search of a Welsh kingdom. Rumor had it (and real life myths describe) that a Welsh king brought a group of his people to North America long before Columbus arrived. The English hope to use the Welsh army against the French.

A lot of the story was about traveling and searching (which is fine, it was all interesting), but a big subplot was about Billy and his father. Billy started out seeing his father as a hero, but as the story went on he learned how extremely flawed (and racist) his father was.

The conclusion of the story involves a big battle, a bear-wolf (mythical massive predator that somehow followed the airship across multiple territories), and bad injuries that brought the story's mythical elements into the forefront.

Editing: Perfect.

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: I LOVED the idea of this story. I've never read alternate history stuff before, but I really liked this example of it. The description of the American territories was so interesting! And best of all, all of the character voices felt perfect for that period of time. (The two kid characters were extremely respectful of the adults, what a breath of fresh air!)

As to what I didn't like... well. All the stuff from myth, which I won't list to avoid spoilers, but one of them shaped the entire end of the story. Also the bear-wolf was at first interesting until it somehow just kept appearing whenever the story needed tension. I'm not sure how I feel about there being herds of mastodons roaming around.

The size of the crew became an issue at the end of the story. One of them played an important role, but I couldn't remember which of the men it was.

While Billy was a complete, believable character, Jane (the other child) was the opposite. She had nearly no characterization and could have easily been dropped from the story without changing much. I wish she had been as fleshed out as Billy was.

Kirby has a degree in history and loves to research for his stories. That was very much in evidence in this one, which I really enjoyed. After the story ended he included a section describing the sources for everything from his book and how his story differed from real history.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Liked. Without the mythological elements, this would have been a five star for me.

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DNF #47: How to Free a Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil. "It's not you, book, it's me." Well written, the character (a Muslim girl who moved from Australia to Malaysia) was interesting, and I don't think I ever read a story set in Malaysia before... all of it was good, it just didn't work for me.

Insyirah's family was happily living in Australia, but her grandmother's failing health prompted the family to move back to Malaysia. Insyirah, who has at least anxiety if not something more, is settling into her new school surprisingly well, when she starts seeing ghosts.

I'm not sure why this didn't work for me. All the pieces were there, I just had no drive to keep reading.

DNF #48: Clara Poole and the Long Way Round by Taylor Tyng. Almost from the first page, this book didn't work for me. The main character didn't feel real, the humor put my teeth on edge, and (perhaps unfairly to let this impact my reading) I really disliked the About the Author section. Use that section to tell me about you, author, not to market your book.

Anyway. In it a young girl has no issues with putting herself into danger and takes off on a plastic lawn chair held aloft by some party balloons. I checked other reviews to see where the story was going and decided to just DNF it.