Once I Knew
-Victoria Lynn
Historical/Non-Magical Fantasy
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Violet lives her quiet little life in her sleepy village. Trying to remain as dead to the politics that are threatening their world as possible. She follows the rules, stays out of trouble and does her best to remain out of sight of the dreaded and overbearing Kingsmen.
With the new regent on the throne, the country has been thrown into a turmoil. Unlike the kindly king before him, the new ruler is overbearing, frightening and tyrannical in his rule. Taxes are bleeding the people dry and without the money or goods to pay, they have been forced into penal servitude and imprisonment by the Kingsmen, who know no mercy. The despair and fear that has taken over their lives has ruled out any level of hope.
When Violet stumbles upon an unconscious and injured Kingsman in the woods, despite the consequences, she cannot help but take care of the injured man. When he wakes and has no memory of who he is, she takes the only precaution that will keep her and her grandmother safe; she destroys the evidence of his past life.
If Violet’s lowly Kingsman regains his memory, will she be able to live with the consequences? And will the Kingsman be able to live with his past life?
I'm going to be honest with y'all. I had mixed signals about this book. On one hand, I had heard that this book was terrible and not something I'd probably interested in reading. On the other, I heard it was one of the best non-magical fantasy books out there, and its super clean content was award winning.
After careful consideration and weighing of the facts, I decided to give it a go.
Actually, my sister decided to give it a go first. I followed along shortly after seeing her reaction. 😉
This was a good book! Like, good. Clean. Honorable. High moral standards and content that wasn't overly done and descriptive. I was very much pleased in that aspect. Great job, Victoria!
There were a few minor things like punctuation and sentence structure in places that were a little distracting to my editorly brain (editorly. That's not a word. Editor-ly. Editor-ish. Editbrain. You get the point. 😂) but other than that, I enjoyed reading this book! Like . . . I stayed till after midnight to finish it.
Let's get into some details, shall we?
Plot
This book started off a bit slow to my taste (well, not super slow, she did find an unconscious guy in the first chapter after all) but it gradually picked up pace and generally held my interest throughout the length of it. The midpoint really got the ball rolling action wise, and after that, Victoria kept things going up till the end.
There were several surprise aspects and twists to this tale, some of which I saw coming, others I didn't. All in all, this was a well-crafted story with strong points and compelling action.
Characters
Voilet is a sweet thing. She knows the danger of bringing in a wounded Kingsman but does it anyway. She has such a beautiful heart to serve but still struggles with seeing the Will of God throughout the hardships in her country. She's a very relatable character. She's also very strong. She literally looks evil in the eye without an ounce of fear in her. We need more strong females with these qualities in today's literature: strong, brave, and independent, but the farthest thing from feminist as you can get. Anyone else with me??
Obed was quite the character. 😂 The guy wakes up with absolutely no clue who he is or where he came from, then dives headfirst into the life he's in and really shows some amazing fortitude and character. His journey and interactions with the people around him were entertaining and, at some points, aggravating to read. The guy really means well. He just . . . doesn't think before jumping into certain situations.
And Marcus. Marcus! I was so glad to hear This Life of Mine (The Chronicles of Elira #2) is going to be his. He has such a sweet and caring nature, and I honestly cannot wait to read his story.
Romance
The author qualifies this as "slow burn" (not that I'm any judge, I tend to avoid the stuff 😜) and I'm inclined to say that's spot on. There was an obvious attraction between Violet and Obed, but in a very chaste and pure way. There was no inappropriate behavior on either of their parts, and no kissing (except once on the head).
Content Labels
This was a very clean book, but being a medieval, there are some things that some might not want to read. There are some mentions and insinuations of a guy who's of the "playboy" type, with one brief mention of being around women and kissing the one in his lap. Several insinuations are made by the Kingsmen in the area when not given the tax they demanded but nothing graphic or detailed. There are wounds and fights and violence of that nature, but nothing described.
Final Note
Like I said, I was a bit hesitant to read this book, but I'm so glad I did. Victoria has crafted a story that is true, powerful, and morally upright. That's not something you find every day in the YA Medieval/ Non-Magical Fantasy genres. I very much enjoyed this refreshing read and am anxiously awaiting the release on Book 2!
Have you read Once I Knew? Who's your favorite character? Are you excited for the release of This Life of Mine? Comment below and let's chat clean fiction!
Catch on the flip side!
_Mac 🤎
Comments