A Kingdom Forgotten A Kingdom Forgotten
Book 1 - A Throne of Souls

A Kingdom Forgotten

    • 3.9 • 18 Ratings

Publisher Description

We, the seeds of Humanity, are all the descendants of hardened criminals, fighting to survive the unmaking of A Throne of Souls.

 

Magic and technology have already met on a world far more advanced than our own only to dispense their most dangerous and hardened criminals, for magic has been outlawed.  Their descendants—us, here on Earth, along with the rest of Humanity—are now left to grapple with a Creation undone at the hands of an outlaw mage whose Master Plan affects the seeds of Humanity throughout the known Universe.  This outlaw—this Dark Knight of Magic—must accumulate immeasurable power to thwart the fork of consequences that brought forth the making of A Throne of Souls.  This story, this execution of his Master Plan originating centuries into the past, begins and ends with a triad of pivotal relationships and evolves through his understanding of his own soul.  Within the Master Plan, the dichotomy between hate and hope, across a landscape far beyond epic, is illustrated through vibrant characters developed over two-and-a-half decades. 

 

IndieReader said, “A Kingdom Forgotten is a textured, subtle and all-encompassing book for serious sci-fi fanatics willing to invest in more than one universe, and in all likelihood, willing to re-read it, too.”


OnlineBookClub.org (female reviewer perspective) said, “The level of complexity is astounding. Frankly, I didn’t feel that I knew what was going on for greater than a third of the novel. By the time I did figure out what was going on, I found a compelling story with a plot so different from any others I have read before, that I remained intrigued until the end. The style of storytelling is so radically different that I am undecided as to whether it is brilliant or insane.”

 

OnlineBookClub.org (male reviewer perspective) said, “A Kingdom Forgotten, the first book in the Throne of Souls series by new author Charles McDonald, Jr., is easily the most uniquely written novel I've read in many moons. There is nothing conventional about this book. Part Wheel of Time, part Warhammer 40000, A Kingdom Forgotten presents itself as a multidimensional epic that juxtaposes ancient kingdom magic with modern world science, and potentially vice versa. On a number of occasions, I found myself comparing its asynchronous narrative to the movie Pulp Fiction, where the protagonist isn't always apparent, the hero isn't necessarily the good guy, and the present doesn't make sense until you've seen the future. To be clear, A Kingdom Forgotten was a wild ride from start to finish, and I am extremely eager to begin the sequel, Black Mirrors of the Soul.”

 

Readers’ Favorite said (about A Kingdom Forgotten), “This is a monumental story with its unique kind of conflict and multiple storylines. Readers are introduced to powerful heroes, magic, portals into other worlds and times, medieval settings, and a lot more. The book is intelligently imagined and masterfully executed, and it is important to note that it isn’t a light read. Yes, the story is complex on multiple levels, including the points of views that shift and that can cause some dizziness in the reader, the writing that is extraordinary, fraught with depths of meaning, and the storyline with numerous characters. Charles McDonald Jr. has created a story that is colossal and that combines various elements of the art of storytelling into one place. I was wowed by the writing and the characters, but most importantly, by the author’s ability to unveil the depth of human emotion and consciousness. A Kingdom Forgotten is a story of great magnitude, one to read with focus, a story that will remind readers of their roots.”

 

A Note from the Author:  This intricate, thought-provoking, epic, and cerebral thriller breaks all the rules crossing over Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, and Military-Fiction genres but as you start reading A Throne of Souls, it will become apparent why those rules had to be broken to tell this multi-world story of Humanity and Creation.  I don’t believe in traditional ‘good’ vs ‘evil,’ single protagonist saves the world type of stories.  My protagonists are not always ‘good,’ and my antagonists are not always ‘bad.’  I believe in strong, multi-faceted characters that reflect the real-world, with real thoughts, emotions, and agendas.  I wanted to bring something entirely different to the market and this is about as different as literary fiction gets.  My goal was to be worthy of this inimitable story in the way that I tell it—to bring it to you in my voice, but to do so beautifully, elegantly, and intelligently.  There are several things that make this story unique including:

·      A flex-style narrative which illustrates—upon a 360-degree axis—character POV perspective based on their understanding of technology.

·      Storylines that reach back centuries, if not millennia.  

·      Nonlinearity. There was simply no way to tell this far-reaching story in traditional timeline methodologies.

 

The best way to think of A Throne of Souls is like a massive mosaic with individual nuanced clues of information and disinformation that by themselves might appear to be something you recognize though might not make sense, but when assembled with other clues provide shocking answers to questions you may never have considered. For those who read cover-to-cover all of A Throne of Souls, there is a shocking ending coming in a crystallizing moment that will fall upon you like a cascade of dominoes in a complex configuration as each thread collapses inward upon the storylines.  I hope you love surprises.  Please enjoy it with all my best hopes and wishes. – Charles W. McDonald Jr.

 

 

  • GENRE
    Sci-Fi & Fantasy
    RELEASED
    2016
    October 15
    LANGUAGE
    EN
    English
    LENGTH
    480
    Pages
    PUBLISHER
    Charles W. McDonald Jr.
    SELLER
    Charles W. McDonald Jr.
    SIZE
    38.3
    MB
    AUDIENCE
    Grades 10 and Above

    Customer Reviews

    marilynebking ,

    Throne of Souls book 1

    Review of Throne of Souls—Book 1

    Written by Marilyn King
    Generally, I’m not one for the sci-fi genre, but I found AKF incredibly addicting and thought provoking with various surprising twists.
    I found the content to have real-life parallel meaning to the world we are living in. The use of these real facts included in the characters back stories and unfolding experiences only made the storyline more juicy for me! It really gave me pause to relate real-life events and data within the book to the world I live in. This really submerses the reader! The time leaping complexity only gave more credibility to the unfolding plot. The characters jumped off the page and into my thoughts. I found myself secretly wishing for love to find the character Damon. I immediately found myself investing time and emotion into this character. Chapter 4 was incredibly pivotal for me and I couldn’t put it down. I’m finding myself eager to start the next book in the series—Black Mirrors of the Soul.

    Royvanmiral ,

    First Critic Review from Christopher Ford in the U.K.

    As the author, I won’t review this book since I wrote it. However, I’ll share a preview of the first critic review now live on his site (several more in the pipeline). This review comes from Christopher Ford in the U.K.

    In Christopher Ford’s review, he said: "The review I am bringing you today is a very special one. If you are looking forward to an easy, leisurely read that will while away a few hours, then please look elsewhere. If you are looking for a challenging and thought-provoking read that will change your view of literature forever then look no further than A Kingdom Forgotten. This offering is the debut from American author Charles McDonald, and wow…what a debut!!

    When I first spoke to Charles and he asked me to review his work, he told me that never had I read anything like this before and that it really was a piece of art. Now, I’m man enough to hold my hands up and admit that at the time I internally dismissed this is typical author grandeur. Charles, if you are reading this, I owe you an apology. I have never read anything like this before, and it really is a piece of art.

    Now don’t get me wrong, this is a tough book to read; so much so, I have just started reading it again for a second time for me to better piece together some of the plot lines. Not only am I reading it again, I am now keeping a pen and paper next to me to better make notes in order to make sense of some of the nuances within this book. It is not a book for a pre-teen to read, nor is it a book for a reading novice. To truly enjoy this novel, you should have a genuine passion and understanding of literature but trust me, it is worth it.

    Normally at this stage in a review, I would give you a breakdown of the main characters and a bit of an insight into the story-line, but for this book I won’t. In terms of the characters, there is simply too many for me to go into detail. All I will say is Damon, the main protagonist, is in one chapter described as ‘Unique. Dangerous. Ruthless. God-like. These were all far more fitting descriptions for this…what one might call a man.’ His character goes far beyond the traditional main character of a novel in the sense that his tale takes part in not only different worlds but also different times. Intrigued? I thought you would be!

    Throw into the mix dragons, magic, portals, modern day special forces and medieval settings and you have a book that will give you a headache but you will find un-putdownable! As for describing the plot? Well, I couldn’t do it justice in the space of one review.

    When I have spoken to Charles he told me this story has been 21 years in the making, and it all stemmed from a dream he had one night. All I can say is that the time spent writing it has been worth it. You can tell that the author feels what his characters feel; they are his family, his children. His emotional connection with this book pours out of every single page and you feel as if you are being allowed into the innermost sanctums of his soul. Not only was the writing a challenge for him, but in an interview I conducted with Charles he told me he spends 2 hours a day working purely on artwork for this series, and all I can say is I am impressed he gets it done in that time; it would take me probably three times that to get half the level of detail he achieves.

    The best news about this book? It is the first part of a five-book series! Get this first one read now, and then you can join me in eagerly awaiting the second installment which I have on good authority is well underway! Now if you do genuinely find this book a struggle, then don’t worry. I fully expect that in years to come, we will all be heading to our nearest Imax to catch the latest release of this series!

    What's the rating you all ask? Well that part's easy:

    5 out of 5!

    A very genuine pat on the back is directed towards Charles for introducing this intense, heartfelt, emotional, thought-provoking, edge of your seat book to the world. Enjoy everyone!"

    MmMVvVBbBq ,

    Difficult

    Don’t know if it gets better but hard to keep reading the beginning

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