I wanted to love this story but I was completely lost from the beginning and never felt like I could grasp what was going on to the point that I just had to put it down unfinished.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced readers copy. All opinions are honest and my own.

I had a hard time getting into this book. The writing felt choppy and like the enemies the "heroes" came across were put there to literally add action. The battles outside the final battle had no effect on the plot.

Originally I was brought to this by the mysterious cover that included characters holding swords. Then reading the summary, thought it sounded at least somewhat interesting. The story however, falls far short of expectations.

As I already mentioned, most of the fights seem to be just thrown in to have a fight. There is some interesting banter between the two knights and the elf. The knightly banter though, at times feels like they are full of themselves. They think they are something, even though they are only novices. They have next to no battle experience under either of their belts. But this is who is chosen to protect and save the forest, and go on this important mission?

Reading the book, I became thankful for my playing Elder Scrolls Online (ESO). There are references to pieces of the knights armor, and the only reason I knew what was being talked about was because ESO offers crafting abilities and you can make your own armor pieces with different inherent traits. So, when they make reference to a pauldron, I know this is referencing the shoulder piece.

Fantasy is known for having unpronounceable names. This book takes it to an all new level. Mirgheliw, and Mdychi, are two characters in the book. Thankfully they don't have a major role, but everytime I came to these names I had to stop and read the letters carefully to guess at the pronunciation. A pronunciation guide would have been helpful, and this may exist in the final copy, but it wasn't available in the ARC.

There are a couple of places I felt had more description than needed. These only served to slow the story down further. Thankfully these were few.

If you are looking for some pointless action, then give this book a try. Other than that, this was a slow read with some pointless action, and two knights that came off as full of themselves.

To mimic the format of the writing throwing things in after the fact, or just scattered throughout. I thought I'd mention a question I have after reading approximately half a page, and one sentence in particular, why does the kid possibly need to die? Is this question indirectly thrown in a little over half-way through, supposed to keep me reading the series since it it's not answered in this book?

I tried really hard a few times to get into this book, but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

First in the Judges Cycle, Russell’s Road of the Lost is a fast-paced fantasy with an RPG feel. War is brewing, as dark elves and ogres invade the forests of Meridep, preparing to raise an ancient being. Dragons have appeared in a land bereft of them for generations. Two of the crystals of the Antiquities have been stolen. Should the other two disappear as well, all the kingdoms will be in grave jeopardy.

Knights Templar Jerah and Gratas have been sent to the sylvan elf kingdom to find the missing Sir Gersham and the relic sword he carried. They have also been charged to assist Reslo Tailrep in finding the missing Antiquities crystals. Their tasks will be harder than they think, and take them further than they imagine.

I really enjoyed the jocular, brotherly bickering of the two knights. They may be emissaries to the sylvan court, but they are still young males, just brushing adulthood, and it shows. They prank one another, tease each other, and compete, yet they are loyal to their Order, their oaths, and to each other.

Reslo, guardian of Old Court Road, a tradeway, and first among rangers, is sent with the knights to find the stolen crystals, and stop further decay of the forests. He is a sylvan elf, Stoic and cynical, yet graced with humour. It takes him a while to warm up to the Knights. Compared to the elves, they are clumsy and young. His interactions with the knights are often hilarious, and full of sarcasm.

We meet several species, cultures, and kingdoms. There are the humans, with their divided kingdom. There are bright elves, dark elves, sylvan elves, fairie-folk, ogres, and dragons, along with ancient preternaturals, and living gods. We learn the history of the lands, and get to explore several cultures. The sylvan elf court, built in a human keep reclaimed by the forest, was fascinating. I loved the rich detail given to Miradep, and to the cultures. I want more of the Uashin Lorekeepers!

The perspectives jump often, shifting from person to person, and group to group. This made it difficult to parse at times, especially when it happened in a battle. People and place names were also confusing on occasion. Some of the history puzzled me. At times, Reslo’s people seemed the ‘bad guys’, and other times the humans did. The history makes it seem like humans took over land belonging to Belsarik’s people long ago and now the old invaders are getting pissy because Belsarik’s displaced are ready to try and take back their lands. I have plans for a reread in hopes of greater clarity. It should be noted that this is most likely a ‘me’ thing, rather than a story thing.

Much of Road of the Lost felt like reading a video RPG. Tales of literal dungeon crawls (Gratas’ vampire story, for one), how the magic works, the ensorcelled weaponry, even the Antiquities crystals, all made me think of the earlier Final Fantasy games. Especially the crystals. Crystals play a large part in those earlier games. That called to mind Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s Dragonlance books, that evolved out of playing the D&D game. This was a fun fantasy read. I look forward to seeing how the story develops, and the author grow as a writer.

An interesting read! I haven't read many books that take a RPG approach to the story, but I did enjoy the world created in this one! The characters were interesting, and the settings were wonderful and easy to picture.

The magical forest Miradep has found itself swarming with those who do not belong. The Dark Elves and their Ogre allies are infesting the forest and endangering those they come across. Reslo, a Sylan Elf and Guardian of Old Column Road, finds himself thrust into the dangerous events with the unwanted help of two brand new Knights, Sir Jerah and Sir Gratas. The Knights were also sidetracked from their mission of finding their orders champion who went missing in Miradep along with a legendary sword. This unlikely trio are the only ones who can protect those they love from all out war.

Road of the Lost is an ambitious and action filled story. Unfortunately those aspects are both good and bad. I enjoy vast world's filled with lots of details and tidbits, but unfortunately the story was more focused on establishing the world for sequels instead of telling a strong and coherent story. The first 35 percent or so of the book was spent largely going from one aimless fight to another without paying any real attention to why things were happening. At roughly 35 percent a largely vague and trite plot is unveiled, find the crystals, save the forest, and perhaps the world.

The main characters Reslo, Jerah, and Gratas didn't really resonate with me. For most of the book Reslo was annoyed with Jerah and Gratas, Jerah and Gratas were annoyed with Reslo, and I was largely annoyed with all three of them. Their interactions were supposed to come across as funny or at least pleasant at times, but they didn't do anything positive for me.

The best part of the book were the plentiful fights and battles. The three main characters were certainly not afraid to find themselves in a shuttle and the book did a good job describing their battles.

Road of the Lost laid a lot of the groundwork for the Judges Cycle series and hopefully that work pays off more in the sequels.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Road of the Lost is a role play game (RPG) brought to life in the pages of the book. It is not my standard genre of reading and I simply could not get into this book as I had hoped. However, I am wanting to read the second in this series as I am engrossed enough to want to know what happens.

Road of the Lost, by Aiden Russell, is the first book of the Judges Cycle series and is set in the Land of Nod. Two young Templars looking for a missing champion, and an Elf with an inherited duty as a guardian, are thrown together as unlikely companions due to dark machinations of an ancient evil. Dark Elves, with brutish and hungry Ogres for minions, work for the ancient evil and constantly beset the heroes with attacks. Due to this, there is plenty of action with with all of the battles.
The two Templars, Gratas and Jerah must learn to work together with the Elf, Reslo, in order for the three of them to survive the quest that they have been given.
In the background, political truces are hanging by a precariously thin thread. Rival nations disagree over religion and gods, and there is bitterness remaining from a long ago war.
The novel ends well, with threads leading towards a second book. There are also a few intriguing sub-plots that left me curious.
Road of the Lost is a typical fantasy story, and will be enjoyed by fans of that genre. I found it to be a good read; often staying up later than intended to finish a chapter, and then another.
I found the main characters to be quite likeable, they had their own personality and were distinguishable. There are several different species to be found in Nod, from Dragons to Faeries, and each has their part to play in the story.
I enjoyed this novel, and I hope that I will get a chance to read the next book in the series when it is released.

This eARC was provided to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't quite enjoy this one as much as I wanted to. However, it does have some interesting plot points and characters that helped it along. I don't think it left any real impression on me, it was interesting enough to read through.

When I read the blurb for Road of the Lost, it sparked my interest. For those of you who haven’t read my about me, I am a huge World of Warcraft fan. I have played since 2006.,..so vanilla Warcraft. I have every expansion that they put out and am waiting for the newest one. When I read the blurb for Road of the Lost, I picked up on a vibe that this book could be like WoW. While I am glad that I did read the book, I found that I was left a little disappointed in it.

I was disappointed because, towards the middle of the book, a whole new plotline was thrown in. By doing that, it threw me off. If those people had been introduced earlier in the book, I wouldn’t have been so confused. The book would have been OK even if that plotline had been left out. It added extra questions that didn’t get answered.

I did have some questions that weren’t answered in the book. Like who Mdychi was and why he needed to be kept safe. It was mentioned to Reslo towards the middle of the book and never answered again. I hate it when that happens. It drives me crazy because I tend to think of that plotline throughout the book. I am sure it will be explained in later books but still…

I did think that Jerah and Gratas were loud, bumbling fools. When they were battling them, they were far from bumbling. They were graceful and they destroyed Ogres and Dark Elves. Destroyed them. I did get rather annoyed with them when they wouldn’t listen to Reslo. I kinda wished that Reslo gagged them.

The plot of Road of the Lost was good but it did confuse me in some parts. When I have to reread chapters because I don’t get something, well that can be an issue. I did only have to reread a couple of chapters in the beginning of the book. That was because I had no flipping idea was going on…lol. The author introduced Jerah and Gratas early on. But there were scenes with their factions and then with the Elves that I felt shouldn’t have been in there. In my eyes, it was information overload for me.

Jerah and Gratas are sent on a quest to find out what happened to a fellow knight. They are joined by an Elf Ranger, Reslo, who is very reluctant to be with them. All he wants is to go home, be with his wife and nephew, and enjoy a pot of shi shi. But that isn’t happening. Reslo, Jerah, and Gratas are taken on a journey. They discover that finding that knight is harder than they thought. They also get dragged into a conflict that is older than them. The outcome of this quest will determine if a new evil will rise in the land.

While the end of the book did answer some questions, it did not resolve any of the other plotlines in the book. I am hoping that book 2 will answer questions that I had from Road of the Lost.

Road of the Lost is a gritty, action-packed fantasy novel that reminded me of a quest of out World of Warcraft. I did find a few faults in the story. Characters being mentioned and then dropped. Also the plotline with the Seelie being introduced at the end of the book. I did like the book but found it very hard to read the first few chapters. But, once the main storyline got going, it was engaging and action-packed. It had an explosive ending. I will recommend to people who like fantasy. I do want to read book 2 because I have questions that I hope will be answered on there.

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence

I would like to thank 13Thirty Books, Independent Book Publishers Association, Members Titles and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Road of the Lost

All opinions stated in this review of Road of the Lost are mine

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

A great fantasy adventure novel. Loved the characters and the pacing.