Thank you Simon Teen for the eARC! I loved Nafiza's previous book so I was so excited to read this! Reading this book was like walking through a dream. It was pretty relaxing given all the plot twists and reveals that seemed to be revealed so subtly. The second half of the book after the Red Caps is epic and I loved the history of the forever king. This book also has great revelations about family. Also, I really want to visit the Caislean. It sounds so pretty 😍 This was just such a beautiful and calm read!

4.5/5 Stars

Richly populated with fae, pixies, sprites, dryads and other magical beings, this Teen/YA fantasy is the story of our seventeen-year-old heroine, Croi, as she journeys into self-discovery, traveling from the predictable safety of her life in Humanworld to the beauties, mysteries and dangers she will encounter in the unknown expanse of the Otherworld, where she is summoned by a spell she must obey, to face a future (and a past) that threatens to be as murky as it is painful.

“The portal shimmers in the night, a liquid gold curtain veiling the secrets of a different world.”

Layered with strange and wonderful creatures, (I do believe flower sprites are my favorites) inhabiting a world intricately drawn and evocative in its details, Croi will also encounter terror, darkness and some of most chillingly-depicted and evil life-forms you are likely to meet between the pages.

As Croi will learn, the rules of this world, and the “magicks” holding its four kingdoms stable and together, are forces not to be underestimated. As the tangled web of secrets and lies underlying her existence begins to unravel, it is not clear yet who exactly Croi is meant to be, and if she is to have any chance at all of getting there unharmed.

A fun read in a genre I do not typically spend much time in, this book was a welcome escape with a lively and entertaining story, touches of delightful humor, and a definite dark fairytale feel to it.

With an ending that seemed to promise more to come (of both this story and these characters), I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

A great big thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Road of the Lost is a beautiful story filled with magical creatures and an epic journey. Nafiza Azad wields words in a way that feels like you've been whisked away to another beautiful otherworldly place. I find that it's almost a disservice to relate this book to The Cruel Prince because apart from the existence of fae, Road of The Lost stands strong as its own story of self discovery, feeling pain at the hands of the world and continuing the journey anyways.

Our lead character is Croi, a brownie, who until now has lived a sheltered life being invisible in the human world. She learns very soon that this identity she's held for so long isn't right and there's more to her and that the old woman who raised her doesn't care for her.

Nafiza describes Croi as a creature of chaos and that fits her down to the bone. As the story unfolds and the world Croi finds herself in a menacing fae world, filled with surprises and new people, you see her evolve and grow into herself with more maturity and confidence. She yearns for friendship and love, but learns she must guard her heart and make difficult choices. Everytime Croi's heart ached, mine ached with hers. She is undoubtedly my favourite aspect of this story.

This is a high fantasy with rich world building, a magical land, self-discovery, a brave main character, beautiful relationships, and an exciting cast of: pixies, a fae prince, a fire princess and more.

Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada and Simon Teen for an ARC of this book and the opportunity to provide my thoughts!

Wow, this was so cool! I am generally not a huge fan of the Holly Black type of fae, and this story definitely has that vibe. However, it almost read like middle grade - very whimsical and delightful.

Some of the plot twists were .....glaringly obvious, but you know what it was still fun.

Croi was a fantastic main character to read from, so determined and precious despite having no idea, ever, what was going on. The world building was done in an Alice in Wonderland type way - which I sometimes don't like, but here it was so fun!

Not a new all time favourite but I really think a lot of people are going to love this.

DNF at 54%. It’s hard to explain why this book isn’t clicking with me, and I think I overestimated my compatibility with it.

I see the intention, the symbolism, the epic scale, but it’s just not for me. The prose took me out of the story a little. There was a line about “her eyes knowing the colour of fear” and it took me out of the flow cause it felt overwrought.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed "The Wild Ones" by the same author, so I was really looking forward to this book. While I did enjoy it, I didn't enjoy it as much as "The Wild Ones". I think the comparison the "The Cruel Prince" does this book a disservice. Both books use fae mythology to build fantastical worlds, but that is where the comparisons end. This book is about self-discovery and is a quest both to discover her origins and to save the fae world from destruction. Both books are good, but are very different in tone.

One thing I really enjoyed in this book was the writing style. The author has a unique and lovely writing style that she used very well in "The Wild Ones" and the beautiful writing continues in "Road of the Lost'. If you enjoyed the writing style in that book, you'll probably like it in this one too. I also liked the character of Croi. She was stubborn without being annoying or frustrating, something that is often a hard balance to strike. The world building was also really interesting.

However, where this book fell a little flat is in the plot. The story overall is slow moving, which isn't necessarily a negative, but the ending felt a little rushed and unfinished. I really hope this isn't a stand-alone and the series will continue because otherwise it feels incomplete.

Road of the Lost ARC Review

Story: C+
Prose: B
Characters: C+
World: C+
Theme(s): A
Enjoyment: B-

You know when a book is lovely and kept your attention for the most part–the beginning was hit and miss–but at the end you're like, listen, I had fun, but this isn't going to have mass appeal, especially if you keep pitching it to Cruel Prince fans?

Road of the Lost is a Young Adult Fantasy about a girl's journey of self-discovery. Croi has discovered she's someone's glamoured her for the past 17 years to appear as a brownie with simple magic, and now the glamour is slowly and painfully breaking to reveal Croi is a real, high fae. But what kind of fae is a mystery so off she goes.

Although Road is ultimately quite lovely and after a certain point I couldn't set it down, the first 30% or so is ehhhh. Croi is literally wandering around and stumbling into encounters with random fae. Character driven books are at their weakest when the main character is alone, and Young Adult books in particular need to have an interesting cast of characters. It takes a while, but Croi is finally regularly surrounded by the rest of the cast halfway through and this is when things get GOOD. She's amidst people who have a complicated history that somehow involves her, and things are JUICY. We don't have all the answers, but we have an intriguing half-picture and a glimpse of dominos lining up, and Croi goes through some shit and has some great character development. It's a good time.

BUT Something big bothering me is that even though the book ends with Croi's journey of self-discovery wrapped up neatly, there's still a bunch of major plot stuff left open and seemingly no plan for a sequel?. Like, there's still things I need to see! Even one more page would've satisfied me.

Road of the Lost is written in–for the most part–third person, present tense, from Croi's point of view. Although the author has a really lovely, lyrical writing style, there are also times where she drops a plain, pointblank, spell it out for you line, and it's pure whiplash.

So probably don't read it if you're a Cruel Prince fan. Read it if you want a story of self-discovery with a side of friendship and a dash of romance. Read it if you want a main character who questions things and occasionally defies tropes. Those are its strengths. Read books for what they are, not what they aren't.

Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad
YA Fantasy
Publication Date: October 18, 2022

Have you ever played hide and seek with a toddler? You know that moment they run to go and hide but you can clearly see them but you play along and find yourself stating “gee where could you be?” The plot in the Road of the Lost is the toddler. The characters in the beginning were wondering out loud “gee why do I keep arriving in your dreams when I’m trying to summon a descendant of my rival?” To which the other states, “Hmm, I don’t know why we should be friends though.” I half expected the characters to break the fourth wall and wink at me.

I DNF’d at 22% because I found the book to be incredibly frustrating. I think the plot, characters and themes were really overstated and lacked dimension. This felt like an overly simplistic middle grade novel. Maybe because I DNF’d this so early into the book I missed the part where this became comparable to the Cruel Prince? The only thing I saw in common was the inclusion of fae.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive an advanced copy of this book. The synopsis sounded amazing. The cover is stunning. Unfortunately, it fell very flat for me. I think it was a combination of things. I had a very hard time connecting to the main character. She just felt very negative and pessimistic about everything. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of names that didn't feel distinct enough for me to keep straight. It also felt very disconnected. The way the story came together felt almost forced. I will say that Nafiza has created a beautiful world with the opportunity for a fantastic story. I'm torn on whether I will pick up the next book in the series. I'm curious, but I don't know that I'm curious enough.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for the e-arc and the opportunity to read this book. All thoughts are my own.

Magical. I’ve been wanting to read something with earth magic & forest sprites for a while. This was simple, unique, and it had the perfect dash of fairytale too. It’s written in third person present tense, which is something that took me a bit of getting used to, but I think it made things feel more dreamy.

For the past 17 years, Croi has been raised in the human realm by a guardian made of stone. That is, until one day when a summoning spell draws her through the Wilde Forest towards the Fae world and it’s four elemental kingdoms: Talamh, Aer, Uisce, and Tine. There, she tries to discover who, or what, she is.

<I>”Your blood tastes as though I know it. I feel as though I should know it’s name, but strangely I can’t speak it. Is what you are a secret?”</i>

We get to see all sorts of Talamh (earth) kin, like pixies, centaurs, dryads, and nymphs. The book ended in a way that leads me to think there’s a sequel, so if so, I’m looking forward to seeing even more creatures in the other kingdoms.

Sometimes the characters chalked the magic up to being “too intricate to explain”. I wish that was fleshed out more. Also one of the characters was given a somewhat vengeful (?) ending and I felt bad for them. Other than that, I thought this was a fun fairytale. I listened to some enchanted forest ambience while I read, which really amplified my reading experience. Highly suggest doing this.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Shuster Canada for giving me a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

DNF@ 55%

Road of the Lost was utterly unique in regard to how it was told and for that, I truly applaud it! When I started this story, it felt like a breath of fresh air in a sometimes ‘faerie heavy’ genre.

We follow along with Croi, a sweet little brownie, who often wanders into the human world to check on her friend – a woman, very much alive underneath, but ultimately, made of stone. When Croi accidentally hands over a spell to her friend the glamour she didn’t know existed is suddenly broken and she is ordered back to the land of faerie with a summoning spell.

Croi was a very innocent character with such little knowledge of the world that I couldn’t help but root for her! I really enjoyed the characters we met along the journey and really appreciated the distinctiveness of them. I decided to DNF this book as the deeper I fell into the story the more I struggled with how little Croi knew about really, anything. Including herself. By the 55% marker the reader still doesn’t know what she is, who summoned her, or what her true purpose is. Although I found her naivety endearing in the beginning – because it was fun to learn alongside her – by the half way point I was just looking for more.

I know the readers for this story are out there and if you enjoy books full of mystery, wonder and a little dose of excitement then this book just may be for you! Thank you to NetGalley and Margaret K. MeElderry Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful new fantasy about a brownie’s journey to self discovery. This world is deadly and intricately built and I want to live in it despite all its dangers.

The first adjective that comes to mind when I think of this book is fine. The writing style is very distinct and aligns perfectly with the personality of the main character, although it does get a little tiring after awhile. The main character starts interesting but at times does fall into the "not like other girls" stereotype and her connection with her love interest is stale at best. I saw that this book was marketed for fans of the Cruel Prince but aside from the faerie aspect, I don't really see why that was done. That being said, this book has its own wonderful selling points! The world building is incredibly well done and the dual aspect of the main character's personality is well executed and engaging to read. The pacing is great and there is terrific momentum towards the end of the novel. As a whole, it was interesting and worth the read, although not groundbreaking.

I really wanted to love this book; let's start with that. I haven't found a "fae" book that has hooked me in the past couple of years, so when this was compared to The Cruel Prince, I totally jumped for it. Unfortunately, I think that was just not it for me. While the land is magical, I felt lost while reading it from Croi's point of view. I understand the high-fantasy aspect of it, but there were points that I felt could have been used less, or areas that were talked about and then not added onto until the very end.
I definitely feel that many will love this book as the character are quite fun, but this took quite some time for me to get into (to the point that I was debating on DNFing it because I felt I was forcing myself to read it at points). I think the ending resolution-type situation is what bumped it to the second star.

I picked this up because of Wild Ones, but I kept reading because Nafiza Azad is an amazing writer. I cannot wait for others to read this book.

Intimate High Fantasy

The publisher's blurb for Road of the Lost begins, "Perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince, ..." I get where they're coming from. In Black's Folk of the Air trilogy an apparently powerless young girl contends with powerful fae enemies. When I read the Folk of the Air trilogy (which I admired greatly), my first thought was, "Wow! This is young adult? It's DARK." And yes, Road of the Lost is dark.

But I felt Road of the Lost was more like a different story: Tamsyn Muir's emergent Locked Tomb series. Coming from me, this is high praise, as I think Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth are utterly brilliant.

Croi, the first-person narrator of Road of the Lost is a small, weak creature, a brownie, who finds herself magically compelled to leave the home where she has lived all her life. It transpires that Croi is not a brownie at all, but something else. She has been under a spell to make her appear to be a brownie. That spell is unraveling as she travels, putting her in grave danger. Her struggles to find and understand her identity and the identities of her enemies and companions felt to me very like Gideon and Harrow's stories.

Unlike Locked Tomb, however, Road of the Lost is High Fantasy -- that is, it is about glorious and glamorous fairy kings and princesses who wield powerful magic. Like most High Fantasy worlds, this one is backed by a body of Legend from its past. But Croi does something I don't remember ever to have seen in High Fantasy before: she questions the Legend. She asks, "Where did you hear that story? How do you know the ones who told it to you were telling the truth? Cui bono? Did they have something to gain?" (Croi doesn't say, "Cui bono?"-- I am paraphrasing.) Croi's dangerous journey is all about learning, not just about herself, but about the nature of power in her world.

The result is a kind of intimacy I don't remember to have encountered in High Fantasy before. The kings and princesses are powerful and magical and glamorous, but they are also flawed. Inside themselves there is a kind of grubbiness, a weakness and decay that Croi's questioning cuts through.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advanced reader copy. Road of the Lost to be released 18-Oct-2022.