Quick Take
- Narration: Sara Brodt brings measured gravity to Halia’s internal conflict, handling both the action sequences and the quieter moments of doubt with equal steadiness.
- Themes: Trusting enemies out of necessity, the cost of leadership, perseverance in ruined places
- Mood: Dark and urgent, with a prose style that rewards close attention
- Verdict: A worthy continuation of the Silent Kingdom series for readers who want their high fantasy to carry genuine emotional weight.
I finished Forsaken Kingdom on a weekend afternoon that had started with other plans. Rachel L. Schade has a way of making the world inside the book feel more urgent than whatever is happening outside it, a quality that is rarer than the marketing copy on any fantasy novel would have you believe. By the time Halia crossed into Toryn and the true scale of the ruin there came into focus, I had stopped noticing the time.
Sara Brodt narrates with a restraint that suits the material well. Halia is not a character who performs her emotions; she carries them. Brodt understands this and keeps the narration grounded even during the sequences that could tip into melodrama. The writing Schade gives her is quotable, one reviewer pulls the line about survival being nothing more than the moments between conception and death, and Brodt delivers lines like that without over-inflecting them, which is the right call.
Our Take on Forsaken Kingdom
The second book in the Silent Kingdom series takes Halia somewhere fundamentally different from Misroth. Toryn is not just another kingdom, it is a kingdom in collapse, its people plagued by terrors and fighting for survival in a way that makes the political intrigue of Book One look almost comfortable by comparison. The structural choice to set the central journey in ruins works because Schade understands that a ruined kingdom is not just a backdrop. It is an argument. What does loyalty mean when the thing you are loyal to no longer exists in the form you recognized?
The forced alliance between Halia and her enemy is handled with more nuance than the summary suggests. The trust does not arrive quickly or easily, and its slow development gives the relationship genuine weight. Schade does not let either character become a simple foil for the other, which is the failure mode most common in YA fantasy enemy-to-ally arcs.
Why Listen to Forsaken Kingdom
The writing is the primary reason. Multiple reviewers across years of reader responses return to Schade’s prose specifically, comparing her work to Sarah J. Maas in terms of the ability to make you feel physically inside a scene. That is a high bar, but Schade earns it in the Toryn sequences, the sensory detail of a kingdom that has lost its shape is specific enough to be genuinely immersive. The character development compounds interest from Book One rather than merely repeating it, and the emotional range of the novel is wider than its predecessor.
For Forgotten Realms readers who want something with similar scope but without the franchise constraints, the Silent Kingdom series delivers a high-fantasy world that feels fully original. Schade’s monsters and supernatural threats have their own internal logic rather than borrowing from established templates.
What to Watch For in Forsaken Kingdom
The ending. Reviewers who have been with this series since its initial release are unanimous on this point: the final pages land with the force of a door slamming. One listener described gasping and saying aloud that it could not end there. That is not a complaint, it is a measure of how invested the novel makes you in Halia’s survival. But listeners who cannot function well with open endings should understand that Forsaken Kingdom ends on a genuine cliffhanger that resolves nothing about the central question of Halia’s cost.
The series is continuing, and Book Three follows. Knowing this in advance will help you manage the closing chapters without the particular despair of thinking the story might be abandoned mid-arc.
Who Should Listen to Forsaken Kingdom
Start with Book One, Silent Kingdom, before coming here. The emotional investment in Halia’s situation depends on the groundwork laid in the first installment, and the enemy-alliance of Book Two will carry less weight without that context. For listeners who have already read Book One, Forsaken Kingdom is a natural and satisfying next step, darker, wider in scope, and more willing to put its protagonist through genuine cost. Fans of high fantasy with literary ambitions rather than just plot mechanics will find Schade’s work consistently rewarding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Forsaken Kingdom work as a standalone, or is reading Silent Kingdom first essential?
Reading Silent Kingdom first is essential. The entire dynamic between Halia and her enemy companion, as well as the political context of Misroth and who the rightful king is, requires the setup from Book One to register properly.
How dark is the content in Forsaken Kingdom, is it appropriate for younger YA readers?
The book handles death, loss, and political violence with directness but not graphic detail. It sits in the darker range of YA high fantasy, comparable in tone to the more serious Maas titles. Mature teens and adult fans of the genre will be comfortable; younger or more sensitive listeners may find the relentless pressure of Toryn difficult.
Is Sara Brodt’s narration new to this series, or did she narrate Book One as well?
Based on the available metadata, Sara Brodt narrates this installment. Listeners should verify narrator continuity with Book One if consistent voice casting matters to them, as series sometimes change narrators between installments.
The cliffhanger ending, does Book Three resolve the central crisis Forsaken Kingdom leaves open?
Book Three in the Silent Kingdom series does exist and continues Halia’s story. The cliffhanger at the end of Forsaken Kingdom is a genuine mid-series break rather than a series cancellation, so readers can pursue the resolution.
