Another great book by this author
It’s beautifully written as all her books are
The plot is just fantastic. Pacing is excellent
Maybe the best book I have read this year

Oof, I found this hard work with so much jumping around in time and place. My brain just couldn’t follow it. I wanted to like it, but just struggled.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review. Apologies for the long delay in providing this.

"The Kingdoms" by Natasha Pulley is a mesmerizing journey through time and alternate realities. This novel blends historical fiction, steampunk elements, and intricate world-building to create a unique and captivating story. The protagonist, Joe Tournier, awakens in a parallel London, a city under French rule. The concept of forgotten memories and the exploration of one's past is beautifully interwoven into the narrative.

Pulley's writing is both vivid and evocative, immersing readers in the richly detailed worlds she crafts. The characters are well-developed, and their relationships add depth to the story. The complex themes of love, identity, and the passage of time are thoughtfully explored.

What makes "The Kingdoms" stand out is its ability to keep readers guessing and engaged. The twists and turns in the plot are both surprising and satisfying. The author's intricate plotting and meticulous attention to detail make this a compelling read.

In summary, "The Kingdoms" is a beautifully written, genre-blending masterpiece that will transport readers to alternate realities and leave them contemplating the intricacies of time and memory. Natasha Pulley's storytelling prowess shines through in this novel, making it a must-read for those who enjoy historical fiction with a touch of the fantastical.

We’re in Londres at the Gare du Roi, when we’re introduced to Joe Tournier. He seems dazed and confused, and is standing on the platform, wondering why the station’s name is in French. A postcard is waiting for him at the sorting office, it has sat there for ninety-one years, waiting to be delivered to Joe. On the front is a lighthouse - Eilean Mor, in the Outer Hebrides.

 Weirdly, Joe thinks it looks familiar. But he has no idea where this is, he has never left England, in fact he’s never even left London. 
The sense of dislocation from reality continues when he sees the message on the back: ‘Dearest Joe, Come home, if you remember. M.’ Something very strange is going on. Joe knows that this postcard is almost 100 years old, but he also knows that Eilean Mor was only built six months ago! Joe is a British slave, one of thousands throughout the French Empire. 
But he also has flashes of a life he cannot remember and of a world that never existed - a world where English is spoken in England, and not French. When he’s taken to hospital the doctors order tests and diagnose him with a form of epilepsy, causing symptoms of amnesia and paramnesia where the mind confuses things that are real with the imaginary. He needs to solve the mystery and he applies for a job servicing lighthouses.
 He leaves his wife and baby for a journey from the French-occupied London he knows to a remote Scottish island, and back through time. Joe will be battling for his life and his actions will completely change his future. From here on the adventures begin….

I’ve loved Natasha Pulley’s writing ever since The Watchmakers of Filigree Street and the adorable clockwork octopus. Her books are always unique and incredibly creative and The Kingdoms is no exception. The plot is very complex, but I was so swept up with the story that didn’t matter. I let the sea battles, romances and strange historical details wash over me. The author creates such a complete world and with total confidence so the reader can completely believe in the story. This novel is an absolute triumph and I wish I had half the imagination that Natasha Pulley has.

The Kingdoms is a case of a fascinating premise that really called to me, but the execution being too poor for me to really get into the book. I loved the idea of France having won the war and taking over Britain, and forcing everyone to speak French. Alternate history is my jam. Unfortunately it wasn't executed well in The Kingdoms. The world building at the start was confusing, which is fine because the main character himself was confused, but little bits and pieces of world building kept getting abruptly added to the book with little to no explanation. So did entire characters!

I felt like the writing was too shoddy to pull off such an intriguing and intricate plot. I didn't care for the main character because he had no personality, and while I understand he was confused I feel like we could have gotten into his head a bit more to understand what was going on in it. There probably wasn't much.

I'm really disappointed in this one!

The Kingdoms es una novela que empieza bastante fuerte, con un escenario histórico alternativo donde Francia reina sobre las islas británicas con un foco de resistencia en Escocia. La esclavitud es el pan nuestro de cada día y la historia comienza con un personaje amnésico incapaz de recordar nada de su pasado desde el momento en que se baja del tren en la estación de Londres.


La amnesia me parece un recurso bastante tramposo cuando estoy leyendo una novela, quizá por que se usa en demasía o quizá porque le sirve al autor para hacer tabula rasa y empezar desde cero sin que cueste ningún esfuerzo. Sin embargo, el mundo alternativo que plantea Natasha Pulley sí que parecía interesante a priori. Un siglo XIX en el que Inglaterra es una colonia de Francia, donde la esclavitud no se ha abolido, que el inglés sea un idioma prohibido y perseguido… todo parecían premisas muy atractivas.

Por desgracia, lo que es un prometedor comienzo poco a poco se va difuminando. Las distintas líneas temporales que utiliza la autora para narrar los acontecimientos van perdiendo interés y el ambiente naval de la mayoría de las escenas tampoco está excesivamente conseguido. La rigidez de la disciplina marítima contrasta de forma poco favorecedora con la maleabilidad del flujo del tiempo que conforma la base de la novela. Los personajes se sienten acartonados, cortados todos por la misma tijera. El ritmo se vuelve pesado y las “revelaciones” no lo son tanto cuando te las esperas desde el minuto uno.

Algunos puntos a favor del libro podrían ser la astucia de los elementos de la inteligencia naval francesa para sonsacar datos a los prisioneros, ya que son capaces de obtener mucha información simplemente deduciendo y extrapolando a partir de los nombres de las estaciones de metro que obtienen bajo tortura (recordemos que la convención de Ginebra no estaba vigente en aquella época) o el uso de longevas tortugas para experimentar con el flujo temporal. Pero son elementos muy escasos para otorgar méritos a una novela que se vuelve plomiza.

The Kingdoms ha resultado ser una novela perfectamente prescindible.

A beautifully written book that pulls on your heartstrings. It took me a long time to read this book and the pacing was a bit slow at times but it was definitely worth it.

It's always harder to review books you especially loved but this one has my whole heart. I was completely emotionally invested in the characters and felt wrung out by the end. Highly recommended.

I was a bit slow off the mark with reading The Kingdoms - it had been sat on my e-reader for an age, when I suddenly remembered it and started reading. I'm so glad I did. It's well known by this point that I'm a sucker for most stories involving time travel, but this, in particular, was a real gem. I adored this beautifully written book. The characters are exquisitely developed - from the smallest side character to the protagonist, they all feel very real, and I became quite attached to a lot of them. The Kingdoms stuck in my mind the whole time I was reading, and I felt completely immersed in the world within it. Despite being fairly slow-paced, I was utterly gripped the whole way through, waiting for the mystery to unravel further. I can see a lot more Natasha Pulley getting added to my TBR imminently!

I’m writing this review two weeks after finishing ‘The Kingdoms’, and I realise that I haven’t actually stopped thinking about it (off and on, obviously. I’m not THAT obsessed!). It’s one of those books that has really caught my imagination, and I’m certain that I’ll have to read it again at some point.

Basically (and I warn you: there’s nothing basic about this storyline!), Joe Tournier finds himself at a London train station, and realises that he doesn’t know how he got there, or who he is. A kind stranger takes him to the hospital where he’s diagnosed with amnesia. After a week at an asylum, his owner and his wife come to claim him. His French owner. He is a slave in Londres, which is occupied by the French after they won the Napoleonic Wars. But none of this feels right to him.

A month or so later, he receives a postcard written in illegal English, from a lighthouse in rebel Scotland - written 100 years ago. After gaining his freedom as a slave, Joe becomes an engineer, and is sent to the same lighthouse to make repairs. And that’s all I’ll say, because I really don’t want to spoil the story. I will say that there’s some jumping around in time, and it shows that if you change a small thing in the past, there can be huge ramifications in the future.

I loved the characters, the plot, the setting - just everything about it really appealed to me. I can’t say as I’ve read many books set mainly on boats, naval or otherwise. The rules and the running of the ships were really interesting, and the sea battles were gripping.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for a review copy via NetGalley of ‘The Kingdoms’ by Natasha Pulley in exchange for an honest review. It was originally published in May 2021 with its paperback edition released in February. My apologies for the late feedback.

I complemented my reading with its unabridged audiobook edition for an immersive experience.

‘The Kingdoms’ proved a fascinating novel complete with wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey bits and inventive alternative histories.

1898 Londres Gare du Roi, Joe Tournier finds himself dazed and confused on the train platform. He doesn’t understand why the station name is in French.

Given his confusion Joe is taken to a hospital and is diagnosed as having a form of epilepsy that includes both amnesia and paramnesia, a blurring of something imaginary and something real.

Joe is told that he is a British slave, one of many throughout the French empire. He is even married. Not long after this he is officially freed though chooses to remain with his wife and child in the household of their former master. Yet he remains haunted by fleeting memories of another life in which English is spoken in England, rather than French.

Then a letter is delivered, one that has been held in a sorting house for 93 years! In the envelope is a postcard with an etching of a lighthouse that looks vaguely familiar to him. The caption reads ‘Eilean Mor, in the Outer Hebrides.’ On the reverse of the postcard is written: ‘Dearest Joe, Come home, if you remember. M.’

Joe knows something strange is going on as the lighthouse depicted on this nearly hundred-year-old postcard was only built six months ago! Joe resolves to solve the mystery of Eilean Mor. He gains employment at a company responsible for lighthouse maintenance. When the Eilean Mor lighthouse fails, he is assigned to repair it. Leaving his family behind, he travels to Scotland and the remote lighthouse. From here on his adventures truly begin….

This is a phenomenal novel of time slippages, the butterfly effect, and alternative histories with plenty of surprises along the way. I will note that the complexity of its plot does require a close reading, yet this attention does pay off.

I found ‘The Kingdoms’ stunning with memorable, well realised characters, plenty of action including thrilling sea battles, moving relationships, and excellent historical details, albeit alternative ones. There is also a great deal of wit and humour throughout.

I felt that ‘The Kingdoms’ was a triumph for Natasha Pulley and one of the best novels that I have read in recent years.

Very highly recommended.

This a really tricky one to give a synopsis of...at least for me, as someone who doesn't really delve into the sci-fi-ish territory very often. Though, is it sci-fi? Fantasy? I don't even know. It was quite tricky to follow to begin with too.

So, we start with Joe, who is an amnesiac in 1900's London - which is a French colony where speaking or writing any form of the English language is outlawed - and he doesn't remember anything about himself or his life before stepping off the train where he was found. The only clue to who he is is a postcard, which was written 100 years ago and is simply signed by M. So he has to find out who this person is to unlock who he is. He ends up in rebel-ruled Scotland (you'll never take our freeeeeedom), gets involved in a civil war with this captain and crew that seem to know more about him than he understands himself...and so in the great words of Doctor Who it's a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff.

I was confused AF for quite a long time, until I had this brilliant aha moment and things started to click into place. And when those things clicked into place I appreciated that this is really clever story. It's also a really charming story, and I actually ended up loving it quite a lot.

I really loved this. It's was a bit slow at times , but it didn’t bother me at all, I
It still kept me invested and wanting more despite that. It’s got such beautiful writing, the story is wonderful , the characters were fantastic and the relationships so well developed. This was just a lovely read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Loved this book - so many intricate parts right the way through made this a beautifully written story. My first Pulley book and I will definitely be reading more.

Thanks to netgalley, author and publisher for this arc in exchange for a honest review.

Natasha Pulley has such a special way of writing a story, I really loved this book. Her writing never lets you down and she weaves an incredible story in this book. Highly recommend especially if you loved her previous books.

I'm not sure quite what I expected from this but as with every Natasha Pulley novel I've read, you are in for an amazing, astonishing story. This mysterious book, part historical fiction, part time travel, part beautiful love story, plays heavily with the idea of alternative histories and the butterfly effect, conjuring an amazing story set partly during the Napoleonic Wars and partly during the late Victorian period. It's incredibly difficult to describe but highly recommended.

I love the way Natasha Pulley writes, so it was no surprise that I fell for the world and the characters that she's created in The Kingdoms. Pulley starts with a really clever conceit - what if France had won the Napoleonic wars - and then riffs on it, develops it further, and pulls it apart. Bloodsoaked and brutal but surprisingly tender, just like her characters, The Kingdoms will keep you guessing even as it sails away with your heart.

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley is definitely a one-in-a-lifetime novel. When I was approved to read this I expected a completely different novel. The beginning sets up the whole novel perfectly. There are few books that manage to cross from a mystery into a fiction novel. It almost reminds me of the classics that I used to spend summers loving during high school. A definite buy for me and have also recommended this to all my friends.

This took me so long to read – and most of that was due to formatting errors due to it being an E-ARC. Missing capitalization, and odd page/sentence breaks just meant I really needed to spend all my focus on following the story. This is lyrical, and intricate, and heartfelt, but do expect to be slightly lost a lot of the time, and even at the end there may still be quite a few questions. Now, different than most people apparently, I did not catch on to all the answers straight away, so for me it was still an interesting trip, and I always feel confused and concerned reading time travel books – just the thought of things changing so easily. Regardless of my troubles attempting to read this, it has Natasha Pulley’s typical focus on characters and relationships that make me enjoy her stories so much!

With every new book I read by Natasha Pulley, she establishes herself more as one of my top favourite authors. Her latest, The Kingdoms, has a time travel/alternative history angle to it and the plot mostly plays out in a war setting, the Napoleonic Wars, so this is a bit of a departure from her more steampunky previous three novels. The time travelling makes the plot challenging to follow, but in the best and most riveting kind of way, I thought! At the heart of the novel is a slow and wonderful love story, and, as we already know and love from Pulley, great character development and nuanced friendships are abundant. Again, Pulley excellently pulls off a complicated plot, even through the multiple timelines. Exploring her plotting and world building in a new book is one of the biggest treats of my reading year!