King of the Forgotten Darkness, by Erik Goodwyn, is a sweeping portal fantasy that follows Liam Panregon, a trauma-scarred man wrestling with his past in a polished, tech-obsessed society called Midworld. But Midworld isn’t the only world. Liam is from Erentyr, a dark, war-ravaged realm of magic and myth, which he fled as a child after a devastating family tragedy. Now, haunted by memories, tormented by dreams, and drifting in emotional limbo, Liam learns his mother may still be alive—and the only way to save her is to return to the very nightmare he escaped. What unfolds is a deeply personal tale of grief, recovery, and reckoning, layered with high fantasy lore, psychological nuance, and existential stakes.

Goodwyn’s prose walks that delicate line between poetic and punchy. Moments of vivid beauty flash alongside gut-wrenching internal monologues and bursts of raw action. The first half is a slow burn, and I mean that in the best way. We linger inside Liam’s trauma, his simmering anger, the mundanity of a life that doesn’t fit, and the emotional cost of “normalcy.” It felt brutally honest. I found myself really feeling for Liam—not because he’s noble or heroic, but because he’s lost, complicated, and relatable. The world-building, split between sterile sci-fi futurism and moss-drenched fantasy realms, is done with skillful contrasts. The tech-saturated Midworld is chillingly familiar, while Erentyr oozes mythic weight and danger.

What really stuck with me, though, was the emotional arc. This book doesn’t just dabble in trauma—it stares it down. The nightmare sequences are genuinely haunting. The tension between forgetting and remembering, between escape and confrontation, gives the story real soul. There were a few places where the dialogue dipped into exposition a bit too heavily, and some transitions between worlds felt slightly abrupt. But those are small bumps in a ride that’s otherwise immersive, meaningful, and heartfelt. Goodwyn’s background in psychology shines through, lending the story layers of metaphor without ever feeling clinical.

I’d recommend King of the Forgotten Darkness to readers who love fantasy that goes deeper than dragons and quests, though it has those too. If you’ve ever wrestled with ghosts of your own, or questioned where you belong, this one’s going to land. Fans of Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, or even Ursula Le Guin’s more introspective work will find a lot to chew on here. It’s for those who want their escapism laced with truth, and their heroes cracked but unbroken.

Pages: 344 | ISBN :  978-1803417653