Tales of the Forgotten Founders (The Falinnheim Chronicles #3) by C.W. Allen

What worked:

Zed and Tuesday live in the palace with their mother since she’s to become queen and has already joined the Falennheim regents ruling the realm. Their father heads the Royal Guard. The siblings’ relationship with a boy named Bastian is complicated by the fact that they’re royalty while his parents are not. Zed and Tuesday are able to move freely around the castle while Bastian sometimes fears accompanying them on mischievous and sneaky explorations might result in his parents getting fired. Bastian’s uncle is the Royal Librarian and he’s in charge of educating his nephew and the royal siblings. The best part of this relationship is it gives the trio access to a hidden archive and a realization that Bastian’s stash of Earth texts is more valuable than he knew.

Zed and his family were hiding out on Earth in the first book until they crossed dimensions back into Falennheim in book one. Zed and his sister Tuesday can’t understand how their mother knows so little about Earth while other characters seem to know more than they should. How does Bastian know about Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes? The siblings and Bastian discover a book called “The Book of the Founders” concealed among the library shelves that sheds light on Falinnheim’s past. How might this explain why citizens fear Earth and why traveling to other worlds is forbidden? This book's place in the series looks back and explores the origins of Falennheim. These past events are shared via flashbacks that are recorded in the secret texts mentioned above. 

Hints are dropped that may, or may not, be connected. Tyrren’s been the main antagonist in the previous books but he’s now imprisoned. So why is there still discussion about how he’ll be punished? The narrator mentions that some of his followers have not been captured so the author leaves that conflict active but in the background. It seems predictable this will all become significant in the future. Ball-like crystals are the key to transporting between worlds so possibilities emerge for anybody in possession of one.

What didn’t work as well:

This book has less action when compared to the previous books, and the actual conflict isn’t clear. It’s more similar to a mystery story that might have detectives trying to uncover the truth. This template isn’t necessarily a bad thing for this book but it may not be what loyal readers are expecting.

The Final Verdict:

The author does a decent job of recapping the previous books so this one can probably be read independently. I still suggest you read all of them. Compared to the rest of the series, this book feels like it’s connecting the books around it as it doesn’t have a major conflict to create tension or suspense. It still has entertaining characters and sheds light on the overall scenario so give it a shot.