I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It deals with the ephemeral - the kingdoms that existed in but did not survive our early medieval period and because of the lack of formal record, their stories risk being ‘lost’. It takes a brave scholar to venture here, knowing that he/she can always be sniped at. But the result is both an important contribution and an excellent read. Bravo.

I found Lost Realms to be an extremely readable and interesting discussion of post-Roman history using the geography of the British Isles to provide the reader with various antient history tales based in each area. I loved the discussion around how little information there was to gather information from and the way the author points out throughout the book the likelihood (or lack there of) that certain characters and stories could actually be proven to have lived. As a non-historian, this gave the book a less condescending tone than some history books I have read. More than anything else, I think that the real positive of this book is that it takes a complex subject and makes it approachable and entertaining and discusses both the subject at hand and the methods historian's use to piece together stories from the past.

It's rare to find a book that mixes serious history with accurate pop culture references but Williams has managed it here. This account of the patchwork of little, and frequently forgotten, kingdoms of old Britain mixes mythology and material history to bring to life the founding stories of our country and culture. Genuinely shining a light on the so called Dark Ages Williams is a vivid and erudite guide, and a thoroughly readable one. If you've not read his other books I'd recommend them too - he's almost unmatched on this period of British history.

This is an example of how to write a book from very little evidence. The number of sources of information on the post-Roman state of Britain can be numbered on one hand and, as the author says, many of them cannot be trusted as they are writing either from a particular point of view or a long time after the events. Or both. I knew little of the places and people described beyond recognising some of the names and, in truth, now I’ve read the book I feel confident I have all the information there is. I read it because I felt I had to and it’ll now sit on a shelf and may get opened to check something once in a blue moon.