City of Fae by Pippa DaCosta was one I came across unexpectedly and when I read the summary I was intrigued. I was in the mood for an Urban Fantasy and this one fell middle of the road for me.

DaCosta created a world where the Fae live amongst the humans but there are rules in place to protect the humans from becoming enslaved to the Fae. The world created here is dark and gritty and outside of the real world, there is another world where the Fae are governed by the Queen. The danger is that the Queen is looking for a way out so that she can control the world outside. In order for her to be released, the Queen needs to get rid of those powerful enough to trap her below. This is where Sovereign (Reign) and Alina come in.

As far as characters go, Alina was interesting. She unexpectedly crosses paths with one of the most famous Fae in London (Reign) and this chance meeting at the train station turns her world upside down. As Alina is contacted by the Queen, she also keeps crossing paths with Reign and they eventually team up to come up with a way to keep the Queen trapped.

Where Reign has played a role in helping to release the Queen, he hasn’t wanted to and as he tries to figure out what is really going on with Alina and who she really is, he is pulled into a partnership with Alina as they work to make sure the Queen is never released from the underground.

Overall I thought this was an interesting story and I look forward to seeing if this is a series. There is definite potential and I am interested to see where DaCosta will go with it if another book is in the works. If you’re looking for a different kind of faerie story, consider checking this one out. There is plenty of action and magic along with some interesting characters to keep the pages turning.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the review copy.