3.5 stars

Long May She Reign was a well-written decent fantasy read but it did not do enough to truly set itself above the rest of solid fantasy I have read over the last couple of years. Somewhere between the average writing style and the underwhelming world-building, I worry that it will lose a lot of the intense fantasy readers. While there were many elements that did work for me and as a whole, I undeniably enjoyed it, there was just some indistinguishable element lacking to make it stand out from the other books in its genre.

Freya, our protagonist was my favourite aspect of the novel. Lady scientists are always a hit with me and Freya’s passion for her science experiments - and inventing a process of detecting poisons that would benefit everyone - made me so happy. There is just something about nerdy characters puttering around in a lab worrying whether they were about to blow something up by accident or succeed at their aim that makes me giddy. The fact that we also had a protagonist in a fantasy story that suffered from a mental illness - in this case, anxiety - was another thing that really worked for me. I felt that Freya’s anxiety made her seem like a more dimensional and realistic character. It was reasonably well written and did not take the focus away from the murder mystery.

The other characters were not too bad. I liked that we had a strong female friendship throughout the story between Freya and her best friend but I wish there had been a large ensemble of character for me to fall in love with. Freya’s relationship with Fitzroy was sweet but also a little bit… unnecessary? I did like that the author made sure that their romance remained secondary to the main plotline but this also made it feel like an added element to the story which took the focus away from Freya’s primary objective. I don’t know? I think it should either have had more of a role to play in the overall story or just have been completely removed. Maybe that is just me being picky, though?

The plotline was what drew me into this story and was probably the most disappointing element. By itself, the concept is brilliant: a girl who is twenty-third in line for the throne is suddenly crowned queen when the entire royal family/court is killed in one mass poisoning. I just love this! However, I felt that Freya’s ascension was a little bit too rushed. I mean over 400 members of the royal family and nobility/court just died… apart from Freya’s closest friends and family, of course. I think there would have had to be a lot of panic and planning and turmoil in those earlier few weeks, let alone days. Could you even imagine that? Hundreds of people all dying at once? It would surely send the kingdom into a panic. I just wished that Freya’s ascension - particularly her response to it - had taken a bit longer. I did really like that the story took on a murder mystery angle instead of your typical politic-focused fantasy, though. It was so unique and definitely had me on my toes. I had about three characters who I could not shake my suspicion off so I really enjoyed being caught up in the thrill of the chase, waiting to see who was at fault. The ending however… yeah, that. It certainly left a bit to be desired. I just cannot believe that Freya made the decision she did. It seems a little bit irresponsible...

Overall?

Long May She Reign was a unique fantasy story that was enjoyable but not quite as lovable as I would have liked. While the protagonist was decent, I struggled to connect to any of the secondary characters. I also felt that the plotline had its moment. The general concept was well thought out but its execution left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. I definitely appreciated the anxiety representation and female scientist lead but there was just something missing for me to completely fall in love with this story.

Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.