Book Review: Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas

Read Time:2 Minute, 45 Second

Long May She Reign started with all the glitz and glamour that would attract you in an instant.The book was even going smooth till a certain extent but after the initial charm the book just went to drop pretty fast as a wannabe Nancy drew mystery.

Long May She Reign Official Synopsis

The Girl of Fire and Thorns meets The Queen of the Tearling in this thrilling fantasy standalone about one girl’s unexpected rise to power.

Freya was never meant be queen. Twenty third in line to the throne, she never dreamed of a life in the palace, and would much rather research in her laboratory than participate in the intrigues of court. However, when an extravagant banquet turns deadly and the king and those closest to him are poisoned, Freya suddenly finds herself on the throne.

Freya may have escaped the massacre, but she is far from safe. The nobles don’t respect her, her councillors want to control her, and with the mystery of who killed the king still unsolved, Freya knows that a single mistake could cost her the kingdom – and her life.

Freya is determined to survive, and that means uncovering the murderers herself. Until then, she can’t trust anyone. Not her advisors. Not the king’s dashing and enigmatic illegitimate son. Not even her own father, who always wanted the best for her, but also wanted more power for himself.

As Freya’s enemies close in and her loyalties are tested, she must decide if she is ready to rule and, if so, how far she is willing to go to keep the crown.

Long May She Reign RWAT Take

Long May She Reign

I felt that the book went on to become childish after a certain point and there was no recovering from it. Somehow I couldn’t take it seriously as I felt the book was just getting superficial and wanting to wrap everything.

In the beginning the book showcased all the potential of being a great read and in fact it did take me by surprise as to how quickly things escalated in the book and making it quite interesting. I did follow the book religiously till quite a while with all the enthusiasm i had but slowly i could see everything just drooping down and getting kind of half heartedly picking up.

One of the major disappointment for me was the contrasting or rather contradictory world where at one end you are showing horse carriage and colonial, vintage cobbled street kingdoms and in other end you have a scientist playing with chemicals and beakers and that too all readily available and even normal for a teenage girl. Something was seriously missing for me to make the story land believable

I guess the fact that things were contradicting didn’t work along with the fact that half way the book just lost in focus on the core theme. Right from offering a great where a normal girl is suddenly made queen it almost flips at a drop of hat to become another romantic foreplay taking away the direction of an otherwise challenging story