Long May She Reign

Unprepared teenager Freya is forced onto the throne, when she suddenly becomes first in line from 33rd when someone poisons the King and his Court. Between learning how to be queen and ruling a kingdom she barely knows, Freya is determined to find out who the killer is while evading attempts on her life.

I didn't expect this book to be so....flat, but by Chapter Six, I knew what the rest of the book was going to be like. I mean, I didn't come in with high expectations, a part of me wanted the book to be better than I thought it was going to be. But it wasn't. It wasn't necessarily worse, but it wasn't great either.

This book is really a slow-paced murder mystery with a typical medieval background. It's more mystery than fantasy. It's a very simple, flat book. Nothing compelling happens for most of the book, it's just mostly detective work and royal court politics.

PROS
•I did like seeing Freya actually put in the work to become queen. Usually, the heroine puts in little effort and is somehow already prepared to rule a whole freaking country. It was nice seeing the inner workings of a royal court.

•I like that she has a cat named Dagny. This is very refreshing to see and I wish we could see more protagonists owning pets, especially in a fantasy. Although, Dagny did disappear throughout the book would have been nice if she was consistent.

•Good writing, Freya felt real at times.

•The inclusion of science. I loved that Freya was into science and wanted to be a scientist, that's not something you see at all in YA fantasy.

•It get interesting near the end, at least


CONS
•Slow pacing

•Freya, at times, at least in the beginning, complained about plain and different from girls. A cliché in YA MC's.

•Little to no action

•I might have missed it but they never explained who the Forgotten was. I kept seeing it, but I don't really know who they are. A group of people, I think?

•Freya and Fitzroy's relationship was very late and lackluster. They only kissed one time and it was only to hint at a potential relationship. We never really got to see them together and get to know each other. Besides, Freya was too busy with being queen, a detective, and surviving. Either there should be a novella to explore their “romance” or Thomas shouldn't have written in at all.

•To be honest, the reveal was lackluster, too.

All in all, I think it would have been better if this book was promoted as a Fantasy/Mystery, instead of just Fantasy. Even then, there's nothing really fantastical about it. I found myself skimming through this book and I don't think it will stay with me. But I guess I can see why some people may like it.

If you into slow, drawn out, mystery on a medieval background, I think you'll like this book.