Book Review: Let it Reign by Cathrine Swift
1456Queen Amelia has barely survived her first year of marriage to the wicked King Alaric.
When she accepted his marriage proposal arranged by their fathers, she believed it her sole opportunity to fulfill her birthright as ruler of Dathoviel and protect her brother from the throne he feared. But she can no longer sit back and watch helplessly as her husband destroys her land and starves her people. She must find the strength to fight back.
However, King Alaric will not be relinquishing his crown without a fight. He has sought this power his entire life, done things -terrible things- to ensure it rests upon his head. And he has no problem committing a few more sins to keep it there.Amelia knows she must save her people and defeat her monstrous husband, but how do you fight wicked without becoming a wicked monster yourself?
Supported by her true love, Lady Caroline and their loyal companions, Amelia fights to save her kingdom, avenge a murder… and prove she was born to reign without a king.
I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
My favorite genre currently is medieval/fantasy romance. When I first saw the cover for this book, I was incredibly excited to read it. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but a good cover will get me to pick a book up nine out of ten times. I volunteered to join the ARC team for this release and was very excited when I got a copy of it in my email.
My excitement was dashed sort of early on. While I enjoy stories that have LGBTQ+ and POC characters, I feel like perhaps this author missed the mark. I can appreciate their attempt to diversify stories that may not otherwise be diverse because of the setting, but I’m not sure if the execution was proper.
Let it Reign is set in the fictional kingdom of Dathoviel, during the 15th century. It is the story of a young woman forced into an arranged marriage that she does not wish to be in. The story begins a year after the wedding, when the main character has decided already that she is unhappy with her husband. A part of me would have preferred to see the beginnings of their relationship and why she made those decisions, instead of just being told after the fact.
The story is written in third person omniscient point of view, which is hard to do. I fully acknowledge that. It’s part of why I have never written in that POV. There were many times throughout where I felt confused as to who was the main character of each scene. In addition, I felt like there were too many characters that the author included as perspectives in the story. It can be a big challenge to explore all of the characters, which is why, in my opinion, a better story is when the focus is only on a few important characters, instead of every single one.
There were many couples included throughout, but I feel like the romance of those couples didn’t quite shine. A lot of the time, I felt like I was being told the actions and feelings rather than being showed. When a novel is marketed as a romance, I need to feel the character’s heart pounding or the way desire sneaks up on them and takes them by surprise. By the end of the story, I didn’t even feel like I was rooting for any of the characters.
In my opinion, the novel was too long. There was a certain point (the basis of the entire plot really), that felt like it should have been the climax. Instead, there were over a hundred pages and more drama that got exhausting toward the end.
I really wanted to like this novel. I try to be fair and respectful especially when it comes to independent authors, but I felt like this one missed several opportunities to strengthen the story and really show the themes they marketed: diverse romance. Another book will be coming in this world, but I don’t believe that I will be reading it. It really wasn’t my cup of tea.
Thanks for reading,
Abbie
