Tricia Copeland, To Be a Fae
reviewed by Alison McBain
To Be a Fae Reviewer: Alison McBain Publisher: true bird publishing, llc Length: 429 pp. ISBN: 9798305770018 |
I was recently a guest on Tricia Copeland's show Finding the Magic Book Podcast, and we had a great chat about writing fantasy, romance, and everything in between. So, I was interested in checking out some of her writing, and I received an advance copy of her new book To Be a Fae.
First off, I have to mention the maps and illustrations that start out the book. In fantasy, it can be helpful for a reader to be given a visual blueprint of another world, especially if the characters travel on a quest throughout the story. Interestingly enough, the book's world is our own: the maps in the beginning of the book are Earth's world maps, except renamed for the kingdoms of the fae realm.
This is a complex fantasy world where fairies, vampires, witches, and more mythical races co-exist and interact, sometimes peacefully and sometimes not. There are three main realms where the story takes place: Lower Earth (the realm of the dead), Middle Earth (the fae /kingdoms of magical folk), and Upper Earth (the mortal realm).
Queen Titania is a young fae ruler of the kingdom of Aubren, whose world is changing before her eyes. Unrest has been bubbling under the surface for the first time in her short reign: her subjects have begun to commit various crimes, an unthinkable development before she ascended to the crown. On top of that, threatening magic has begun to infiltrate Middle Earth, and Queen Tatiana doesn't know how to fix the chaos invading her realm and disrupting the lives of her people.
Perhaps the growing problems have to do with the queen's secret plans and her alliance with the witches. Or perhaps it's her sizzling attraction to one of them, DJ, who's her ally in Upper Earth and both a witch and a vampire. It could be related to the dangerous Guardians, who are barely held in check by a signed treaty. Or perhaps it's the threat of Sonia, the archangel, returning to destroy the queen, the same Sonia who attacked Titania's people in the past and killed Titania's lover, Foster. The queen still mourns him and the conflict that led to his death, and feels a terrible guilt about it.
However, the one truth across all the magical and mortal realms, through shifting and unstable treaties between the many races, is that secrets — even a queen's — don't stay hidden for long. And those who mean her the most harm might not be that far away at all.
Tricia Copeland's writing is fairly quick to read; I finished the book in just a couple of days. Despite this being the fifth book in her Realm Chronicles series, it was easy to sink into her alternate world. The book is dialogue-heavy and has fast-paced action; as soon as one problem is solved, another one crops up for the characters, all leading to the final conflict at the end.
If I had to do it again, though, I might want to start out with the first book of the series and see what led up to the characters' current situation. This novel starts right in the middle of the action with not a lot of explanation or backstory about the characters, so I had to puzzle out a few things about what was going on as I read. I feel I'd have a firmer grip on the situation from the get-go if I'd read the previous books.
I'd recommend this book to readers who enjoy fantasy with a lot of magic, as well as writing that's on the tamer side; there are no detailed scenes containing excessive blood and gore, although darker events are hinted at or mentioned but don't tend to be explained in vivid detail. It reminded me strongly of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, which is suitable for teens and adults alike. Hope you enjoy reading it!
Copyright © 2018 by Alison McBain
