To be a Fae Queen by Tricia Copeland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Titania is Princess of Aubren in the realm of Middle Earth, she is fifteen years old and for the last three years and since the death of her brothers, she has been in training to take over the throne from her father. She has a fulfilling life between her studies, learning about weaponry and fighting techniques, plus music and sewing as benefits a lady, although she has no friends and there is only one person she is close to, apart from her parents with whom she spends time every evening after dinner, talking with her father and trying to talk to her unresponsive mother. One evening, however, all this changes when Titania learns from her father that the crystals which power the faerie ring and link between theirs and the world above is weakening because an old enemy has returned and is stealing the crystals which power it. She struggles to fall asleep as questions whirl round her head as to what the enemy is planning, how they are getting into their kingdom, so she decides to go and get some books from the library to research and hopefully answer her questions. When she wakes up the next day and notices that it has dawned differently and she has a feeling of unease which she cannot place until she asks whether more crystals have been stolen, when the answer is an affirmative, she is even more determined to find out why.

As there is nothing she can do, Titania carries on with her normal routine of walking in the castle grounds with her mother until it is time for her midday meal, as she ate late, Titania carries on with her walk until she senses that she isn’t alone and confronts the person following her, it turns out to be a young soldier barely older than her who has been assigned to watch over her and although it feels smothering, she just carries on as usual. The next day, that feeling of unease and that something is wrong increases, especially when she discovers that some of her own crystals have disappeared as well, however, when she comes up with a plan to figure out where the enemies are and a way to defeat them, her father acknowledges the worth of it, but assigns the soldiers to carry it out rather than her, despite knowing her skills. As more crystals are stolen and her father still stonewalls Titania from carrying out a search and her plan to find the enemies alternative entrance point when it is clear that they are not using the most obvious one, she devises a plan and the young guard to help her, however, as they search, they do finally uncover where the enemy is hiding.

As she shoots arrows across the entryway, she begins to take down the enemies and knowing this, they summon the rest of the army to come and help to destroy them, in the end the King arrives and heads the forces going into the cave system they two have discovered, but he is injured by the enemy and at that point, Titania takes over and takes the lead in the charge. When they enter the cave system, Titania recovers the stolen crystals and enables the escape of the troops as the caves are hit by tremors and sending the guard ahead with the crystals, she remains to finish off the enemy troops and ensure the safety of as many of her fathers troops as possible. When they all return, the King abdicates his throne and elects Titania to become Queen in his stead, however, this isn’t to everyone’s taste and an uprising begins on the point that a female fae should not be on the throne as they are unsuitable, as her court is split between the two factions, a smear campaign against her begins, this leads to her being arrested for treason before a trial can be convened to decide the ruler.

Will Titania be able to prove her innocence in the matter of treason and be able to compete in the trials for the crown, or should she hand over to a distant male cousin so that he can rule in her place instead? There are more questions than answers for Titania as she tries to keep her head above water in this thrilling fantasy adventure which spans accross realms.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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