Review for Reign by Elliot Foree

Younger than most of her kind, Reign is strong, competent, and beautiful. And other than a few rather humorous reactions of another character meeting her for the first time, the last trait is by far not the focus of the story. The leader of her own company, I was constantly struck while reading by just how capable she came across in such a role. The interactions with the soldiers filling the ranks under her helped Reign seem real despite the fantasy elements of her birth and abilities. And of course, the scenes she shared with a fellow leader, Dane, swing between almost adorable and steamy. Sometimes both within the same scene.

Again, the novel does have its flaws, however. Because of the pacing and scope of the story and its place as the launching pad of a series, Reign felt sometimes like an origin story before the action takes place. There is still plenty of action too here of course, but everything is building toward something bigger. And because of many references to events and lost love that took place prior to the novel, it even feels like the second of a trilogy almost too. In terms of content, my only other critique is that the timing of things didn’t feel consistent, particularly in the length of travel or in the training of new cadets.

I do have to mention though the number of typos or errors that are in the novel. There were enough that I struggled with how to rate the book. Missing words or using the homophone of a word instead of the correct one made up most of the mistakes. Not even looking for them, but listing the ones I stumbled over, the average was about one a page. **After first making this review and getting in touch with the author, the vast majority of these errors were fixed.

Ultimately, I did very much enjoy reading Reign and would be excited to read the next installment of the series. There needs to be more LGBTQ+ representation, especially in fantasy. And more of Reign and the characters surrounding her.

Reign is available to buy on Amazon.