Author: Victoria McCombs
Recommended Age: 15+
Genre: Fantasy
Books in Series:
Summary: Every year on the center island, a girl is chosen to be the next Mortal Queen of the alluring fae realm. When sixteen-year-old Althea is chosen as queen, she is transported to the fae realm and faced with a horrible reality: Mortal Queens only live for two years before they die. Desperate to break this cruel cycle, Althea launches herself into a mystery of chess games, magical paintings, and glass hearts to discover the secret to the Mortal Queens’ death and the true darkness hidden in the fae realm. But every day brings Althea closer to death. Unless she can find a way out.
Notes from The Radical Reader:
- Noble Characters: The character of Althea was one that I loved exploring. In an age where an aggressive, dominant female heroine is praised, it was refreshing to see Althea’s feminine qualities adding to her strong character. Her ability to face defeat and return stronger made her a heroine worth cheering for.
- Captivating Plots: If you love stories in the style of Alice in Wonderland or (for a newer example) The Curious Realities Duology by Sara Ella, then you will love The Fae Dynasty. Between chess matches that can kill, alliances that can (quite literally) shatter hearts, and answers no one seems willing to give, The Fae Dynasty will keep readers turning pages in frightful anticipation for the incredible end of this duology!
- Elaborate Worlds: The author imagines two realms: the mortal and the fae. From the mortal’s point of view, the fae realm is all glitter and gold. But the truth (as Althea comes to realize) is far from such a reality. While contrasting two realms, the author asks readers what makes life worth living. Is a short life alone but with all the riches you could dream of worth more than a long life of love, family, and belonging? Readers, like Althea, will need to decide as they are faced with this question time and again while enjoying these books.
Noteworthy Elements:
- Violence: There is one reference to a woman who may be stealing blood to feed on it. This is proven wrong.
- Sexual Tension: A girl’s dress is described as, “hugging her curves, chiseled by a generous hand”. Another girl is described as, “her cream dress hugged her hips perfectly”. While falling in love, Althea describes it as, “I wanted more than the look of him. The sensation gripped me with an unrelenting desire. I wanted the taste of him too”. Althea describes a fae queen as, “a white dress wrapped around her generous curves” and a mortal queen is described as having “thick thighs”. A fae king tricks Althea into kissing him in exchange for a favor, even though she’s in love with Bash. When kissing Bash for the first time, Althea describes it as, “My fingers laced through the coils of his thick hair and down the curve of his neck, obsessed with every detail of him. I was drunk on the taste of his lips, which was sweeter than any wine Odette could steal. He was glorious. And for this one moment, he was mine”. When trying to get answers out of a fae king, a friend of Althea’s suggests she give him something to make the king talk. When Althea questions what, “Thorn’s gaze fell suggestively to my lips and I clamped my jaw”. She ultimately disregards his idea. When trying to convince Bash to tell Althea what he learned, she toys “with the idea of going to his home tonight, wearing a flattering dress, reminding him what he meant to me”. This idea is also rejected.
- Spiritual: Most of the story takes place in the fae realm, which while not spiritualized or immortal, is shown as a separate race of beings with longer life spans and the ability (though limited in areas) to work with magic, often coming through games and tricks that are either lost or won. The phrase “saints know” is used once. Althea remembers being young and sending “up prayers to the Mortal Queens… and [asking] them to bless us”. When a fae dies, “the nobles of the realm will gather along with all who loved him, and we will turn him into a bright star and place him high in the skies”.
