Wow, Curious One. The final book in the Lochlann Treaty Series, Autumn’s Reign, was remarkable. I’m loathed to admit that I ended up relatively proud of Oliver, although I still don’t like him. I am proud that he stood up to the manipulative adults and realized they were manipulating him, but he is still a very annoying boy. After he returned from the war though, I will grudgingly admit that he became a man. Hahah!
Jocelyn changed as well, quickly becoming a voice behind Charlie, which was both surprising and welcoming. I really wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with childish and malicious antics by women trying to take each other down in shame. You know, one of the popular tropes among young adult books.
Into Autumn’s Reign
In the beginning, I was worried that Charlie would do something stupid to see Logan or to overthrow Oliver. The way she was pacing and talking and thinking made me feel uncertain and worried. However, it was honestly Oliver’s fault as well. If he had just told her immediately what his plan(s) were, she wouldn’t have been so mistrusting. I would have been. I might still be.
Halfway through, there was this shift in the writing. It felt more adult-like and less teenager-ey. It was very welcoming, although it did distract me a bit, trying to figure out why out-of-the-blue the maturity level skyrocketed. It worked well though in the end, I think.
After Logan and MacKinnon “escaped” the dungeons, and Earc went after Charlie in the middle of the council meeting things began to change. The Socairan’s were marching to war with H’Ria. Oliver and Finn were going to leave with a group of soldiers to march to their aid. H’Ria needed to be warned though, so Finn was going to leave immediately and ride alone, as fast as possible, to warn his family.
Logan remained behind for now, in hiding, waiting for the time reclaim his Captain of the Guard position.
The Warrior Princess of Autumn’s Reign
I find it both amusing and a relief that Charlie randomly keeps up her training in Autumn’s Reign. It isn’t nearly consistent enough to actually improve her skills that much, but it was enough to give her the amount of skill needed to lead her people into battle. It was a relief that she faltered and lost herself a time or two on the battlefield. She wasn’t just suddenly a warrior queen leading her people heroically, even though she had lived the last 17 years of her life behind the castle walls. It felt realistic that she acted and reacted the way she did.
Queen Siobhan was annoying as all heck though. She was stubborn, arrogant and self-centered while Earc was present, but the moment Oliver left she became a reclusive, simpering, worthless monarch. The only time she showed anything but contempt for Charlie was when she walked in on her covered in Earc’s blood after he attempted to rape and kill her. Queen Siobhan helped her move the body from her room. They dressed as servants and dragged the body (disguised as a load of laundry) to Oliver’s rooms where Siobhan requested Charlie to return to her rooms, clean herself up and remove the blood all over her suite. Apparently, Siobhan took care of Earc’s body and made certain it could not be found.
The discretion provided by Siobhan in this moment was literally the last helpful thing she did until Oliver returned – which she prepared a feast. She is just annoying. Almost as annoying as Oliver. At least Oliver redeemed himself a little bit. The queen just made it worse. If she had taken up arms against Charlie or something it would have been a more powerful statement and testament to her conviction of being royalty and above the H’Rian line. As it is, she was just pathetic.
During a council meeting about the declaration of war from Socair, Charlie confronted Earc about his company and why he immediately imprisoned the Captain of the Guard (Logan) and the leader of the rebellion (MacKinnon), but refused to interrogate them about their actions. Her words made the others in the council pause and when Earc fired back that Socair was attacking all because of the marriage between Isla and Finn, Jocelyn stepped forward. She declared that the fate of kingdoms should no longer be sold and bought with the bodies of their royal ladies and that it shouldn’t all hinge on the decisions made by a pair of lovers. It was a powerful moment, Jocelyn speaking from her own experience with Anderson.
The worst and best moment happened later that day. Charlie and Callum (her personal guard) returned from a long day of training when Earc had snuck into her room and surprised her. He began to attack her and tried to rape and kill her. However, thankfully, Charlie had her “booby” dagger hidden on her and she used it to slit Earc’s throat, following it up by stabbing him multiple times. She was amazing and so strong.
The Forever Female Fight
Isla was saved by Logan, who was previously located in the same room. Jocelyn came to Logan to warn him and he was able to get to Isla before her mother, Lady Ava, kidnapped her and carted her off to Socair to fulfill the marriage treaty. It is hard to believe that things like this were really what happened back before women were able to fight and earn their rights. So hard to believe. It still occurs today in some parts of the world. Mind-blown and heartbroken.
After Queen Siobhan helped Charlie clean up the mess and get rid of Earc’s body, they found Callum (unconscious) and Isla’s bodyguard (dead) locked in a closet. Callum was able to recover in a few days and join in the final battle for Luan and Lochlann.
There was a bit of surprise by Charlie’s reaction to Logan wanting to lead the majority of the soldiers left in Luan to help aid King Oliver. The entire group Oliver was marching with was full of men loyal to Earc and Socair, betraying the throne and just as likely to kill their own kinsmen than those of Socair. I was a bit annoyed that she would be so upset and angry and try to convince Logan to stay hidden in the palace with her, rather than do his job and fight in the war, saving both H’Ria and Oliver (Insert Another Eyeroll at Her Antics).
After Logan left, Charlie put in her size and dimensions to the armorer of Luan. His name is Rayan and I think he is fae as well. But we never got that information so bluntly stated. Her armor was stunning and very fitting to the cause. Swirls of blue and green, gold and silver both in her armor and in her sword to declare the unity of the two kingdoms. It was a powerful statement to those who fought alongside her. So, emerging from the castle in her armor, she led her people in a final battle for peace and for saving those that couldn’t take up arms.
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Too Easy?
On the battlefield she was shielded from most of the direct fighting, but finally, she saved Callum by killing Rhiesart. I was so relieved, although I think it was a bit too easy for her to accomplish such a feat with such ease. I am upset by the death of her horse, Ashwyn, but someone important couldn’t make it, so I understand why the authors did what they did. It made the most sense as well.
Just as Charlie was struggling to survive, her men falling around her faster than she could account for, Fia, Angus and their wonderful allies from the forest thieves came to the rescue. They turned the tide in the favor of Luan and fought the rebels on the side of Socair back until they were victorious. I’m not sure if there were survivors or not, but if there were, it was not many.
At the same time as the battle in front of Luan’s castle, Logan was blowing up the tunnels dug through the entire base of the mountain to Socair. The Socair soldiers were coming through them in unimaginable numbers. Logan stayed behind to set the barrels off, ordering his men out of the tunnels. They exploded around him, burying him alive.
Back in H’Ria and their castle…well…some ultra-bad news had to come at some point, right? H’Ria has fallen. Socair has taken it over. The King and Queen of H’Ria are dead, strung up on the castle walls for the whole of Lochlann to witness. Finn and Oliver were currently trying to take the castle back from Socair.
Meanwhile, back in Luan, Charlie was forming a new council. One comprised of women (Isla and Jocelyn), Lairds, MacKinnon and herself as the Warrior Queen she became. Her council would better reflect the people of Lochlann and have those in service to all in the kingdom, not solely the Lairds in charge of the villages on their lands. Most of the Lairds were accepting of this change, even if they all knew it would take time to grow accustomed to the drastic changes.
The End of Autumn’s Reign and The Lochlann Treaty
Finally, Oliver returned with those left of the Luan army sent to help H’Ria in Autumn’s Reign. He was changed, of course, and began to leave all the monarch duties in the hands of Charlie – only giving input when directly asked or when he had some positive feedback that could assist in the recovery effort.
Due to his mentality of not truly being the heir to the throne of Luan, he gathered all the people and Lairds and monarch that was left and made a declaration. He decided that now was the time to finally reveal the truth about his parentage and the plans they were making in regard to still upholding the Lochlann Treaty. Of course, as you can imagine, the people reacted badly, and Charlie was left to do her best to quell the fear and discord rising rapidly after Oliver’s statement.
But, surprise! Logan was alive! He returned with Finn, who stayed behind in the rubble of the mountain tunnels, knowing he couldn’t return without him or Charlie would have his head. It was a nice moment and it wasn’t spoiled by having so many obvious hints at his survival. It was aided in shock by Finn as well, because he hadn’t been heard of since the reclaiming of the H’Rian castle and after he gave his parents a proper burial, he disappeared.
Logan was legitimized and claimed as king, fulfilling the Lochlann Treaty in Autumn’s Reign.
During the Epilogue, you get a glimpse of Fia and Avani. Avani is the daughter of Charlie and Logan, princess of Lochlann. While Charlie has the ability to understand trees and take comfort and love from them, her daughter, Avani is hinted at having the ability to speak to animals. Like Fia?
It Was Great! But What Was Wrong with Autumn’s Reign?
Now that I have recapped and discussed the main points in the final book, Autumn’s Reign, of the Lochlann Treaty Series, I want to express my frustration with a few things. First off, how could the whole story line, point and obvious importance of the inclusion of fae blood be so disrespectfully glossed over??! Rayan, Clara, Fia, Jin, Finn, Charlie AND Queen Elspeth all have fae blood in them, yet, there may have been a total of a dozen mentions of it! I mean, you cannot give us purple, sparkling blood, potions taken to disguise physical attributes, a queen in hiding, extended life and a secret kept for the entire life of Charlie and Finn and then expect us to rejoice in the conclusion and how the information was passed down. At least have a novella or two that center around the fae blood within the lives of these characters. It is killing me to not have my curiosity quelled about this tidbit of information. It is obviously supposed to be much more important than it was made out to be in the books, but why? Why? WHY???!
Also, how is the likelihood of Charlie, Finn, Isla, Fia, Angus, the band of thieves, Jocelyn, Logan, and Oliver all surviving a handful of battles – alone – plausible, when the king of Luan, the king of H’Ria, the queen of H’Ria and the brother of the king of Luan all died. I didn’t WANT one of the characters from the new generation to die, but seriously, it is hard to believe that the hardest death for Charlie to get over prior to the last 20 mins of the series were her guards. The only people who lived from the prior generation of monarchy was the queen of Luan (who turned out to be pointless) and Isla’s mother (who “fled” and we never heard from again). I’m just confused is all. Are you?
I want to take a moment here and discuss Lady Ava and the monarchy of Luan as well. First off, she is the sister to the deceased king of Luan (Rowan) and Laird Earc. She is also Isla’s mother. I wish we had more interaction with her. She is obviously a terrible woman, but I want to know why she became that way and treated Isla the way she did. King Rowan was the only “good” monarch in all of Luan and that astounds me! How can Rowan be the only good monarch? I think it would have helped to be more connected to the strife and MacKinnon if we had the information as to why and who turned him down and ignored him so much.
Should Autumn’s Reign/The Lochlann Treaty Should’ve Been More?
There was so much more to that back story that should have been covered by four books. Like how and why Queen Siobhan had an everlasting affair with Earc, how Rowan took knowing that Oliver wasn’t his son, what more did Rowan do to help ease Juliette (Logan’s mother), and why they had to be separated to begin with, when they had been married already and produced a healthy and strong male heir. There is more to the kingdom of Luan and I am disappointed that there wasn’t anything detailed about it. I mean, obviously the rebellion even started in Luan, but it seemed as though H’Ria was the center of everything. God, why were they all so mean and such terrible people? I need and want more to this.
There was so much happening in Autumn’s Reign that it was a bit chaotic. I think, being a four-book series, it would have been nicer to have more of what had happened in the last half of the book. Winter’s Captive I can give leeway for the introduction and importance to all the characters and their individual stories, but books two (Spring’s Rising) and three (Summer’s Rebellion) should have had more meat to them and less of the consistent, repetitive drama between them all. I felt like time was wasted trying to needlessly convince you of the consistency of their relationships with each other. Even when the other main characters were developed and introduced. Use only a single line to remind you of how aggravating Fia is.
Or use more straightforward arguments between Charlie and Logan. We all know that they argue all the time from the first chapter of the entire series. We didn’t need to be continuously reminded of their relationship issues. Instead of focusing so much on that, I would have loved more meat on Finn and Isla, Earc, Ava and Siobhan, Fia, Jin and Clara; even more on the king and queen of H’Ria and (like I said before) the importance of Charlie and Finn having fae blood in their veins. Those are such important supporting story lines that were swallowed up by the obsession with becoming a warrior queen and finding a way to marry Logan.
Final Thoughts on The Lochlann Treaty Series
I enjoyed the Lochlann Treaty Series and I may even read it again one day, not stopping to write down my thoughts about it for you, but I wouldn’t be too encouraging of someone who is a fan of the genre to pick it up and check it out. It’s worth the read. It’s fast, it’s simple and it’s only mildly annoying to get through, but I would honestly caution a high expectation. This could be a great beginner read for someone who is being introduced to young adult fantasy.
Robin D. Mahle and Elle Madison did a good job, especially being tag-team of true, awesome girl power. I think both perspectives were included enough to make you feel it was a combined effort. Fluid writing and solid characters and an amazing plot and story line. I just wanted more information and references to why the current ruling monarch was struggling so severely with peace and traitors.
The inclusion of Logan’s perspective in the last book was a very nice addition, though it would have been even better to have all those perspectives included the whole time. There weren’t too many main characters to prevent this from happening, as it is, everything is from Charlie’s perspective and though she was never a spoiled rotten and entitled brat, she was still naive and I would have appreciated a more complex series.
Like I said, I would recommend this as a great beginner’s book or even a nice shorter series to read to pass some time.
I hope you are staying safe out there, Curious One and that you have enough books to keep your heart full and your mind active.
Until we meet again, Curious One, I think it’s the perfect time for another book…
Check out the authors at the following links:
Robin D. Mahle’s Twitter
Elle Madison’s Twitter
Robin D. Mahle’s Website
Elle Madison’s Facebook
Other Curiosities of The Lochlann Treaty series:
Book 1: Winter’s Captive
Book 2: Spring’s Rising
Book 3: Summer’s Rebellion
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