The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle, Book 3) - First Edition Hardcover [Deckle Edge] by Libba Bray | Historical Fantasy Novel for Teens & Young Adults | Perfect for Book Clubs & Gift Giving

Being the very last book in a trilogy can be immensely hard. After all, there is a lot of presser of you. Trilogy's always have some sort of grand plot to be resolved, so there's that, not to mention any romantic sub plots that may have been picked up along the way and of course, wrapping up the lives of those close and important to the main character without leaving everything too neat and tidy."The Sweet Far Thing" is the last book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. And as we begin our girls are both excited and full of dread-excited for there time at Spence academy will soon come to a close as the wealthy girls (IE not Ann) are presented to the Queen and come into their own as women ready to be courted for marriage and in some cases, coming into their inheritance (Felicity) and dread as Gemma, after binding the magic of the Temple to herself can no loner find her way into the Realms. And Kartik, despite his promise to leave the Rakshana and form a magical alliance with all the free peoples of the realms, has been no-where to be seen.And no getting into the realms means no getting to see Pippa-and no knowing what path she has taken as her refusal to cross over from the realms corrupts her soul-and may lead her on a path to the Winterlands.But a magical message still has come through-one last vision, one last message. "The Tree of Souls Lives." All this as the wings where Gemma's mother and the woman who grew to become Circe supposedly died (and where Eugenia Spence the founder of the school and a very powerful member of the order truly did) is being rebuilt just in time for the graduation of this class of Spence girls.But strange things come from the re-building. First blood is painted on the walls-ancient protection symbols-and then young men go missing in the night as strange black birds seem to fly away from what appears to be the only other door into the realms...But finding their way back inside is not all the girls dreamed. Pippa is the same yet changed-somehow slightly dangerous to Gemma's eyes. And the creatures of the realms have grown weary with waiting on the order to deal them a share of the power. Meanwhile strange lights flash from the Winterlands and as Gemma tracks the tress of souls rumor in both realms visions grow stronger of a woman in a purple dress, a woman with a desperate secret, and a woman with a weapon that may be needed to save both worlds....There's no doubt that a last confrontation is coming. And who is on whose side is becoming unclear and everything begins to fight for themselves-and Gemma's body stars to become overcome with the power flowing it. And now it comes down to one question-will the girls begin their new lives, or will they die first trying to save everyone they know and love in each of them?As a sequel this does have a few faults. There are a couple of character things that are overly stereotypical and not at all planned for in previous books (a big thing about felicity is reveled that according to something reveled in the second book is almost like 2+2=4 if you follow modern psychiatry, except there were no hints for it previous books AT ALL.) But other than that this novel does a really great job finishing up an extremely complicated storyline and even managed to throw in enough tragic romance to almost make me cry. Well done to the author. I raced through this. And I hope that maybe you'll find it your heart to write a forth book-where a horrible wrong could maybe find a way to fixed. There is room after all to play with all the characters. But then I am a hopeless romantic.Also I still don't know how she does it but if you disregard every piece of fantasy from this book and just look at the belief system behind the realms and the magic this author has somehow managed to perfectly capture my spirituality. However that did not translate when I asked others to read the trilogy. They just thought I believed in horrible seeker-monsters. But they still loved the books.Four point five stars.