The Sweet Far Thing
By: Libba Bray
Last book in this trilogy, and I was pretty happy to see it end. There wasn't going to be a way that this story ended that would satisfy me. I had a hard time sticking with the story all the way through. It felt as if there were so many (too many) loose ends to tie up from the other two books that this story dragged on for too long. Even when I got to the end, it kept going! I thought that many of the last few chapters were unnecessary.
A quick summary: Gemma, Anne, and Felicity must decide how and when to bind the magic that is currently bound only to Gemma. She has to figure out who is with her, against her, will help her, will kill her. She must protect her family, her friends, school, and herself from the evil creatures in the Winterlands. She has to convince Felicity that Pippa has turned into something evil (there is a twist there that I barely saw coming) and help Anne break free from her poverty stricken life. She has to figure out how to love Kartik, and how to stay away from Fowlson. She must save Tom from the Rakshana, and her father from his opium. It is no wonder that this book is 700 pages long--not an exact count. I did dream about the scary Winterland creatures, and the gargoyles that adorn Spence. It is a different kind of fantasy novel than those that have been so hugely popular in the past few years. I don't NOT recommend it, but it was not my favorite.