August Book Review: The Sweet Far Thing
It seems like forever since I last posted one of these things, but thanks to a three day weekend and more time than I usually enjoy, I'm here now. We're doing this.
This is the end of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, of which I reviewed the first here and the second here. If you intend to read the series yourself you will want to avoid this post to prevent spoiling your own reading experience. If you do NOT intend to read the series then by all means read on. There will be spoilers.
Quick Facts:
Title: The Sweet Far Thing
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult/Adult
Length: 819 pages
Series: Gemma Doyle Series
Preceeded By: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels
From the Back of the Book: It has been a year of change since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.
The Order - the mysterious group her mother was once part of - is grappling for control of the realms, as is the Rakshana. Spence's burned East Wing is being rebuilt, but why now? Gemma and her friends see Pippa, but she is not the same. And their friendship faces its gravest trial as Gemma must decide once and for all what role she is meant for.
Overall Thoughts: Far too long, disappointing, and frustrating. A sad ending to a trilogy that started out enjoyable yet plummeted fast in this last installment.
The end of the triology and I expected so much more than what I got. What I got was an 800 page book filled with Gemma's confusion, desperation, and lack of determination that she had gathered in Rebel Angels. In Rebel Angels she had a firm plan and renewed sense of self which seems to have completely vanished in The Sweet Far Thing. Where did it go? I'm not sure. In truth she's still just a young woman trying to navigate a stiff Victorian society, selfish friends, an ill father, a moody love interest, and the oppressive danger of The Order and Rakshana who are both knowledgeable yet untrustworthy. That is, undoubtedly, quite a lot to take in--but it's not like Rebel Angels was a cake walk for Gemma and it feels like the greatest leap backwards to find her back where she started.
The Sweet Far Thing holds chapter upon chapter of subplot, unnecessary detail, and Victorian prattle. There's more time spent in the Realms than there was in Rebel Angels, but a lot of it feels confusing thanks to Gemma's inability to do what she set out to do. Pippa is still there--slowly edging closer to becoming a monster though the story seems to hint that she can still be saved. The fact that she ISN'T saved (no, in fact, she's crushed and buried underneath a castle after sacrificing a member of the Order--which didn't have to happen if Gemma had used her powers and I'm still confused as to WHY she didn't stop the murder of her teacher) was a great let down and seemed out of character for the Pippa we've seen before. Why should she turn so dark while the other girls trapped there did not? I had always felt there'd be redemption for her, and when she didn't receive it, it just didn't jive for me.
Another disappointment was how Felicity turned out to be in love with Pippa. While book one and two only mention Felicity and Pippa's close friendship, there was nothing that really hinted towards a romance and I fear their more-than-friends relationship was only invented to create more friction for Gemma. It's sad in that it felt thrown in and false when it could have been a really beautiful part of the series if it had been written better. The signs, however, just weren't there (there was more signs that they WEREN'T gay, actually) and being close with your best friend is not a sign of homosexuality, yet that's what we're leaning on in The Sweet Far Thing. In the end, it's not Felicity's father she fears the most (a subplot in itself that I really wish had got some proper resolution--molesters should not get their happy endings nor the chance to prey on others again) but the fact that she will be seen as a degenerate for her homosexual desires. At the end of the book, Felicity plans to move to Paris and find "others like herself" and wear trousers.
Perhaps the thing that disappointed me most and made me want to spit fire after I finished reading this freaking hulking mass of a book, was that Katrik does not get a fair ending. While Katrik was a great deal of an ass in books one and the beginning of two, we find a kinder/more mature Katrik in book three. He's out of the Rakshana and finds himself again attached to Gemma and her journey. Their love develops and there's some beautiful passages between the two of them that I enjoyed reading and made me think that they would end up together be it in the Realms or in the real world. Wrong. *Wrong* No, Katrik being a man who has, from book one, longed to fulfill his destiny and pretty much sacrifice himself for a greater cause--becomes a tree. Yes. A tree. In the final chapters, as the battle is being fought and the Tree of Souls is destroyed, the magic forces itself into Katrik. Who gifts it to Gemma. And then becomes the new Tree of Souls?
The confusing part is that there seems to be no NEED for a Tree of Souls once its destroyed and Gemma had already given the magic back to the land and all its people. So why in the hell would Katrik need to willingly (and stupidly, in my opinion) sacrifice himself to the dying tree and thus become a new Tree of Souls? Why? And why, with Gemma's power and the power of the Realms, couldn't she separate Katrik from his tree prison? It makes. No. Sense. I'm all for sacrifice in my reading and a tragic death is still a powerful thing...if it makes SENSE, but this was just...this was just pointless. I hated that more than anything.
Other little annoyances was how Circe doesn't get a kick in the face like she deserves while the hardened teacher with the superiority complex who sacrifices her life for Gemma and the magic gets beheaded. What the fuck. OH, also, Gemma's dad is dying. Yay?
This was a hellish read in so many regards. I really liked the first book but I feel almost embittered towards the whole series after reading The Sweet Far Thing. Would I recommend this book? Not a chance. Would I recommend the series? That's so hard to say. If one can be content in just reading one or two books from a series, then why not? But who does that? No one. So I suppose my answer would be no. I'm so saddened by this series that I almost hate seeing it on my shelf.