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After reading all 3 books (really, the 4th could be considered 2 books).I can honestly say I am completely in love. These books are an EXCELLENT read, I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys ecsaping into fanstasy and love. Libba Bray has done an excellent job taking us back to Victorian times where woman are bred to be mothers and housewives thinking of nothing but "England." I enjoy these types of books on their own. But, once you add magic, realms, dreams, betrayal, death, secrets, and LOVE.boy have you got my attention. The last 4 chapters of book 3 (The Sweet Far Thing) had me crying, even after the book was closed. Really, I could go on and on about how much I love these books.
I wanted so much to complete this series, but I absolutely couldn't. I stopped reading the 3rd book at page 427. The book dragged on and on without any REAL substance. I dreaded picking up the book, until one day.I just decided to RETURN IT back to the library.
I love the writer. I love the series, and this book was as excellent as the other two. A "must read".
If neither the reader nor the narrator know the rules or who to trust, the story doesn't hang together very well. It's not that she herself is untrustworthy, but that throughout this trilogy, she can't figure out who to trust. Gemma Doyle is the worst kind of unreliable narrator. At least, it doesn't in this case. As a result, the reader never knows who to trust, or what the rules are for "realms" or for the magic that inhabits them. This is problematic if one agrees (which I do) with the general rule for fantasy writing that the rules for the world that the author has created must be clear and consistent. Some of the people we initially think are friends become enemies, and then some become friends again, and it is never through actual shifting loyalties, but because Gemma doesn't ask the right questions and rarely takes the time to think things through the reader is never quite sure who's on what side. So although she's the only clearly identified "good guy" in the story, I couldn't help but wish she acted more like the heroine she's supposed to be.
I just recommend reading this one because I can't really review it without giving spoilers. I really like this one 'coz it kept me guessing who the villain was and I wasn't able to figure it out until almost at the end. I like that because the author did not give any clues or whatsoever to really tell the reader that the villain is who she is. Nice Book. We can't always have our happy ending.
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