Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #933 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-26
• Released on: 2007-12-26
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 832 pages

From AudioFile
The concluding chapter of Bray's trilogy (A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY, 2004, and REBEL ANGELS, 2005) is again given voice by Josephine Bailey, who creates the many characters of this rich Victorian world. As Gemma Doyle and her friends at Spence Academy deal with the strictures of their society--worrying about making their debuts and escaping from under the tight control of their fathers and brothers--they must, at the same time, sort out the lethal mystery that surrounds the Realms, a complex alter-universe peopled by mythical creatures and the undead. Bailey's narration establishes the necessary continuity with the previous books, allowing listeners of the first two volumes to resume their connection to the Realms and Victorian England. S.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, October 29, 2007:
“A huge work of massive ambition.”

Review, People, December 24, 2007:
"This is a rare treat that offers a bit of everything--romance, magic, history, Gothic intrigue--and delivers on all of it in 819 beautifully crafted pages."

About the Author
Libba Bray is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, son, and a cat of questionable intelligence.

Customer Reviews

Spinning out of control...
I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but things started going downhill fast in this one. In fact, I started to worry when I read the acknowledgments page at the beginning of the book, because it hinted strongly at a book that had gotten out of the control of its author. And sadly, that's what we get.

Part of the problem is that the central villian was defeated in Rebel Angels. So the story needs some excuse to continue. And the excuse Bray comes up with--a dangerous magical tree in the Winterlands that we'd never heard a hint of before--does not seem like a natural outgrowth of what has come before. There's a definite disconnect between this novel and the two before it, and much of what we see in The Sweet, Far Thing is at odds with what came before. Pippa's relatively "normal" appearance at the beginning, for instance, which doesn't jive with what we saw of her at the end of Rebel Angels. And we never get a satisfactory explanation of why Gemma is suddenly unable to enter the Realms under her own power (despite having *all* the power now). The answer, so far as I can tell, is authorial expedience: it makes the story more interesting, gives it more tension. So throw it in, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

Then there's the problem of corruption. The extent to which any given character is corrupted seems terribly arbitrary. Why do Eugenia and Amar fall, while Gemma and Kartik do not? Bray even uses the quote "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" in one of the section headings, and yet we see very little evidence that this is really the case. Again, things seem to happen the way they do mainly because the author wishes them to, not as a consequence of the internal logic of the story.

Bray is certainly not the first really good writer to have a book escape from control, and much of what makes her writing appealing is still present in The Sweet, Far Thing. But don't expect the storyline to make a great deal of sense, or the story developments to be anything but arbitrary.

A Changing World
I loved the first two novels in the "Gemma Doyle trilogy" but I wasn't sure if Libba Bray would be able to write a satisfying conclusion. The Sweet Far thing is over 800 pages long, and structured similar to a Shakespearian tragedy (for reasons that don't become apparent until the end of the book) but leaves the reader with a feeling of completion. As Gemma Doyle and her friends Felicity and Ann prepare for their graduation from the Spence Academy for Young Ladies the pressure of the impending future is fealt. Felicity needs sponsorship in order to make her debut in society and come into her inheritance. She needs that money in order to take her abusive father's ward, Polly, away from him, and live in freedon somewhere. Unless Ann can make it as an actress she faces a future as a governess to her cousin's bratty children. Gemma holds the power of the Realms which she needs to figure out how to distribute fairly. She has the Rakshana- a patricharcal organization after her to give them the power, and the Order- the Rakshana's Matriarchal counterpart after the power for themselves, and the various mythical creatures of the realms all after their fair share. At the same time, Gemma must cope with her father, who is an opium addict, and her seemingly impossible love for Kartik- an Indian boy who has his own stake in the future of the Realms.

With the pressures of Victorian society weighing on them, Gemma, Felicity and Ann are tempted to escape to the Realm to visit Pippa- their friend who escaped into the Realms to avoid a loveless marriage but refused to "cross over" as the dead are supposed to, opting instead to remain in the Boarderlands with several girls who were killed in a recent factory fire. But Gemma has her doubts about Pippa too, who seems to have become corrupted by her refusal to cross over. Unsure of who to trust Gemma must find a way to secure the future for herself and her friends in a rapidly changing world while learning that sometimes the hardest person to know and to trust is yourself.

This book is twice as long as the others in the series and about three times as complicated. But that's because the heroines are learning some hard lessons about the nature of power, friendship, sex, and politics: no easy answers and no black and white. They're distinguishing between various shades of gray and learning that sometimes people do the wrong thind for the right reason and vice versa. Everyone has secrets and their own agenda. There ia no easy solution to the dilemmas that Bray sets up, so we see her characters stumble again and again as they try to find their own answers.

***Spoilers***
Many have complained that Kartik's death was too depressing and they wanted a happier ending etc. But the series is deeply rooted in the real world, in Victorian society. Where would there be a place for a British debutant and an Indian boy? Victorian society didn't go easy on biracial couples. And by making his sacrifice Kartik gives Gemma the courage to make her life her own and the seek out her own future in a new country, according to her own rules: that decision is what Gemma has been struggling with from the very first book when Gemma first realized that her corset was a bit too tight so to speak. She wouldn't have had the courage to do it without witnessing Kartik's sacrifice and wanting to honor him by living the best life possible.
***End of Spoilers***

This is a great read for teenage girls. In the era of Gossip Girl, and nurmerous cheap teenage romance heroines Gemma and her friends are an intelligent breath of fresh air, struggling for independance, and the freedom to pursue their dreams. For the first time they are truely questioning the values of their society, one where wealthy white men rule and people get rich off the suffering of others. They that they can make the world a different, and hopefully a better place. Despite being rooted in the Victorian era many of the girl's struggles are applicanble to today.

The end
I was incredibly impressed with the final book in the trilogy. The start is slow, as Gemma does nothing exciting but soon the pace picks up and the reader will be swept away, as I was. Gemma explores her dark corners and passions and becomes her own person. This final book closes many loose ends but also leaves the reader wondering. The mysterious manner of Libba Bray also follows the plot line as Gemma tries to understand her visions. This book is a thrilling page turner full of magic, history, passon, and person. It is like a Harry Potter book but for teenage girls. I know it would seem pathetic but I was as heartbroken that the series had ended as I was the day I finished the seventh Harry Potter. I recomend this to teenage grils who love mystery, romance, magic, history, and books. I loved it and I know others will too.