The Fate of the Tearling (Queen of the Tearling #3) by Erika Johansen
Hardcover, 496 pages
Published November 29, 2016 by Harper
Please note: I
received an ARC of this book from the publisher for review as part of the book
tour. Please also note:
This review may contain slight spoilers for the previous two books. However,
this does not contain spoilers for The Fate of the Tearling. If you are looking for a review of either of the previous two books, check out some of the other stops on the tour.
This series holds a very... strange place in my heart. When I’m
reading it, I’m completely engrossed and totally obsessed. When waiting between
installments, I certainly am eagerly anticipating the next one, but I have no
problem waiting. And by the time that next one comes out… I seem to have
forgotten all the pertinent details. This doesn't usually happen with books I
love, but love these books I do.
Sadly, this is the final book in the trilogy.
When I began reading The Fate of the Tearling, I sort
of wished I had re-read the previous books to refresh my memory.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really have the time to do that, so I took to the
internet. Luckily, this time around there were
plenty of reviews and synopsis floating about (this was not the case when I reviewed The Invasion of the
Tearling).
As I read, the important things generally
came back to me. And man, I was sucked
in. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about reading it. It’s such an
interesting world with complex and flawed characters. I was always longing to
get back to them and their fate.
If I’m being honest, there are flaws in
these books and things that, upon reflection, I don’t love. However, when I’m
reading them, none of those matter. I get so caught up in the story and the
characters that my emotional side takes the reins and my intellectual side
takes a bit of a break (but only a bit).
Kelsea is a really interesting
character. She is a young woman with so much riding on the success of her
reign. There is so much she wants to do for her kingdom, but all of that comes
at a price. In this book, payment comes due as the Red Queen takes Kelsea off
to Mortmesne. She must face the reality of her decisions the decisions of those
that came before her. Is there anything she can do to save the Tearling from
its fate?
This book continues the trend of
switching back and forth in time and back and forth between characters. We read
chapters from Kelsea’s perspective, the Mace’s, the Fetch’s, and characters
from the past such as Katie, and Row Finn. We learn more about the Tearling and
how it came to be the way it is.
This time around, these changes in
perspective sat much better with me. In The
Invasion of the Tearling, I found that the changes were jarring and brough me out of
the story. In The Fate of the Tearling, however,
I thought it was executed much better. I never felt myself pulled from the
world of the book.
One of my few qualms with
this book is the same as in The Invasion
of the Tearling: there wasn’t enough of the Fetch for me! He is such an
interesting character and I don’t think he’s used nearly enough! In this book,
he was in it much more than the previous one. But most of it was backstory. And
honestly, I didn’t love his backstory.
Another qualm I have with
this series as a whole is its treatment of religion. It makes sense to me that
the Church would become corrupt, and this in itself is not what I have a
problem with. I don’t particularly care for the way the characters talk about
religion as a whole, as if only the ridiculous, gullible, and uneducated follow
any religion. It was treated as a cult. And yes, in this story, the religions
are more like cults. But this felt like a blanket judgement of all religions.
That didn’t sit right with me.
Finally, this is only kind of
a qualm: the ending. I think it’s a fine ending and it was really quite brave
of Johansen to do it this way. It makes sense with the plot and it rather
fitting of the series. However, when
I finished the book, I didn’t feel satisfied. And I know that maybe that’s not
the worst thing, especially since the ending was true to the integrity of the
story. But still. I wasn’t satisfied.
Overall, I LOVED this book
and completely devoured it. This series is definitely one of my favourites. If
you haven’t read it, you need to!
Thank you to TLC Book Tours and Harper for the opportunity to read and review this book! For more reviews, tour stops, and author information, check out the rest of the book tour here.
Labels: Dystopian, Fantasy, Fiction, new releases, Political, Review
