“A Great and Terrible Beauty, Book 3; The Sweet Far Thing”

Author: Libba Bray

The wait is over! Thank you soooooo much for your patience; but I finally finished the third and final book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy.

Book 1 “A Great and Terrible Beauty” was good.

Book 2 “Rebel Angels” was awesome.

Book 3 “The Sweet Far Thing” was tolerable.

I struggled to finish book 3, because, after a while, the characters became bland and annoying, making the story feel like it was too long and drawn out. This was very new for me because I have always loved reading no matter what. I think the author should have shortened the plot or written something different and exciting to grab my attention RIGHT away.  

The Winterlands are growing stronger in dark magic. Gemma and her friends are on the hunt to find the source and destroy it. Meanwhile the tribes in the realms are growing restless for Gemma to share the temples power, bound inside her, with them. If she doesn’t act soon they will threaten war against one another. But Gemma doesn’t want to do anything official until she finds some answers. Their long lost friend Pippa, who is forever trapped in the realms, seems to be strangely different from the Pippa they used to know. Felicity refuses to believe anything else, other than that Pippa is exactly the same. Each character deals with their own difficulties like; Ann is struggling for her dream to become a stage performer.  Gemma fights with the tragedy that has fallen on her family, her mother, murdered, her father, an addict, and her brother, being used by the Rakshana. With the power to change both the realms and the real world, Gemma battles her visions to discover the big truth. 

Towards the end it did get more dramatic, but it wasn’t unexpected.  When I finished the last page I sighed in relief because I don’t think I could have read any more. I’m very excited to start reading a new book. Don’t get me wrong the book was pretty good, but for me it just got too bland. The mystery was filled with baffling puzzle pieces that needed solving, and Gemma’s visions were thrilling, but it wasn’t enough for me. The dark magic’s power source was interesting, and I liked the strong character that Gemma portrayed; but, if I had to read it again I would just skip to the exciting parts.

 *Click to Read:
“A Great and Terrible Beauty, Book 1”
“A Great and Terrible Beauty, Book 2; Rebel Angels”
“A Great and Terrible Beauty, Book 3; The Sweet Far Thing”