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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This series was not what I expected it to be but it’s one that will stick with me for a long time.
Apparently people are really angry about the ending. I don't have the time to read through all the other reviews to see if they mean the sad bit about the ending or *the whole ending*. I agree that that the sad part is super sad and no one wants to see such a sadness come to their main character after 3 books... BUT. It was a good ending (albeit got a little Japanese Horror Flick there a few times out of nowhere, WTF/Lolmy). This book was social/political commentary. If *the whole ending* was different, then it would have been shit political/social commentary, and that is the main theme of the whole series!
Anyway, Love this series. Love the politics and social/personal commentary & there was a lot of cleverness/complexity in there that surprised me for a YA. I was also certainly left with some questions.. but overall I do love this series and will probably re-read it in a few years all at once, as I feel like the gaps between reading each book threw off the flow a lot for me.
Anyway, Love this series. Love the politics and social/personal commentary & there was a lot of cleverness/complexity in there that surprised me for a YA. I was also certainly left with some questions.. but overall I do love this series and will probably re-read it in a few years all at once, as I feel like the gaps between reading each book threw off the flow a lot for me.
I could not have been a bigger fan of the first two books in this trilogy. I could not have been a bigger fan of the first 1/3 to 1/2 of this book. But then when I saw where the conclusion was headed, I just kept hoping that I was wrong. But I wasn’t. Maybe I’m just not smart enough to “get it” and realize how deep and resonant the final message was. But for me, the ending felt very similar to “and then I woke up and realized the whole thing was just a bad dream”. It is one thing to provide a story that isn’t neatly packaged, that’s representative of how a story would unfold in the “real world”. But I think it missed the mark. It came across as if she wrote 300 pages in this third book, then realized she’d need another 1,000 pages (probably 1-2 additional books) to organically wrap up the story she’d started in books 1 and 2, decided it was too much work, and just asked a ghost writer (it truly felt like a different author) to wrap it up as quickly as possible in a way that allowed her to sidestep finishing any of the stories that were started. And in that way, the author ultimately delivered the exact thing she set out not to do: delivered a story (and a beautiful world that she built) in the sort of neat packaging that answers every easy question to which the reader already knows the answer or you which the answer does not matter to the reader.
That being said, I would snatch up any prequels that she writes and desperately hope that at some point in the future she’d consider writing another book or two with an alternate ending to this, mostly wonderful, trilogy.
That being said, I would snatch up any prequels that she writes and desperately hope that at some point in the future she’d consider writing another book or two with an alternate ending to this, mostly wonderful, trilogy.
I've been absolutely captivated by the world and characters of the Tearling created by Erika Johansen. This was not at all a conclusion I expected, but I was surprised by Kelsey's ultimate fate and really enjoyed it. I liked how the past and present come together and mysteries are explained. Kelsey Glynn is such a great character. She is not perfect at all. She's powerful, passionate, brave, smart. I hear Emma Watson is attached to a movie version of Queen of the Tearling and she'd be perfect!
Okay, so I really really super dislike this. Like, 2.5 stars at most dislike this. The medieval style fantasy parts are great, but that's pretty much it.
Johansen tried to cram so much emotional and ethical stuff in here, that it was choking the entire story. There were way too many strands of story happening simultaneously and I couldn't even bring myself to care for half of them.
The whole time traveling shtick was weird and everything about the crossing and pre-Tearling history felt so cobbled together and not well thought though.
The ending felt so weird in my opinion and again just like it was quickly cobbled together without much thought.
In general, I'm mad that I even read the second book, because it ruined all my enjoyment of the first one, and this third book intensified that.
Johansen tried to cram so much emotional and ethical stuff in here, that it was choking the entire story. There were way too many strands of story happening simultaneously and I couldn't even bring myself to care for half of them.
The whole time traveling shtick was weird and everything about the crossing and pre-Tearling history felt so cobbled together and not well thought though.
The ending felt so weird in my opinion and again just like it was quickly cobbled together without much thought.
In general, I'm mad that I even read the second book, because it ruined all my enjoyment of the first one, and this third book intensified that.
I finally got around to finishing this trilogy. I really enjoyed it. Kelsea is such a refreshing protagonist. She’s smart, dedicated to doing what’s right, brave, and just a general badass. But she also wrestles with flaws and tough decisions. The world building is really interesting. I also like what the author has to say about society and community. The only thing holding back a star on my rating is that the story can get confusing with the amount of characters it follows while jumping back and forth through time. I understand why but it was sometimes confusing.
This series was one of favorites! It had wonderful character development, world building and some really good plot points for our main character to get through. I found myself a little frustrated, along with Kelsea, in some of the plot points for the book.
I can't avoid this review without spoilers, so here I go.
The story for the first two books is wonderful, we meet Kelsea in the first book, and we meet Lily in the second book. The 2nd book starts to uncover events leading up to the Crossing, and we get some more backstory into the plot of how Tearling came to be, and it's monarchy head. The 3rd book chronicles the first few years after the Crossing, and is pretty well formed.
My struggle with this series comes with the last few chapters. I had a really hard time understanding what actually happened?
What powers do the sapphires she carries, have? They were able to take her back in time? How did the world she comes to in the end come about? If the Crossing went different, how is that she still came into existence?
I felt like there was such amazing buildup to the plot, over almost 1400 pages, only to be left a little unfulfilled. It felt a little too easy when she was able to just go back in time, and start from the beginning. What force let her do that? The books did slowly power up the abilities of the sapphires, but I had hard time believing they would allow for her to alter something that happened centuries ago. I loved the book series, I loved the characters, and I hope with some time I can finally understand the ending!
I can't avoid this review without spoilers, so here I go.
The story for the first two books is wonderful, we meet Kelsea in the first book, and we meet Lily in the second book. The 2nd book starts to uncover events leading up to the Crossing, and we get some more backstory into the plot of how Tearling came to be, and it's monarchy head. The 3rd book chronicles the first few years after the Crossing, and is pretty well formed.
My struggle with this series comes with the last few chapters. I had a really hard time understanding what actually happened?
What powers do the sapphires she carries, have? They were able to take her back in time? How did the world she comes to in the end come about? If the Crossing went different, how is that she still came into existence?
I felt like there was such amazing buildup to the plot, over almost 1400 pages, only to be left a little unfulfilled. It felt a little too easy when she was able to just go back in time, and start from the beginning. What force let her do that? The books did slowly power up the abilities of the sapphires, but I had hard time believing they would allow for her to alter something that happened centuries ago. I loved the book series, I loved the characters, and I hope with some time I can finally understand the ending!
A good message about the importance of remembering our history I we don’t want to find ourselves in the same cycle. Interesting examination of how the collective good and the individual good can conflict, and what kinds of decisions we make in those times. It was a particularly meaningful message given our current political climate. I also loved that it ended in no way I would have ever conceived.
So I wasn’t expecting much of this book. I was just hoping it would be slightly better than it’s predecessors (which really isn’t asking much). And wow did it let me down big time.
**** Spoilers****
So this entire long, difficult series of events that are complex and overwrought, these abundant amounts of characters who I couldn’t care less about, this long and arduous plot that we’ve soldiered on through... all of it concludes so that essentially none of it has mattered? This is so infuriating. I think Johansson tackles way too many characters, topics, ideologies, plot lines, etc for three books. Yet, she crams all of this information in and it is all for nothing? Kelsea isn’t even the queen that fixes the Tearling at the end, she just set the wheels in motion. Wow this series was disappointing.
**** Spoilers****
So this entire long, difficult series of events that are complex and overwrought, these abundant amounts of characters who I couldn’t care less about, this long and arduous plot that we’ve soldiered on through... all of it concludes so that essentially none of it has mattered? This is so infuriating. I think Johansson tackles way too many characters, topics, ideologies, plot lines, etc for three books. Yet, she crams all of this information in and it is all for nothing? Kelsea isn’t even the queen that fixes the Tearling at the end, she just set the wheels in motion. Wow this series was disappointing.