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A review by luminous
The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
5.0
It's a crime that this series isn't more popular. It should be required reading for anyone into epic fantasy. Especially if the reader likes intriguing mysteries and likes certain other fantasy subgenres or neighboring genres. It's so good.
Ending: abrupt. But the journey there was so fantastic I don't even care. Johansen has a talent for effortless writing that tells everything it needs to while never calling attention to itself. (Okay, except in the first book of this trilogy, when we see a lot of Kelsey moping about being "plain." But, like the trilogy's ending, the rest is so wonderful that it hardly matters. It's like kintsugi - the imperfections alert us to the beauty of the whole.)
The ending seems so abrupt because new themes were JUST introduced. This series tackles several weighty themes, and Johansen takes the time to thoroughly explore each of them. I'm fine with the story's direction at the end. I think it's great. But it's also something that, in fiction in general, is rarely explored, and I would so love ve to see Johansen guide us through Kelsey's journey to understand what her new world means for her, and how she will move forward with her life.
This is such a great, readable, New Adult fantasy* series, and I'm not going to explain the asterisk. I'm not a fan of YA and rarely of NA, but this one worked for me because of how not-stupid Kelsey was. Even a seasoned older adult might have made many of her mistakes. It's a joy to experience Kelsey maturing and learning from the past and from her past.
I do wonder WTF William Tear was up to when he got his sapphire tho, lol.
Edit: going through severe withdrawals. Everything I begin to read now seems like crap.
Ending: abrupt. But the journey there was so fantastic I don't even care. Johansen has a talent for effortless writing that tells everything it needs to while never calling attention to itself. (Okay, except in the first book of this trilogy, when we see a lot of Kelsey moping about being "plain." But, like the trilogy's ending, the rest is so wonderful that it hardly matters. It's like kintsugi - the imperfections alert us to the beauty of the whole.)
The ending seems so abrupt because new themes were JUST introduced. This series tackles several weighty themes, and Johansen takes the time to thoroughly explore each of them. I'm fine with the story's direction at the end. I think it's great. But it's also something that, in fiction in general, is rarely explored, and I would so love ve to see Johansen guide us through Kelsey's journey to understand what her new world means for her, and how she will move forward with her life.
This is such a great, readable, New Adult fantasy* series, and I'm not going to explain the asterisk. I'm not a fan of YA and rarely of NA, but this one worked for me because of how not-stupid Kelsey was. Even a seasoned older adult might have made many of her mistakes. It's a joy to experience Kelsey maturing and learning from the past and from her past.
I do wonder WTF William Tear was up to when he got his sapphire tho, lol.
Edit: going through severe withdrawals. Everything I begin to read now seems like crap.