A review by mary_soon_lee
Listening at the Gate by Betsy James

3.0

This is the final book in a young-adult fantasy trilogy centered on the character of Kat. It is a book that I find hard to assign an overall grade, averaging out a reading experience that varied widely. At its best, this book is wonderful. James's prose can be near perfect, and the story and characters and emotion were sometimes near perfect too. At other times, the tale felt longwinded. Worse, at times the story made me feel out-of-sorts, because it didn't have the shape I wanted it to have, because (mild spoilers from here onward)

Spoiler

Kat became shrewish when I wanted her to be better, to be kinder. But I am not sure that is a fair reaction.

I can report that the characters are well-drawn, distinct, memorable, and that I cared about Kat, Nat, Dai, Queelic, Nondany. I can report that fantasy components play a larger part than they did in the first two books of the trilogy, and that the seascapes, boats, islands, rocks, seals were very evocative for me. Beyond that, I haven't sorted out my own views well enough to share them.

P.S. I note that I unequivocally loved James's most recent book, "Roadsouls," which is set in the same invented world as this trilogy.