The Far West (Frontier Magic, #3)

The Far West (Frontier Magic #3)

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02  ·  rating details  ·  819 ratings  ·  168 reviews
When the government forms an expedition to map the Far West, Eff has the opportunity to travel farther than anyone in the world. With twin Lan, William, Professor Torgeson, Wash, and Professor Ochiba, she finds that nothing on the wild frontier is as they expected. There are strange findings in their research, a long prairie winter spent in too-close quarters, and more new...more
Kindle Edition
Published October 1st 2012 by Scholastic Press (first published August 1st 2012)
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Paradoxical
What The Far West and the other two books in the Frontier Magic series does best is world building, flat out. The setting that Wrede etches out for us is vivid and gives you the sense of something more than just the information she's giving you. Like there's an entire continent and world out there that hasn't been explained yet or hasn't been touched upon, but you can sense it.

It's immensely interesting. On the downside, the book is rather slow, and the plot kind of inches along. If you're less...more
V. Briceland
Every few months, an Internet controversy arises that requires no more of its participants than to leap upon some minor perceived slight, fan the flames of controversy, and then bask in the blazing hot fires of self-righteous fervor. It doesn't matter if the popular flavor of the month is whether a Disney princess appears in a too-feminine dress on the company's website that none of the shrieking masses visit, or whether a satire site said something unkind about a public figure whose movie almos...more
Nick
This third volume completes the major plot threads of the first two, but leaves room for future books in the same setting. I would love to see such future books, because I have really become fascinated by the world-building and setup of this series.
Set in an alternate version of America during the 19th century, the series deals with a version of the westward expansion that is impeded by the existence of various unusual obstacles, up to and including dragons.
There seems to be no indication of a N...more
Shoshana
I loved this conclusion to the Frontier Magic trilogy! These books are so fun. Like the other two, there's a lot of dawdling in the first half of the books, as Wrede lingers over slow building changes and Eff's daily life as the years go by. Weirdly, this stuff is almost as enjoyable as the second half, where they're actually doing stuff.

Eff is a great character, and there are several other characters who get some more arc in this book, which is great. I also love the way Wrede has layered and b...more
Dr. Starr
Like the other two books in this series, The Far West is a kind of meandering, episodic tale unlike most YA fantasy. It takes some getting used to, but if you loved the Anne of Green Gables series or Little House on the Prairie growing up, it has a similar old-fashioned feel. The concept is brilliant--fantasy plus the Old West--and doesn't go as steampunky as you might expect. The magical systems in the story are fascinating, though the end of this book (supposedly the last in a trilogy) leaves...more
LauraW
Again, this is a rather strange concept for a book. It is akin to steam punk, but the emphasis is on an alternate history of the US frontier, based on magic and the continued existence of animals known to have gone extinct in North America. As a story, this is a meandering tale that never really develops tension or progress (though there is action with animals and with magic), but, for some strange reason, it pulled me in anyway. I have had a hard time wanting to finish quite a few books lately...more
JoLee
A few weeks ago I went to the library to pick up a few things from the hold shelf, and there, on the new books shelf, sat about half a dozen titles that I've been longing to read. Sounds like an ideal situation right? The problem is that I've been doing almost all my reading while I feed the baby and the small e-reader is better adapted to that situation. So, I sadly faced all these books that I didn't think I could get through, but how could I pass them up. In the end I picked two. I decided if...more
Barbara
It is always fun to revisit Wrede's alternative US frontier.
Francine, known to all as Eff, is such a wonderful young woman. She has been on several excursions beyond the Great Barrier now, helping with research for the local college. She is developing her magic talent. She is also being slowly driven crazy by her family! Plus, her personal life has become very interesting--she has a serious suitor (or two).
When a new, large-scale, expedition to the far west is announced, she wants nothing more t...more
Kate
This is the third book in the series. I liked the first book (Thirteenth Child), really liked the second book (Across the Great Barrier), but The Far West is probably my favorite. It may not be everyone's cuppa tea, because the pacing is at times slow, covering quite a few years. But I like Eff, who is a fascinating heroine as she is a complicated, adventurous woman who tries to balance what she wants with her love of her family. I also appreciate that Eff is adventurous (and can shoot pretty we...more
John
Eff joins an expedition trying to reach the Rockies, and along with discovering even more kinds of deadly magical creatures deepens her own magical abilities while participating in a massive collective spell to head off a disaster that is brewing for all of her family and the settlers back home. None of this even begins until halfway through the book, though, and while I do enjoy Wrede's leisurely, amiable style of story spinning the chapter after chapter of mundane activities and explication be...more
Andree
I love this series. I think I'm going to have to buy it.

Sorcery and Cecilia might still be my favourite book (co)authored by Patricia Wrede, but as a series? This one is far superior (and not just because the second book in the Sorcery series is less than awesome). It just, it really works. And it's all that I've ever wanted in a fantasy series.

There is no love triangle. There is no, "We are all of a sudden facing overwhelming odds." There is still drama. It is really interesting. I just, I real...more
Kathy Martin
The third and final novel in the Frontier Magic trilogy is the story of a journey both literally and figuratively. When the story begins, Eff Rothmer is twenty and working as an assistant to Professor Torgeson at the university in Mill City. Mill City is at Columbia's Western edge of civilization right up against the Great Barrier Spell, a magic spell concocted by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to keep magical creatures out of the East. But 83 years have passed and settlements have exten...more
kvon
Number three, and there's enough closure and looseness that I don't know if it's the end of the series. Eff continues to grow up, and has to deal with interfering family, and romantic interests, in a manner of grace and forthrightness that makes for a good role model. She continues to explore both her physical and magical world. Wrede's world building continues to be consistent, in an America without Indian place names, and the evolution of magical creatures.

I think the thing about first person...more
Renee
I finished reading The Far West yesterday. First off this is probably one of my favorite books of the year. I couldn’t devour the pages fast enough; I honestly wanted to call into work just to finish it. In fact I was late picking up my boyfriend so I could do just that.

Some points I would like to touch on.

1) The author always manages to give off that warm happy fantasy feel with her writing; like I want to snuggle down into the story and that it should never end.

2) In this series Ms. Wrede does...more
Anne Osterlund
Eff has dreams. Of a forest. And mountains. And choices.

Then the news arrives that there is to be an expedition. Farther west than anyone has ever traveled before. Her twin brother, her brother-in-law, her would-be fiancé, and her childhood friend, William, have all been invited.

But Eff is the one with the dreams.

This is the third novel in Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic series. A wonderfully written story of an alternate-fantasy history in which Columbia (aka America) has hardly been settled...more
Meg
The Far West
OR
How The West Was Won and HOLY CRAP WHERE DID THESE DRAGONS COME FROM?

I finished this book and all I could think was "Wait, is that it? There's going to be more, right? RIGHT?"

Currently, I haven't found an indication either way as to what Wrede is working on or plans to do. The epilogue in this book, though, has a worrying sort of finality, putting a "and then they lived happily ever after" feel to it. And I really hope its not the end, because the plot doesn't have the same level o...more
Adela Bezemer-Cleverley
This is the first book I've read by Patricia C. Wrede other than The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which are one of my favourite fantasy series ever. The Far West is a lot different from those books though, in writing style and tone as well as content. I still enjoyed it, but I can't put it on par with those lovely and entertaining dragon books.

The biggest differences I noticed in writing style were that The Far West has a lot more technical talk and a lot less imagery than The Enchanted Forest C...more
Lucy
Thirteenth child Eff Rothmer continues to work with the animals brought back from the other side of the Great Barrier. When an expedition to try to reach the Rocky Mountains is formed, she is eventually added to the support staff of the magical contingent. The other groups in the single expedition are survey and military.
She even gets to witness a team of Hijero-Cathayan practitioners.
One of the expedition's main goals is to return. Several previous expeditions set out, but only one returned. In...more
Nancy
Apr 08, 2013 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: ya
First, I love Patricia Wrede's fantasies. I especially loved her Lyra stories, so when the Frontier Magic series came along I was sure I would enjoy them too. Overall, I have not been disappointed.

That said, I am torn between rating "The Far West" a 3.8 or 4.0.

The Frontier Magic series is YA, alternate earth, historical frontier fantasy. The Far West is the third book in the series.

The story is excellent.The characters remain true to the personalities the author set from the beginning. The plot...more
Nonny
I really loved the previous books in this series, except for the lack of Native Americans, which is something that still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as a woman with Cherokee ancestry. (There's a lot of older posts on this controversy, if you care to look it up.)

This series has held a lot of charm, though, being an alternate history with magic that reads quite a bit like Little House on the Prairie with magic. This book, while enjoyable, felt slower paced than previous works, and I expected...more
Deena
It is my understanding that this was to be the last title in the series - but it's definitely written with the possibility of more titles, or a spin-off series/trilogy.

This book does something that feels fairly unusual to me these days. It covers a fairly long period of time, but isn't written in "real time." I know that lots of other books span generations, etc. - but I rarely read those. Lately it seems that everything I read takes place in a short time: days, weeks, etc. So in some respects i...more
Libby
This is the third in Patricia Wrede's Frontief Magic series. I enjoyed all three, but not to the same level that I usually enjoy Wrede's work. Her writing and world building is excellent. She creates an intriguing, alternate America where dangerous magical animals keep settlers from exploring too far to the West. The complexity of the magic system and culture she introduces is impressive.

However, with the focus on world building, I feel the character development suffers. I am a character reader....more
Hanh
Wraps up the trilogy set in an alternate America (called Columbia, yo) where magic is a skill like any other, with different schools of thought, theories, practices. Frontier era (hence the subtitle) so there's definitely a feeling of exploration, expansion, adventure and the unknown. Protagonist Eff is now 20 and is as practical and unsentimental as I want her to be. She outgrew the self-pity of childhood and focuses on the task at hand, which comes in handy when her unique brand of magic helps...more
Michael Benedetto
This book was a nice continuation of the previous. It answered some questions while still masking more. It never lost it's quality or feel and the lore got deeper and more detailed and intriguing. I would hope there will be more entries into this universe, though maybe from a new character (one that had an interest in history our exclaiming the technical aspect of magic.) I do hope that this isn't the last we see of Eff Rothmer and her brother and other recurring characters. It would be a shame...more
scarlettraces
these might be among my favourite Wrede books yet, and considering how much i love the Mairelon books and Sorcery and Cecelia, that's quite a call. the pleasure in these is less the plots (which the Far West acknowledges by not even getting started out to the said far west until a decent way into the book) than Eff's patient investigations into her own and others' magic. i almost don't need her to save the day by using what she's figured out since the journey is so interesting, although it's alw...more
Ellie (a.k.a. QE3)
Not very enthusiastic about this cover!

*UPDATE: READ*

Well, it was pretty good. Not as good as the first two, I think, but it wasn't disappointing.
Kristin Norwood
I really liked this book. The writing is great and I love Eff. My only problem is that I love feeling a lot of excitement while reading a fantasy adventure, and I don't always with this book, but even in that I'm torn. The story is told first person by Eff, and she is level-headed and pretty calm. I love that Patricia Wrede stays true to her character and doesn't step out of character to drive up reader anticipation, but at the same time I want to feel more while I read. I adore Eff for being so...more
Carolina
I loved this conclusion to the trilogy. This alternate version of the U.S. 'west' with its magical wildlife is fantastic. The books are a bit slow in parts but never boring. Overall great books, especially the first one and this one.

SPOILER ALERT: While I love that Eff and William ended up together I wish it hadn't happened so suddenly. It felt a bit rushed and I didn't get to relish that satisfying feeling of the main characters finding each other. While I know this wasn't a romance novel and i...more
Teresa Carrigan
Excellent YA fantasy. This is the third in the Frontier Magic (trilogy? series?). I could see this being the last book; the epilogue wrapped up the loose ends very nicely, but it did leave room for another book too.

You probably want to read the books in the proper order. First one is "Thirteenth Child" and second is "Across the Great Barrier". Main character is female, and a school girl in the first book but about 18 in the second books and 21 or 22 at the end of the third book. The setting is p...more
Yune
Third book in the Frontier Magic series. It wasn't terrible at all, just lackluster. As you'd expect, Eff heads out West again, although it takes her a good chunk of the book to even start thinking about setting off. Overall, the pacing felt off: plodding at times, and yet the expedition (which takes two years) seemed over awfully quickly. Old friends are revisited, and there was even some relationship development, but it felt perfunctory to me.

I think I'm going to bail on the rest of the series...more
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2013? REALLY? 2 28 Mar 21, 2012 08:12am  
The Far West (Hardcover)
The Far West (Frontier Magic, #3)
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Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her se...more
More about Patricia C. Wrede...
Dealing with Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #1) Searching for Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #2) Calling on Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #3) Talking to Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #4) Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)

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“It took us most of the morning to put together the letter she sent to the Frontier Management Department, and I learned a lot about how to be frigidly polite and still leave somebody feeling like they'd been spanked.” 7 people liked it
“Sometimes I couldn't help thinking that the unluckiest thing about being the thirteenth child was having all those older brothers and sisters telling me what to do.” 3 people liked it
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