In the final book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, the Order, the Rakshana and the creatures of the realms all want one thing - the magic. Gemma is caught between as everyone around her tumbles into chaos and the fight for the magic begins in earnest. While the creatures of the winterlands make a bid for control and Circe stirs, Gemma struggles to come to terms with the magic she holds and her place in this world and in the realms. As the story unfolds, Gemma discovers that nothing, and noone, is as they seem.

The end of a series is bittersweet. If the author has done her job well, it is at once satisfying and distressing. Libba Bray has done her job very, very well. This is a wonderful conclusion to the series that satisfies on all counts, wrapping up the main threads of the trilogy quite effectively. More suprising is the fact that nothing was cliche or expected. I am sad there will be no more books in the series but in love with the ones we've been given.

Libba Bray seems to possess a magic of her own, peppering words on a page and conjuring a world that is believable and engaging, filled with complex, fully realized characters that are sometimes sympathetic and sometimes repellent. She allows her characters to have flaws, to make mistakes, to be deluded and tricked. She allows them to triumph, to fall, to realize truth and embrace lies. She presents us with a view of the world as it is and then spins that on its side and makes us see it, and ourselves, anew. Gemma's story is beautifully told and I am glad I had the chance to read it.