The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle, #3) in The Mysterious Reading Society

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Dec 09, 2010 Meann rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned

I will be lying if I didn't say that the sheer size of The Sweet Far Thing intimidated me. Sure, I've read thick books before (The Bible, Gone With The Wind, Harry Potter), but this was the first time I ever read a young adult book this thick.

Wait, let me clarify that. This is the first time I ever read a young adult book that I did not anticipate would be this thick. TSFT can give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a run for its Galleons in novel length, but I anticipated that DH would be vo I will be lying if I didn't say that the sheer size of The Sweet Far Thing intimidated me. Sure, I've read thick books before (The Bible, Gone With The Wind, Harry Potter), but this was the first time I ever read a young adult book this thick.

Wait, let me clarify that. This is the first time I ever read a young adult book that I did not anticipate would be this thick. TSFT can give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a run for its Galleons in novel length, but I anticipated that DH would be voluminous because it was necessary; I can't say the same for TSFT. I was curious, of course, so I just pulled up my blankets and started reading.

I finished the book within 48 hours, which is some sort of record because it took me 3 days to finish DH (I was busier then, though). There were sections I genuinely had fun reading, but I think there were more sections that exasperated me.

1. The introduction of new mythological elements -- In Rebel Angels, there was the Temple; now there's a friggin' Tree of All Souls and new rules and mythology and characters to go with it. Then there's that stone that allows the girls to enter the Realms now that Gemma seems incapable of opening a door for them. While at some point the Tree proves to be interesting, I would've preferred that instead of introducing new elements in the last book of a series, Bray just added more layers to the plot and utilized what has already been introduced in the two books. One of my favorite scenes was when the creatures from the Winterlands crossed over to our World and invaded Spence. That was creepy and awesome, and there was no need to introduce new rules to make it work. Also what made Felicity and Ann different from the other members of the Order that they could cross over at will at one point, and also be imbued with Magic once they come back from the Realms? What are the rules? I've been complaining about The Rules since the first book, and I'm disappointed that it's still as murky now as it was then.

2. The Ghost of Visions Past -- Do the visions really have to be dragged out for entire books, and parts of it given to Gemma piecemeal? It happened with the girls in white in RA, and now we have the Lady Who Died In The Prologue. Why couldn't there have been just one vision somewhere in the book, and then have Gemma figure it out by dropping clues in her path?

3. "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." -- This quote from Sucker Punch applies to Gemma's entire dilemma about what she should do with the Magic and with the Realms. If the Forest Creatures were exasperated with Gemma's indecision, well, so was I! I like Gemma, I really do, but I hated that it took 700+ pages for her to decide what she really stands for in the War. She knew what she had to do from RA, and what did she do? Sure, she was a teenager who had to live with all the peer and family pressure, not to mention pressure from the Order and the Rakshana, but... ARGH! There should be no excuses. And because she couldn't decide what to do or who to trust (not Pippa, hello!), she fell for everyone else's propaganda. By then, it was too late and Pippa was corrupted, McCleethy was dead, and Kartik was absorbed by the friggin' Tree!

4. Kartik was absorbed by a FRIGGIN' TREE! -- I don't have a problem with unconventional endings or sacrifices or "they did not live happily ever after". I don't have problems with FRIGGIN' TREES. I can accept all that. I can accept Kartik dying in combat, I can accept Kartik just sailing quietly off to India, I can accept Kartik being assassinated by the Rakshana. Heck, I can even accept Kartik being accidentally killed by Gemma. But being absorbed by a FRIGGIN' TREE?!

Despite my rants and general exasperation with the story and the characters, the book does have some merit. There were great action set pieces (go, Gargoyles!) and some truly romantic scenes, as well as some guilty pleasure scenes of Gemma using her powers. But this could have been a much shorter book, and it would've delivered on the same level as it did with 800+ pages.

And woe the very strong feminist messages.

Also, Kartik was absorbed by a FRIGGIN' TREE! GAH! ...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Leia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, favorite

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Feb 21, 2011 Claire rated it it was amazing

Shelves: faves, owned-paperback

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