The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

August 27th, 2008

The Sweet Far Thing
Libba Bray
819 p.

Delacorte Press, 2007.

Back cover blurb:

It has been a year of change since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength to turn catty schoolgirls into loyal friends, and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances with headstrong Felicity and timid Ann; with Kartik, an exotic young Indian man whose companionship is forbidden; and with the fearsome creatures of the realms. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.

Rule-breaking Felicity must do as she’s told or risk losing her inheritance, and Ann’s dream of a life onstage slips away. The Order, the mysterious group Gemma’s mother was once part of, is grappling for control of the realms, as are the Rakshana. It is there that the girls meet their adored friend Pippa, who is not the same… or is she? The power to change everything - both in and out of the realms - rests in Gemma’s hands.

Extraordinary in its scope, with thrilling prose and a heroine unrivaled in contemporary historical fiction, Libba Bray’s The Sweet Far Thing concludes the trilogy that began with the bestsellers A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels. Pulled forward by fate, the destiny Gemma faces threatens to set chaos loose, not only in the realms, but also upon the rigid Victorian society whose rules Gemma has both defied and followed. Where does Gemma belong? And will she, can she, survive?

So, this is the last instalment in the Gemma Doyle trilogy (which, in my eyes, is a pretty lame name - The Realms trilogy would be more awesome), and we get, in no specific order, lesbianism, more anguish, Gemma finally gets laid, and lots of Evil. Also, a lot of ridiculous name-dropping. Bray really tries her best to show her knowledge in late Victorian celebrities, but she rather falls through. If a character mentions a celebrity, the next sentence will say “mentioning that famous _____”. It was not awesome. Another fall was when in the first half of the book, one character says she would very much want to see The Importance Of Being Earnest. Three-hundred pages later, it becomes clear that Oscar Wilde is not a well-respected man. AWKWARD.

Another thing which was awkward, was the length of the thing. It’s 819 pages, and after 600, you can really feel it. It just never ends. This book would have done very well losing some pages. It goes on and on and on, and when there were fifty pages left, I really didn’t care what happened. There was a fight at one place, which was Pretty Awesome, because it had gargoyles and shit, but otherwise the end was pretty dreary. Plus there was lots of anguish on Gemma’s behalf and people weren’t just double-crossed, they were triple-crossed! That is so… Indiana Jones.

Additionally, it was designed in a different way. It was divided up in five acts. This rather fell through, because the fourth act was about three-hundred pages, and the fifth not even a hundred. It was still told in first-person-present, which irked me, still. But well, I shan’t complain. It was quite exciting, I must admit.

Entry Filed under: English, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, LGBT-related, Young Adult