Review: The Sweet Far Thing

The Sweet Far Thing

by Libba Bray
Book 3 (final) of the Gemma Doyle trilogy

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

*Side note on 4/3/2016:  The following review has been slightly edited after a thorough reread by myself revealed some typos, grammar errors, and some other stuff that needed some polishing--specifically the apparent over usage of the semi-colon that I apparently was having a love affair with in 2012.

For some more brief personal thoughts about this trilogy that I have at present, see the first Gemma Doyle review here.

My Review:
I really want to give this book a score between "It was okay" and "I liked it," because I can't say that I actually liked this last book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, but I can't particularly say that I didn't like it either. It's one of those things where the anticipation outweighs what you actually end up getting from the book.  I liked the trilogy as a whole, but I'm not saying that it was the best thing I've read since I first picked up my bookworm mission, and the concluding book to this trilogy really DID lose a LOT of steam halfway through. About 70% into the book and I suddenly felt like I just wanted everything to conclude right then and there and quit dragging the story out until it's bitter end.

Nonetheless, there is very little I really want to say about The Sweet Far Thing--it proved rather consistent in character development and progression. The writing style remained up to par, and I DID find myself wanting to know how the story would end even though a lot of things became rather predictable very quickly. Basically, the ending twist was NOT exciting to me because I had already guessed it--no harm and no disappointment, but a little bit of hope diminished that I'd get a surprise twiste. What I'm saying is, that while I approve of the ending, I'm not completely satisfied. It's a very safe, very smooth conclusion and I know that it fits in well with the story, but I personally would have preferred something different.

That's just me.

Anyway, I have enjoyed the trilogy, and while it took a bit of time for me to even get into the book, once I finally figured out what was going on in the Gemma Doyle world and the story started to take it's course, I was hooked. Ms. Libba Bray does have very good penmanship, and I especially enjoyed her characters of Gemma, Ann, and Felicity, as well as the teachers (of course, I also got pretty annoyed with them too, but at the very least they weren't all Mary Sues out to save the world; defining character flaws are always welcome... though sometimes the character flaws might have gotten out of hand and got some grumbling from me).

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This review was originally posted at Goodreads in March 2012.

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