The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #3), Erika Johansen, Penguin Random House, ISBN: 9780593073148
The Queen of the Tearling trilogy may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it certainly hit the right spot for me.
Before the first book landed on my bedside table, reviews were flying around my online book club, claiming a terribly slow pace and that I would need to stick it out to reach the good stuff. Untrue.
The cover promised something dark and sinister inside, the back page synopsis drew me in and the first few pages had me hooked.
I was completely enamoured with the world Johansen created, the powerful female protagonist, Kelsea, and her slew of colourful characters.
Three books in and Kelsea’s character has grown and developed into a queen the Tearling not only needs, but deserves. Spoilers inbound.
The Glynn Queen has handed over her Tealing sapphires to the Red Queen of Mortmesne in a bid to save her people from utter destruction.
The Mace is left in charge of the city but he is duty and honour-bound to protect the queen at all costs and devises a cunning rescue plan.
Another two great evils have reared their heads, one of which is a silent power growing in the city of New London.
The other was trapped in the Fairwitch and later set free by the Queen of the Tearling herself.
It becomes a literal race against time as Johansen successfully ties up tricky loose ends in a face-paced, near-perfect conclusion to the trilogy.
It was only in the final chapter where I felt slightly hollow and empty. Imagine a roller coaster slowly creeping towards the drop off point, teasing you with what is to come, you feel the excitement building only to break down just inches before the plunge.
While the ending was not to my liking, it is the ending the Tearling – and most of its characters- deserved.
If you love magic, dark fantasy, epic battles, deep characters filled with their own flaws and desires, then this series is definitely for you.
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