The Sweet Far Thing
Libba Bray
Reviewed by Megan Chance
I've been waiting a year and a half for this book, which concludes the trilogy begun with A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY and REBEL ANGELS, and it is a triumph. The story takes place in England in 1896, when girls were brought up in finishing schools and then married off to the highest bidder, with little say in their own lives, their hopes and dreams forfeit to a society that kept them chained. The historical role of women in society is a subject I find fascinating over and over again, and a theme I've explored often myself, so this trilogy has been a delight for me.
In the first two books, Gemma Doyle has come to England from India after her mother's murder. Ensconced safely at Spence's Academy for Young Women, she is expected to learn French, dancing and the art of conversation. But what Gemma learns instead is that her mother belonged to a secret society called the Order, a society of women that ruled the power and magic in another world–the Realms: a land which influences dreams and reality in our world. Gemma discovers that not only has she inherited the power, but that she is the most powerful priestess of all. She is the one prophesied to restore balance to the Realms, which, since the betrayal of one of the Order several years before, is steadily being turned to evil purposes.
But Gemma is only sixteen, with no one to guide her, and she has made a terrible mistake: she has allowed the betrayer back into the Realms. At the end of REBEL ANGELS, Gemma bound the magic to herself for safety, determined to form an alliance with the other creatures of the Realms. Now she must work to keep her promises.
As a young woman in a society where all the power belongs to men, Gemma finds herself giving into the temptation of her power and her wish to change not only her future, but that of her friends: the vibrant, charismatic Felicity, whose fierceness hides a desperate secret; talented, impoverished Ann, who is too ready to martyr herself to the expectations of others; and East Indian Kartik, who must question his own loyalties as destiny binds him ever closer to Gemma. But too much power is never a good thing, and Gemma's indecision and inability to share the magic she has bound to herself, along with her uncertainty over who to trust and her lack of understanding or guidance, creates chaos and danger in the Realms–a danger that will require from her the ultimate sacrifice to set right.
The characters are deeply flawed, and completely real. They make a great many mistakes as they struggle to understand the power they hold–in many ways a metaphor for the decisions they must make as they stand on the cusp of adulthood, where they must determine the course their lives will take, and whether they have the will to break with society and expectation to follow their own paths–and if they do, what that decision will cost them.
Ms. Bray fully captures the confusion, selfishness and wonder of young adulthood, the yearning to break free and create something new even as one longs for the safety of childhood, and the sad realization that one can never go back; one must always move forward. The Victorian London she creates is vibrant and alive. She shows the wonder of newfangled inventions like the bicycle, and contrasts the tightly corseted world of the upper class with the poverty and hopelessness of the vast majority. Her London is peopled with striking workers and suffragettes, and is rich with the sense that not only is the world changing, but that there is a possibility women could be at the forefront of such change if they are willing to make the sacrifices it will require to be so.
Lovely, haunting and bittersweet, THE SWEET FAR THING is bright and beautiful, a story with depth and purpose. It is a book every daughter should read.
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About the Reviewer:
Megan Chance is the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of several novels. Her first book won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award for excellence in Romantic Fiction, and since then, her novels have received several awards and award nominations. The Best Reviews has said she writes “Fascinating historical fiction.” A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two daughters. Visit her website at www.meganchance.com.
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