Review: The Sweet Far Thing

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I really wanna 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 over-weighs 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 be surprised. 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, the teachers (of course, I also got pretty annoyed with them as well, 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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