The Sweet Far Thing

Libba Bray’s 819 page novel, The Sweet Far Thing, is the third and final book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. In the first two books, A Great and Terrible Beauty, and Rebel Angels, we are introduced to the character Gemma who is living in India. She is at a market and temporarily leaves her mother to later find out that she has been killed. Gemma’s world is spun around and upside down as her father then sends her to England to attend Spence Academy for girls. There she discovers her power of visions and being able to enter a place called the realms, where anything can happen. She becomes great friends with Felicity, Pippa, and Anne, who help her on her adventures. (Pippa later on eats food from the realms, and then dies in the real world and stays to live in the realms.) The plot for this book then begins with Gemma trying to keep her back perfectly straight as Mrs. Nightwing tries to teach the girls how to become proper ladies. At the same time, some builders are renovating the East Wing, which burned down in a fire years ago because of Gemma’s mother and Circe. Gemma has bound all of the realm’s powers to herself, because Circe, the enemy to all of the realms, would have taken it. Now months later after the binding, Gemma finds that she can no longer enter the realms with her powers, and she is afraid that perhaps they have left her for good. Throughout the book, Gemma is getting ready for her debut, a time in the 1800’s when girls would look for potential husbands, but she is distracted by odd visions of a women in a purple dress who seems to be sending her messages. Once the East Wing is partially completed, Gemma finds a door in the foundations that allows herself to enter the realms once again. The realms don’t seem in danger, yet there is something peculiar about them. Creatures crowd around her trying to get a taste of magic, and she ends up giving alliances to tribes of the realms, when she doesn’t want to. It seems that everyone wants something from Gemma, and she doesn’t feel like she can trust anyone. Felicity wants the magic to ensure she will get her fortune from a relative, so that she will be able to live a free life in France, and Anne wishes to use the magic to get out of becoming a governess for her horrible cousins. Because of this, they urge Gemma not to give away the magic, but the tribes of the realms grow angrier by each chapter that Gemma doesn’t share the power. Soon, a new teacher comes to Spence by the name of Miss McCleethy, and the girls think she is Circe because her name spells out to be “I am Circe.” Felicity, Anne, and Gemma learn though that Miss McCleethy is actually part of the Order, and wants to get the magic back to the Order. Later on, as they continue to travel to the realms, they find their friend Pippa who was lost, living with a group of factory workers in a castle. Gemma isn’t sure that Pippa can be trusted either, once she starts getting magic of her own and her teeth become pointed… I won’t reveal to you the end of the book, but I will mention that Gemma is forced to make a decision that will affect the entire world. Mixed with emotions, and different facts from different people and things, this is a decision that might kill in the process.

There is never a specific mood that envelopes the whole book, simply because of the immense amount of plot changes. At one moment Anne is sad and crying about becoming a governess, and the next moment she is at a play watching her favorite American actress, Lily Trimble, laughing along. The book shows the emotions of love, happiness, joy, hate, fear, and utter panic. Though when in the realms I always felt a sense of something dark brooding about, and I could never really feel at ease when the girls made rocks turn into butterflies, or have little parties and dances at the castle, ignorant of danger. The creatures of the realms always appeared to be happy, beautiful, and lovely on the outside, but once Gemma realized their inner desires and true motives, they seemed sinister and gaunt-like in their hunger for magic showed.

I thought this book was WONDERFUL, even with such dark moods at times! The descriptions and characters were so involved and intricate, that I was never bored of a single sentence. The plot is very complex, and with this there are numerous plot twists and turns that I would have never expected. This is the type of book that once you pick it up, you can never put it down until you’re finished. But I must warn you NOT to read the last 75-50 pages in any public place or with anyone around, because it’s definitely a tear-jerker. I cried for quite some time and couldn’t stop thinking about it for almost week after I read it. Did this make me not enjoy the book as much? Perhaps I still wish that it would have ended differently, but it if had, it wouldn’t have been as powerful. This book is a love story that intertwined with adventure and mystery, that can have you confused at times. It was hard to tell who exactly to trust, such as Miss McCleethy who sometimes seemed like an angel or a demon. But in the end there is a great sense of comradeship that makes you proud of the characters joining together. Joining together in what, I will not say, but it involves a battle between two worlds!

Overall, I would consider this trilogy to be even greater than the Harry Potter series, a claim no other book could perhaps have. The deep love Gemma and Kartik have for each other is so sweet that it is sad this could only be a fictional tale. I would most definitely recommend this book to any person who wishes for a book about magic, adventure, and love.

Review by Nicole