A great, if somewhat bittersweet ending to a solid trilogy. I don’t know why this book series is not more widely read than it is. Though I thought that the initial book in the trilogy had a few issues, the writing got better and better, culminating in the very well written final volume, with solid pacing, great action, fleshed out characters, and a number of surprises. The pacing issues I had with the middle of _Prospero’s Children_, pretty much tackled in _The Dragon Charmer_, were long, long gone in _The Witch Queen_. The pace was relentless, keeping me up late at night. Though one of the initial premises of the third book – Fern, by all appearances a modern London socialite to ordinary mortals, but a powerful witch when out of the public eye – could have been used as the driving force behind simply a further adventure sort of novel and that would have been fine with me, it is not. This truly is an ending to the trilogy, addressing issues, plot threads, and characters that appeared in the first two books, with issues ranging from the payment of debts (personal and to supernatural forces), of guilt, lost loves, as well as of course final confrontations with the Big Bads of the series. Though I would have loved to have seen further adventures of Fern and her friends (and enemies) I do respect the author enormously for making _The Witch Queen_ the third and final act in the trilogy. Though the book did leave an opening for future adventures, it seems unlikely that that would ever happen given the events of this novel.Let’s see, what else; I loved the further development of the goblin race in the third book, with the author adhering more towards traditional fairy tale and folkloric depictions of goblins rather than martial opponents that might amass in huge armies (such as in Tolkien’s works). I have no problem at all with the latter, but it is good to see another treatment of goblins. On the down side of the novel, we didn’t get as much Bradachin, the Capel’s house-goblin, as we got in _The Dragon Charmer_ but on the plus side we did get more of the goblin queen Mabb, who I rather liked.The handling of the ultimate villain of the series, Azmordis, was interesting to be sure. I can see how some might not like it, but given the tragic experiences faced by Fern, the threats to her and her friends, the ultimate nature of Azmordis, and most of all Fern’s instincts to always be the one to take charge and “act the adult” really made that ending made sense to me. Doesn’t mean I entirely liked it, but that dislike doesn’t mean I thought it was poorly written or that I thought it was illogical. Going back to my comments that this really was a trilogy as a whole, despite the often different nature of the three books, one thread that the author skillfully followed throughout the series was Fern’s personality and the logical outcomes of such a personality. We first got Fern as a sixteen year old girl, practically running the family household and fending off suitors from her hapless father, acting as if the entire world was on her shoulders and assuming a mantle of responsibility well beyond her years and experience. That personality trait never went away as the series progressed and was then skillfully merged with an exploration of how the presence of the Gift – the power to do magic and deal with supernatural beings – isolates one from mortals, even close friends. I thought that was the best character exploration aspects of the series, Fern coming to terms with both truths, with her final decision showing Fern’s acute awareness of the costs of both elements in her life. Well done modern fantasy writing, I am glad I read the three books.
I enjoyed this trilogy and the Sangreal trilogy, and especially liked the overlapping characters, and references. The Dragon Charmer was my least favorite of the lot, but overall, glad I read them. Just discovered there's a new book out, with another overlapping character; thinking I'll need to read it, partly just to check in on how they're doing, and to find out whether we get to meet Caliburn again. It's a pity we're not likely to see more of Fern and co., but then, Fern's earned her peace and quiet.
What do You think about The Witch Queen (2003)?
After reading this third and last book of the trilogy,tI personally was not to fond of the ending. Not that I expect happily ever afters, but to me it seems as there was no actual closure to the whole story.
—Milly Milagros
