The Fate of the Tearling: (The Tearling Trilogy 3)

I never write reviews, am only doing so now because there are so many negatives here and I feel this book deserves better.

I understand why people could be dissatisfied with this conclusion, but if you are, I'm afraid you missed the point. This story isn't about plot, or a love story, or a victory specifically for Kelsea. It's bigger than that. The ideas are the biggest part, just as Kelsea says about William Tear. Kelsea saves the Tearling in the only way she can. That is the point. It has to be selfless.

This book did not end the way I thought it would, but that in itself can be a triumph.

The first two books in this series held my interest well and I couldn't wait to find out how everything ended. What a disappointment! Story jumped back and forth, characters not well-developed, almost as if the author was tired of the series & desperate for an ending. Would never have wasted my time with the first two if I'd had any idea how poorly the plot played out.

I read the poor reviews, but they didn't stop me. I had to know how it ended. It was brilliant. The author challenges me to keep up, and this story moves!! You don't sit back and read this series, you jump up and yell at the book! Or you scratch your head because your brain is processing! Or you take a vacation day from work just to read, because being interrupted is an impossible option. I think I'll wait a few weeks, then read it all again, because it's THAT good. Perfect ending!!

The Red Queen storyline was great. I loved the first two books, but it seems that the author dug herself into a hole and employed a very lazy, unsatisfying plot device to get out. So terribly disappointed in the ending. I feel like I have to think of a new ending just to not hate all of the books. Ugh. I am beyond disappointed.

This series was so good. I would recommend it to everyone. So much happens and you can't wait to see what happens. Then a big surprise. I wish there had been another book to see were this change would take them.

I LOVED the first two books of this series. This book felt rushed. Too many characters that you became attached to in the series were not given enough time. Motivations did not entirely make sense and the ultimate resolution felt like a slap in the face to all that came before. I wish Johansen had split this into two books to give the characters more time. I did enjoy the new additions to the story. She has created a fascinating and wonderfully drawn world overall with characters that are compelling. I also wish she had found a different way to resolve the story. It felt almost like she had written herself into a corner with no way out. I kept thinking, is this where she was always planning to go with it? Very disappointed. I will just pretend that it ended with the second book.

The Fate of the Tearling is the third book in a three-book fantasy series. This was not my favorite book of the series, but I did think the author included a unique finish to this story (slightly bittersweet). Any potential reader would probably need to read the first two books to really understand this one. The beginning of this book starts with the end of the war, while Kelsea and Mace separately search for solutions to escape the Red Queen and find a permanent solution to save the kingdom. Anyone from their late teens to late twenties might enjoy this book, so long as they enjoy fantasy.
I hope any other reader might enjoy this series as much as I did!

The book answers some questions about how the Tearling came to be, and why some of the characters are as they are. I was a bit tired of the unresolved questions when starting the book, and was satisfied with the explanations that came out in this final novel. Overall a good read.

Totally engrossing. Such a great idea to have the heroine leaping back in forth through time while fighting for the soul of her kingdom... and her own soul as well. Heartbreaking, exciting and thought provoking. Not like any other series in the genre. What fun to read!!!

I have been wating for this book for so long trying to figure out how this series ends. I would have never have imagined the ending of this story. It was so unexpected so shocking and had me in tears. Not everyone gets there happy ending.

While I certainly understand some of the frustration from other readers that I have seen in the reviews for The Fate of The Tearling, I don't feel the same. This end to a trilogy that I have read faithfully and felt deeply about is not one that I expected, but is fulfilling for me nonetheless. I don't feel that I was left with a cliffhanger or with too many questions that will never be answered (looking at you, The Fifth Wave series), nor do I feel desperate for a fourth book as I have in other series (looking at you, Life as We Knew It trilogy). This may not have been the ending that I foresaw or particularly wanted, but I feel that Johansen tidied up all of the loose ends of a complicated, beautiful, and complex storyline full of intricate and interesting characters.

We should all be able to draw parallels between this trilogy and current events happening around the world. One must realize how fragile democracy is--and how much we should be prepared to sacrifice for the dream that is a Free World.

No spoilers in this review of The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. I give it 4.5 stars! I read several bloggers who didn’t enjoy the ending of this book. While I can see where they’re coming from, I thought it was fantastic. Was it surprising? Yes. Were parts of it bittersweet? Yes. Will I contemplate it for a long time? Yes. That is basically the exact formula for a series ender I will love. I wish I could tweak one small detail about the very end, and then it would be close to perfect for me.

The book opens with the Fetch, who has always seemed important to the overall storyline but was largely absent from book 2. It then picks up right where book 2 left off, with Kelsea held captive by the Red Queen after sacrificing herself in exchange for three years of peace for the Tearling. The Mace, the Fetch, and their men are at the Keep working on a plan to rescue Kelsea. While Kelsea is held prisoner, she is working on her long-term goal: to restore the embattled Tearling kingdom to its former glory. Past and present mingle once again as Kelsea tries to figure out how to accomplish this.

Just when I think Johansen has too many characters to properly juggle, she introduces several more. The most noteworthy is Katie, another leading lady whose story is intertwined with Tear history. And Johansen doesn’t disappoint: She has created so many characters I care about, new and old alike. I feel deeply invested in each of their narratives almost immediately upon introduction, even with the seemingly minor characters. They are each important as she weaves the tapestry that is the Tearling story. I rooted for so many of them to get their moment of honor and redemption!

I think the time Johansen has taken to unravel the complicated story of the Tearling made it that much more satisfying in the end. In the acknowledgements, she thanks the readers for their patience in letting the Tearling be “a gradually unfolding world, full of lost and often confounding history.” I adored how the past and present were both needed to tell the full story.

My only complaints are the one small thing I wish I could change about the very end of the book as well as some fundamental differences I apparently have with Johansen as far as views on society. It took me until the final installment, but I discovered I don’t agree with her views on religion or government/politics. I choose to overlook these differences, however, in favor of her incredible story.

If you have read the first two Tearling books, book 3 is a must read to see how the Tear story ends. If you haven’t started this series, I highly recommend it! One caveat: This is an adult book. The main protagonist is nineteen, but the language and adult situations definitely push it out of the YA realm. This is not meant for young readers.

One final note pertaining to the future of the Tearling world: From a Mugglenet interview I found (see below), it looks like this isn’t the last we’ll hear about the Tear kingdom. Johansen says there are several characters who have more story to tell. With the way this book ended, I can’t imagine who they might be. I will look forward to anything else Johansen gifts us with! I also eagerly await movie news, as Johansen confirms there is a script in the Mugglenet interview.

Link to Mugglenet interview: http://blog.mugglenet.com/2016/11/exclusive-interview-with-erika-johansen-author-of-the-fate-of-the-tearling/

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I was worried because so many readers panned this end to the trilogy. I found it just as gripping and thought it was satisfying. Sure, I had to let go of some of my favorite characters (in a way), but I understand way. A few remaining questions, but nothing that takes away from feeling like I got a satisfying ending to a trilogy I thoroughly enjoyed and will miss.

This book was anticlimactic for me. The ending felt very rushed and leaves you a bit confused. The addition of new characters and the undeveloped of others almost made this book feel separate from the other two. Overall I enjoyed the series just feel like it was hastily concluded.

This book was a wonderful way to wrap up the series. It was a bit slower at first but definitely made up for that. I've recommended this series to all of my friends. I recommend it for anyone looking to get lost in another world.

This is the third book in the series, and I am sad that it is done. I would have loved to spend more time with Queen Kelsey. I just wish I could figure out what the final question at the end of the book meant. Read the book, and you will know what I mean. But I think Johansen left the book like that on purpose, to make the reader THINK. This is not a happy series; bad things happen to people, and sometimes it is scary. This book may be about a young (19) woman, but this is not teen fiction, in my opinion; at least, not early teens: 17 and older. But this is not a criticism at all. This is an excellent series of books, and I strongly recommend reading all 3 books. You won't understand what is going on in this last one until you have read the first two anyway.

the whole trilogy is fabulous. i loved them. the last book starts out slow, bringing you up to speed and then it just blows your mind. u just can't assume anything because it keeps taking turns that blow your mind. loved it

I loved the sweep of this novel. The characters were intriguing and the cliff hangers kept me up at night. However, I was uncomfortable with the hatred of everything religious. I will never understand why so many can believe in magic, even demonic power, but believe that everything Christian is false. The true heart of Christ is love, caring for one another. Why is that so terrible? I love the utopia The Tear became. I would have loved to have learned how they actually did away with drugs and prostitution and trafficking. I guess it just happened!? Don't get me wrong. I loved the series. I loved the happy ending. I am just not sure how this Utopia was achieved.

I've never written a review before, but I just finished this book and came here to try to find comfort in my joy and sorrow after finishing this one - only to find so many negative reviews. I reread the previous two books before starting this one. And the ending of the series was perfect - it's not a happy ending in the way that we might expect or want, but it is hard and true and so in fitting with the other books. I had no idea where this would go (with the exception of some subplots), and this ending was so satisfying, even though the ending was hard to accept in parts. It is consistent and beautiful. I urge anyone who loved the other books to give it a chance. It is surely well deserved, and I think very rewarding.

Sad that it is over, but wow what a trilogy ending. Kelsea has always wanted to save her kingdom, but what is the cost- being the Red Queen or the Queen of Spades, losing her loved ones, losing herself, abandoning her people? Ending is so perfect and yet unexpected. Intersting new views on characters and magic of the Tearling. More questions answered about the past. Really complete saga.

I almost didn't read this last book because of so many poor reviews from other readers. But for me, it was well written and tied in all the important strands from the earlier books. The ending was a surprise, but the ground work for it had been well laid, I just didn't see it coming. If you've read the other two books in this sequel and have an open ride, don't miss reading it.

Absolutely incredible. I devoured each book that came before this because I could not extract myself from Kelsea's universe. I was cautiously excited about this book because I've been disappointed by sequels in the past, but this sequel completely blew me away. Thank you Erika Johansen for taking the time to craft this amazing fantastical universe full of strong independent women who don't need no man!

I can understand the frustration with the ending, everything isn't tidily packaged so you know what happens to everyone. I'll admit to being a little let down when I first finished it. But I think there's a deeper message from the author about the future being yours to write. I'll imagine that everyone had a happier ending, even though the author doesn't let us know for sure.

I highly enjoyed the first book (loved Kelsea), started seeing some cracks in the second (still great, but missing so many good details), and this third book just completely fell apart for me.

The storytelling in the third book felt sloppy and rushed. Yes, there were some amazing scenes that I adored reading (every scene with the Red Queen and Kelsea, Ewen stepping into his own, Javel's story with Alice, and many more), but so many of the new characters and scenes seemed extraneous and our beloved characters from books past were shunted aside for these fillers. A few issues I have with this story (in no particular order):

1) Vampire children - these were used as a plot device to have the Red Queen break Kelsea out of prison. Why were these necessary? There was already turmoil in the Queen's palace and it was clear that a revolt was in the works. Instead of using the political intrigue here to orchestrate a masterful telling of how the Queen becomes paranoid and ultimately meets her doom, the author instead chooses to have a random army of vampire children eat all the people (who were already revolting) and destroy the world.

2) Characters' backstories: This is where I feel the author's worldbuilding really falters. I understand Kelsea's background and how it makes her who she is, but for all other characters, so little is given and what is provided doesn't always mesh with the characters' actions. Take the example of Row Finn. His backstory suggests that he wants to be William Tear's heir and rule the Tearling. So why is he so hellbent on destroying the world with his army of vampire children? Maybe, you say, he just really wants that crown back. Well, what makes that crown so compelling? I have no idea.

3) The Fetch, the Mace, Andalie, Father Tyler, and all our other beloved characters: WHERE DID THEY GO?

4) The reveals: Remarkably bland and reiterates just how the storytelling is sloppy. Kelsea's mother is a complete non sequitur. She's alive, there's one chapter about this, and that's that. Nothing changes. Why was this even included? We find out who Kelsea's father is and immediately move on to the next scene. WHAT? Where did the Tear blood come from? Do we not get any answers? Nope. We don't learn anything about the sapphires except that Row made one and it's the more useful one that has saved Kelsea's life many times - she then decides to not use it because Row made it. This decision doesn't seem like the pragmatic Kelsea we once knew in book 1. Sigh.

5) The ending: Oh where do we start. Pixar's rules of writing good stories says that you can use deus ex machina to get your characters into trouble, but to use deus ex machina to resolve the story is just sloppy. Maybe it's because the author built herself into a corner where she couldn't get Kelsea out anymore, maybe she ran out of ideas, maybe she ran out of time, maybe she decided her original ending just wasn't right anymore (the one where we read about historians who rave about the Glynn Queen). But to use time travel to magically wrap everything up? Wow. What an amazing cop-out.

I normally don't feel strongly enough about stories to write reviews, but this one really amped me up. I loved these characters and to see them treated so in this third book was horrible. I am disappointed all around - none of our original questions were satisfactorily answered and this ending is just gut wrenching in a bad way. I hope when Emma Watson makes this into a movie, the screenwriter rewrites this ending because it's just atrocious.

I was looking forward to the final installment of this trilogy, but sadly this book seemed more like the author's attempt to malign religion, specifically Christianity. That the author is an atheist is obvious, but she would have done well to realize that most people ascribe to some sort of faith. The story itself is good and would have stood on its own merit without the intolerance for religion written on most pages. Thus, I was disappointed and won't be recommending to others.

First book, easily 5 stars. Second book, 4 stars for the weird slap in the face with a total genre cross. This book though... while I respect the rights of all authors to push their own agenda and beliefs through their own writings, this was a bit too overt and on the nose for me. A little subtlety can go a long way as both a plot device and method to make your (mostly very valid) point.

Aside from that, I gotta echo the other reviews here and say that the ending was lazy, the characters were disconnected from their earlier iterations (and not in a "character growth" way), too many additions were added that did nothing to further the story or enhance it, and a fabulous premise was wasted by an author who clearly had too many goals for one book- fantasy, feminism, sci-if, political stmt, church/state stmt, and genre-busting, to name a few. Such a waste.

This trilogy does not deserve the one and two star ratings it has been given by people who just didn't get the ending, and even the detailed reviews with spoilers seemed to have been written within minutes of finishing this book, without giving much thought to it, considering the questions posed in so many reviews were actually answered. Those reviewers were just not paying close attention. I am only writing this detailed review of the series because many other reviewers expressed dismay with the author and anything she ever writes again, an unjustified conclusion about a rare talent. In fact, the ending was creative and the only possible HEA for all of the characters we loved, and the proper ending for those we did not.
NO SPOILER REVIEW:
First Book: The main female character is Kelsea, raised by foster parents her entire life with the knowledge that she is expected to become the Queen of the Tearling nation when she turns 19, notwithstanding the extraordinary obstacles which have built up in the 18 years she has been growing up in relative safety. Her kingdom is in terrible shape, with a great disparity between rich and poor, a church wielding disproportionate power, an impoverished and ignorant people, a more powerful enemy nation on its borders, and an artifact which gives/enhances her magic. With help from expected and unexpected sources, Kelsea grows into her role as Queen, but faces what may be an insurmountable obstacle to improving the lot of her people.
Second Book: The consequences of Kelsea's choices come to fruition, in which we gain insight into the world from which the original settlers fled because the magic necklace she wears puts her into the life of Lily, a horribly abused woman living in an America where women have no rights, the rich live in protected enclaves, the poor are revolting, but William Tear has a way for them to "cross" to the new land where there are no other people except those he brought with him who share his vision of the better world. In Kelsea's world, we see that all of the descendants of Tear's group live in several nations, all of which have devolved into places just as bad, if not worse, than Lily's world - and that Kelsea is physically becoming the beautiful Lily.
Third Book: Kelsea is in the hands of the Red Queen, as are her sapphires - but not all her magic, which is inborn as a resident of Tear, because the stones are the bedrock of the country, developing magic in those born there. Kelsea learns of the first generation of children born after the crossing, living the life of Katie, the daughter of Lily's friend, Dori, where William Teal's Utopian ideal did not survive the first generation, and mistakes were made by everyone. Characters change in unexpected ways, and the ending is breathtaking, not at all the typical HEA readers of this genre generally expect - hence, the low ratings and attacks on the author.
SPOILER RESPONSE:
All of the time periods in this book were awful, from Lily's abusive dictatorship to the dismal failure of Katie's original Tear group to learn anything from the terrible society they had fled leading to the development of Finn aka The Orphan aka dark one and dissolution of the society in one generation to Kelsea's inheritance of a nation in which she became a dictator who foresaw no good options when all that the Tear group had sown was hers to reap. The importance of the crown was made clear in the first book, when a substitute crown had to be found or Kelsea could not be declared queen - readers should not be surprised to discover that Finn created it with magic to allow him to fix his life, which, to him, meant he was the favored son, not Jonathan. But Kelsea got to decide how to fix the problem, and she realized Finn could not be fixed, he had to go, which is the same decision the Fetch aka Gavin said many times, readers should not have been surprised the outcome he forecast is what occurred. Jonathan was not fit to lead - he gave up the sapphires to Katie, and she knew that a utopian society is not compatible with a cult or dictatorship, so he had to go, but since he never lived long in the original time line, I don't know how anyone could be surprised that occurred. We know what happened to most characters - the Fetch and his group were not wrongfully cursed by Katie to suffer through hundreds of years committing terrible atrocities, they helped her create the peaceful, friendly society in which she now lived, thus the honors paid to them and Queen Caitlyn (Katie) in Kelsea's new world. Father Tyler retained his religious calling, no longer tormented by a corrupt church. Penn had a job, lovely wife and child, no longer hurt by his unrequited love for Kelsea. Mace was a police officer, no longer tortured by his past as a child killer. Carlin Glynn was alive in a dream job as a librarian, still in Kelsea's life, but now they could develop the warm, friendly relationship she had always wanted. Kelsea now had enjoyed a wonderful childhood with a mother pursuing her own dream job as a dressmaker, and she did not murder her father, whoever he was. I did not need the author to have Kelsea seek out everyone else she knew, that was enough for me to believe Andalie found a better man, who did not abuse her or her children, Arliss was running a charitable corporation, Evelyn Raleigh aka the Red Queen never existed, nor did any of the other evil people in the first two books. Kelsea had never found her soul mate, but now, she is a young woman with a clear conscience and work she always longed to be able to do, and at the end of the book, seemed to be looking forward to finding him.

SPOILERS!!!

I admit to disappointment with this. The ending felt like a cop out (how do we fix the nightmare our country has become? Go back in time and change the founding values!). So many of the subplots were given mediocre endings (she is no longer attracted to the Fetch because she sees his teen years, her father turns out to be a guardsman, Pen breaks off their relationship, the Red Queen goes insane and begs for death, her mother is still alive). We never get an answer about what the sapphires are or where they came from or how they work. What exactly her connection with Alice and Katie is (other than possibly being a descendant), especially given her random transformation into Alice. William Tear is present as nearly a demigod, then his "human flaw" is revealed to be abandoning his child, and yet this doesn't actually seem to change anyone's opinion of him. Characters that have been built up die seemingly randomly. What was the deal with the Crown? Is that what gave her the power to change time? It was all so vague.

Hypocritical morality seems the order of the day, which is especially strange since the characters acknowledge it, but don't actually change.

The politics were frustrating. Socialism is taken for granted by the main character to be the best way to create a utopia, even as she is fighting the failure of it. So many times she wondered "Where did it all go wrong?", over and over, and yet it never ONCE occurred to her that the system was inherently flawed. Except for the last chapter when she sets up a constitutional republic out of nowhere.

I also have to say I was disappointed by the treatment of religion. There is only one religious character who is good, and even he spends most of the book losing his faith. In discussions of history, religion is ALWAYS treat as a bad thing, with not a single good example given. Religion is implied to only occur when humans are small minded and afraid, rather than it being the common state of humanity.

Also, there is never a contradiction in the protagonists thinking that the idea of God is laughable, but somehow magic and demons exist. Yes, it's possible to believe the one and not the other, but to believe in one and feel nothing but contempt for those who believe in the other...

I did feel this had a lot of similarities to "Dune", in its beliefs about religion and messiahs, and the sexual violence against women that drips from every page certainly calls to mind "Game of Thrones".

The number of point of views felt strange. Not enough time was spent with the characters to really feel like they were protagonists, but more than could be for side characters.

So, all in all, I found the whole thing disjointed, hypocritical, and disappointing, after such a wonderful start.

There are a lot of scenes in this final novel of the Tearling trilogy that feel intended to be climactic but have little narrative build behind them -- either in this book or the two before it -- which rather dampens the emotional impact. (So much of the story felt missing that I literally had to check to make sure I wasn't listening to an abridged audiobook by mistake!) As in the previous volume, a series of extended historical flashbacks represents the most satisfying part of this book, as they offer an actual plot and emotional journey largely absent in the rest of the text.

The writing is strong and the worldbuilding has improved since the start of this series, so if author Erika Johansen can figure out how to better link the individual moments in her main storyline as she does in the flashbacks, she could grow to be a real powerhouse of the fantasy genre. But as written, this novel is simply too scattered to carry much weight. Like the trilogy as a whole, it's a promising but ultimately forgettable story.

The ending to this series has left me speechless. There is a part of me that loves it and a part of me that hates it with every fiber of my being. This did not go the way I was expecting it to go AT ALL but in so many ways it feels like it was the right way, but that doesn’t mean I can’t grumble about it.

I love Kelsea. She is so strong and always willing to do what needs to be done. She always puts her kingdom first and I loved how strong she was and that she didn’t need anyone to be strong. I also love the Mace and love his back and forth with Kelsea. Pen still holds my heart and I adore him. Andalie is also fantastic and I loved her strength. And we finally got our answers regarding the Fetch and well so not what I expected and I loved that. I also loved getting to know more about the Red Queen. Villain motivations always intrigue me.

This book constantly surprised me. There were so many twists and I was never able to truly guess where it was going. This book just pulls together so many layers and pieces and it always combines in a way I don’t see coming. And that’s the thing with this ending. It was not at all what I expected. It’s a happy one but it’s also bittersweet. All of our questions are answered and the pieces that were laid out all fall into place but there are parts of it that just make me incredibly sad.

I do love though how much this book shows that history is important and if we don’t learn it we are doomed to repeat it. It didn’t take long for those who came over in the crossing to forget everything they learned and the process was sped up because they never taught the next generation the failures of the past and they were doomed to repeat it. It’s something we need to remember in today’s society. Our history is important because it has lessons we need to learn from so we don’t do the same stupid shit all over again.

The Fate Of The Tearling was an addictive read and I devoured it in one sitting. This series was so good and I loved getting lost in it.

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
Book Three of The Queen of the Tearling series
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: November 29, 2016
Rating: 4 stars
Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Summary (from Goodreads):

The thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Tearling trilogy.

In less than a year, Kelsea Glynn has transformed from a gawky teenager into a powerful monarch. As she has come into her own as the Queen of the Tearling, the headstrong, visionary leader has also transformed her realm. In her quest to end corruption and restore justice, she has made many enemies—including the evil Red Queen, her fiercest rival, who has set her armies against the Tear.

To protect her people from a devastating invasion, Kelsea did the unthinkable—she gave herself and her magical sapphires to her enemy—and named the Mace, the trusted head of her personal guards, Regent in her place. But the Mace will not rest until he and his men rescue their sovereign, imprisoned in Mortmesne.

Now, as the suspenseful endgame begins, the fate of Queen Kelsea—and the Tearling itself—will finally be revealed.

What I Liked:

Upon finishing this book, the only thing that came to mind was the word "WOW". This book blew me away. I can't say that I absolutely loved the story and will definitely reread the series again, but I enjoyed the trilogy, especially this final novel. So many pieces come together in a surprising, shocking manner. What an end.

Kelsea Glynn has given herself over to the Red Queen, in a tactful decision to protect her kingdom. Now in the hands of the Red Queen, she will have to fight to get back to her kingdom, with her sapphires. She begins to see more visions, but visions of the past, involving Jonathan Tear (William Tear's son), a girl named Katie, and Rowland Finn. Meanwhile, the Mace is struggling to hold control over the Keep. And then there is Aisa, Andalie's daughter, who is starting to see her purpose in serving the Queen (Kelsea). A guard named Javel and a simple boy named Ewen will play opposing but important roles in the story, in surprising ways. And all will come together but not as you would think. Everything will end in a way that will have you second-guessing everything.

I'm kind of stunned by this novel (if you couldn't tell). At first I had to orient myself in the Tearling world, because I didn't remember much of book two (besides the ending). A lot of names and places were lost on me, at first. But I started to get back into the story quickly. The beginning lagged but I had no trouble in continuing.

This particular book is told from many third-person POVs besides Kelsea's; Aisa, Javel, Ewen, the Red Queen. There are flashes from the past - visions that Kelsea sees - in the perspective of Katie Rice, a teenager who lived during the time of William Tear. Katie plays a vastly important role in the book, possibly more important than any other character besides Kelsea - and Katie is merely part of a vision from the past (i.e. she isn't an actual character in the present).

Johansen does a magnificent job of crafting this Tearling world. It's set in a futuristic time, and it's not quite fantasy, since many references are made to this modern time. For example, the Atlantic Ocean is what William Tear crossed (the "Crossing"); America is the old world; certain technologies once existed that no longer do. The world that Johansen has created in this series is intriguing and awe-inspiring. I think I got the best sense of the Tearling world from this particular book.

I didn't really connect with Kelsea as much as I would have liked, in the previous books, but I've always liked her. She is a powerful Queen who is smart and brave. In this book, she isn't an acting Queen, as she is captured the whole time. But this doesn't take away from her strength and intelligence. She is compassionate where other Queens were not, and very clever.

There are so many other stories/subplots in this book, involving so many secondary characters. For example, Javel, a gate guard, whose wife was sent in a Tear shipment to Mort six years ago, struggles with the reality that his wife is not his wife anymore. Aisa, an adolescent who is very good with knives, wants to do something more with her skill. Ewen, a simple boy and guard, wants to do something as well. So many secondary characters that are important, and very fleshed out.

I think my favorite "story", of this book, was Katie's. We get to see long passages of the past that involve Katie, and William Tear and his son Jonathan, and her best friend Rowland Finn. There is so much history that is so important in shaping the present and future. Kelsea sees Katie's story bit by bit, and begins to understand what she needs to do.

A lot of parts and pieces from the previous two books started to fall into place, and a lot of questions are answered. By the end of the book, anything you might have been curious about earlier in the series has been addressed (in my opinion). I love how intricately woven the story is, and becomes, by the end.

There is little to no romance in this book, and series in general. Not for Kelsea, anyway.

The end! Shocking, clever, and bittersweet. That's all I'm going to see. A fitting and powerful ending, a clever and unconventional one, but not a deus ex machina type, and not a "bad" one.

What I Did Not Like:

I already mentioned this, but the beginning and other parts of the book definitely dragged at times. I wouldn't say that this book was boring (it was quite engaging!), but it was dense. There was a lot to take in, sometimes in a short amount of space.

Also, I really really wish there was an epilogue.

Would I Recommend It:

If you like adult fiction (specifically, fantasy), then this is a good series to start. This is NOT Young Adult and certainly not appropriate for just any reader. There is plenty of mature content (gruesome, gory, and sexual), so be aware. But it's a very intriguing and enjoyable series, one that I will be thinking about in the future.

Rating:

4 stars. This is a conclusion novel worthy of the series. And this is an author worthy of all the hype and praise. Seriously, the writing of the series is so stunning. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author. Also, I am still going to hope for an epilogue!

*Spolier Alert*

I wish I could give this book zero stars. After significant investment of time, energy and imagination, I was sorely disappointed by the ending to this trilogy. The time travel ending seemed to make a hash of the previously well developed, thought out, masterful storytelling of the first two installments. All of the buildup and we never quite understand what Roland was or how to kill him? And the Kelsea's family is disbanded just like that? People are erased from the timeline? Why? Seriously, my first reaction was to wonder if I could get a refund for this slipshod work. It came off almost like the author was trying
to meet a deadline and threw something together at the end. To add injury to insult I purchased the audible version and after twenty hours of listening I'm seriously disappointed!

I wanted to love this series, and I did, until the very end of this book.....
I thoroughly enjoyed books 1 & 2 of the Tearling Series. I thought the writing and story was very well done. I felt the same for the majority of the final book as well.
Most of the Fate of the Tearling is done as a history revealing what led to the crisis the Tearling now finds itself in. The story was good, though I will admit it was slower paced than I expected. This series did a lot of switching between fast and slow-paced pieces of the story. Given the way book 2 ended, however, I had expected the finale to be a face paced, action-packed story, and it wasn't.
Without giving away too much information, because you know I do my best to keep my reviews spoiler free, I will simply say that the ending killed the entire series for me. I had a suspicion for the better part of reading this book that it was going to end the way it did and I was sourly disappointed to find my suspicion correct. It's disheartening, to say the least, to follow a series (especially one as long as this one) for the ending to leave you feeling it was all a waste of time.
Overall, I would have to give this book a rating of 3 dragonflies. The first 75% of the book is good, but the ending really destroyed it all for me. Content rating would be 18+ in my opinion. I will also put out a trigger warning for a borderline sexual assault/rape scene.

The problem with this book isn’t that the ending is dark or sad or unexpected. Lots of books – great books – have surprise twists or don’t end happily ever after. That’s not the reason why I (and other reviewers) are so disappointed. The problem is that the Fate of the Tearing isn’t coherent. Not only are there many loose ends left hanging but there are many inconsistencies and even absurdities that are introduced with this last book in the series.

The Queen of the Tearing is an exceptional book. The Invasion of the Tearing is a good book. Much of the Fate of the Tearing reads like fan fiction written with the goal to take the book in a new direction or to experiment with different genres. It doesn’t work and it ignores the foundation laid by the prior two books.

The Queen of the Tearling is a book I wish I wrote. The Fate of the Tearling is a book I wish I could edit.

I’ve speculated on how this book came to be published in its current state. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it just doesn’t matter. Understanding why this messy, poorly plotted book came to be doesn’t make it any better. In retrospect, I wish I had stopped after the second book or even the first book. I’d recommend others do just that. Save yourself the disappointment.

One note – there was so much promise with the Queen of the Tearing – it would be great if someday there could be a substantial rewrite/reissue of this book.

I loved this series in general, but I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed in the ending. It's certainly the sort of ending that sticks with you, but perhaps not in a good way. To recap, I really loved this series until the end. I loved the grown-up-Alanna-of-Tortall feeling to it, I loved the twisting and turning of the plotline, and I loved the combination of fantastical magic with just enough of the darkness of real human nature that it balanced into a believable whole (well, for a fantasy book). The character development is fabulous, with not just Kelsea but all the main characters fully fleshed out. Aisa is a tough warrior of a child, but also vulnerable and afraid of her father, with a deep longing to belong to something like her hero Queen's Guards do. Pen is besotted with Kelsea, but also deeply committed to his job as a guard, and torn apart when the two conflict. Mace is a series of books in his own right. Just great writing, with old plot points coming back to matter in a style reminiscent of JK Rowling. And the world building was fantastic. All in all, I went into this final installment totally in favor of this series, this world, and this author. And yet.

SPOILERS! SPOILERS AHEAD!

The ending killed it a little. It's akin to having the whole darn thing be a dream! I got so invested in this world, in these characters, and then they all just...don't happen, because Kelsea went back in time and fixed it??? It makes you feel a little foolish for sticking with it, for believing that even as the world spirals down, even as the recoveries and upward turns are fewer and farther between, that even then it may somehow come together in a positive ending. But it turns out, no. If I'm being kind, I could say that the dissatisfaction that the reader feels and the loss I felt at realizing all my favorite characters were obliterated in fact mirror's Kelsea's own feelings. She is at loose ends, at a loss for what to do and how to live her life without the turmoils of her cesspool of a country to fix. Everyone she ever knew and loved simply ceased to exist in any form that she once knew them, and she is reeling from that, as is the reader. But if I'm not being that kind, it feels like the author just wrote herself into a corner and couldn't figure out how to fix it, so POOF! It never was. And isn't that convenient? Dissatisfying. But convenient.

END OF SPOILERS.

So overall, still glad I read this series. Still enjoyed it for 2 3/4 books. Still would totally read The Mace Chronicles, if they ever get written. But much like Divergent, I'd rather unread the last 20 pages.

** spoiler alert ** This conclusion to the Tearling trilogy was not what I expected. Now that can go one of two ways in terms of enjoyment; one: It can be wildly unexpected leading to a feeling of thrill and suspense or two: It can make the reader lament the loss of what they thought the book was going to be about. Having finally finished the series I find myself caught somewhere between these two scenarios. Now before I go any further I do want to applaud Johansen on the execution of her theme. Unbeknownst to me, she clearly had a vision going into this series and she wanted to take this idea of utopian societies that seems to pop up in just about every YA fiction and turn it on its head. And if you go into the series knowing that then I think you will probably have a very different outlook on the series as a whole. I will say she does an amazing job dealing with/expressing her point through her characters and concluding a book that at some points was so convoluted with timelines that I didn't know what would happen. The problem is that Johansen spends so much time trying to make sure she gets her points across/ wrapping up the story that I feel it leeches life from the characters and the fun feeling I used to get from this series.

So let me try to explain. It really all comes down to the Queen of the Tearling, a book that even having finished the series I would still give 5 stars. That book introduces us to Kelsea, a misplaced queen come upon her majority, forced to pick up the reins and win back her kingdom from a despotic uncle, with nothing but a begrudging Queen's guard and the help of mysterious sapphire necklaces. That's all the book purports to be. And it's fun. It's thrilling. I want to know how Kelsea's going to do it. I like the action, I like how her guards come to like her. I like the mysterious Fetch who may or may not be on her side and I want to know more about these necklaces that seem to have powers that are otherwise missing in her world. It's an entire book of pure unadulterated fantasy. So I go into book 2 expecting a continuation of these themes and I got that to an extent with the addition of flashbacks to a world completely opposite of the world I have grown to love and care about in book 1. I was mildly intrigued by that world and I could see the beginnings of Johansen's comparison of Utopian/Dystopian societies and purpose begin to take form here, but even in reading book 2 I was more interested in Kelsea's Tearling than Lila's life and I read her parts quickly hoping to get back to the Tearling. But even with her point beginning to take shape the book is still clearly pointing towards the altercation in the current time. The ongoing battle between Mortmesne and Tear. And again by the end of that book I cared more about how knowledge of Lila's life would help Kelsea in her current battle then about how it shaped the world. Now by the time we get to the Fate of the Tearling Johansen has decided to flip everything on it's head. As we move forward the story become less about the resolution of the conflict between countries and more about where everything in these multiple worlds went wrong. It's a surprising turn of events but for me it's wasn't a fun one. In doing so Johansen diminished the importance of the story I had fallen in love with. In the end does the Red Queen even matter? How about Mortmesne? What appears to be the entire problem of the series isn't actually the problem. So this goes back to my original point that's a thrilling point plot-twist, it was masterfully done, but it wasn't fun. I didn't enjoy it. I went into this series looking for a fantasy action adventure where good triumphs over evil and in sense you still get that but not in a way you can ever expect.

I also feel that the revolutions unearthed in these books end up detracting from the characters. Book 1 and 2 are character driven. Kelsea is thrust into a situation that, although she was semi prepared for, she could have no idea the scope of the problems she must handle. So Kelsea must change and adapt to situations. She grows, she must come to terms with the responsibility of power, and with ruling. I liked this Kelsea. She was a woman who must grow and adapt and learn to think rationally. Instead in book 3 what we get is a Kelsea propelled forward by plot. She and other characters become pawns on Johansen's chess board of purpose. Kelsea must empathize with the Red Queen to make a point. Kelsea has a conversation with Hall's brother in jail so that Johansen can set up the end game. And it's not just Kelsea. I feel that Katie is also handled in a very heavy handed fashion as well. Every time we read a flashback Katie laments life post Crossing. She laments the growth of the church. She harps on how her friendship with Row has gone sour. It almost seems as if Katie's sole purpose is to point out the Dystopian aspects of our supposed Utopia. So what does this mean for readers? Well for me it means I don't really like Katie. I felt like I didn't really know Katie instead I only knew her purpose. There was nothing about her that made me want to read her sections. What does she like do to? Did she like anything about the time that she lived in? What did they do for fun/leisure in Tear's Land? I know this is not the point of her passages, but the answers to this may have helped me like Katie. To want to read about her. And when Katie's section of the book is probably more than Kelsea's then you need some kind of sticking point. And it's not just the main characters, every character is treated the same, they don't matter, only their purpose does. Johansen wants to all of a sudden 1000 pages into reading her tale have the reader give up caring for individual characters and care about the community of them and their effect on the world. It's kind of like book Communism, and we see how well that worked out in the end...

Also I couldn't help noticing that this book has a disproportionate amount of female perspective to male. Now before anyone says anything. I LOVE female main characters. 99% of the books I read are led by females, in fact it's basically a prerequisite for me to even read a book. Having said that, I actually had the feeling that there were too many female perspectives and not enough male. We have Kelsea, Lila, Katie, Aisa and then even Andalie, and Glee, Carlin, the Red Queen, and (view spoiler). They're for the most part all very strong and complex characters. Then for men you have the Mace, the Fetch and his merry men, the Queen's Guard and Pen, Father Tyler, Javel and Arliss. While the female of multi faceted the males are all very stunted by blatant follies. Javel is a drunk. Father Tyler is old, Pen is a stud, and Queen's Guard are all the same person, the Mace is mean and the Fetch is kind of a baby. I feel that in order to have strong female characters they need to be able to stand toe to toe against strong men (and not just in the physical sense), but if all the man are lacking and whinny (a.k.a take on a lot of the female characteristics often given to females in books written by men P.S. I see your point Johansen (wink wink)) then the female characters are overpowering. And are they really that strong when the comparison sex is so weak?

I really put a lot of thought into trying to rate this book. I want to respect all the moves that Johansen made while still expressing how I felt when reading it. So I think when I think about it I have to give the book ***3.5 stars*** instead. But the reason I give it a 3 on the scale remains that while I can respect and applaud Johansen's point the fact remains that I didn't enjoy reading this book and sadly although I may pick up book 1 again and revisit parts of that I would never reread book 3 and in terms of the story that I enjoyed I would probably just pretend this ending didn't even happen.

3-1/2 stars

Overall, this trilogy is a cautionary tale about what happens when one group of people thinks they’re better than another group of people and when governing decisions are not made by a representative society but, rather, a ruling few (or one). It cautions against following people blindly without using a fair and rationale thought process. And it advises that history (as well as parental responsibilities) never be forgotten or ignored--that it is paramount that people understand what happened before they came along so that they can learn from history’s mistakes. This strikes a chord with me in our current climate. If only our current population could learn these lessons, the world would be a better place.

I was disappointed by the downfalls of the two female “bad guys”. One just sort of withered unspectacularly instead of continuing to behave ruthlessly in the manner in which we had come to expect. And the other accidentally fell into a fire. It was very dissatisfying. That whole section of the journey on horseback and temporary capture in Gin Reach was like the literary equivalent of having the thrilling roller coaster upon which we were riding suddenly and drastically slow down in a flat, boring lower section of track. I kept wanting the ride to start up and get exciting again. It took a long while before that happened.

Some questions were never answered that I can recall. For example, where/how did the Raleigh line of royalty begin? Who was Katie’s father? Despite having amazing parents, lifelong training to be a leader, and being named for their good friend who gave his life in Lily’s rescue in Book 2, why was Jonathan so unaccomplished? The reader was never told of a single action he took for the leadership or benefit of the Town. Rather he was just a name placeholder who needed protecting in this novel.

It got a bit weird at the end. Without giving it away, I’ll say that Kelsea’s situation of “awareness” seemed inconsistent. But, I still enjoyed that part after deciding to not let it bother me. Overall, the trilogy was a fun ride. And you’ve gotta love a story where the ideal world includes lots of books and librarians are heros!

I will also mention that I read some sections and listened to the audiobook in other sections of this final novel. Thankfully, the publishers replaced the previous audiobook narrator from Book 2 for a more appropriately aged narrator. However, I did not love this new one either. She often spoke too slowly and her male voices were insufficient—mostly monotone and emotionless and not very male-sounding. I give her a B-.

I loved the first book in this series - I read it three times. The characterization of Kelsea, the issues she faced, the kingdom of the Tearling - all were descriptive, engrossing and well-plotted. Did I mention that I read this book three times?

And then on to the second book. The flashbacks/chapters set in the dystopian past are uninteresting, as is Lily (the main character of that time), but I soldiered on. The kingdom of the Tearling, Kelsea's character development and how she approached her many problems still held my interest.

And then on to the final book and I was disappointed. Kelsea, a smart and insightful individual during the first part of the series, makes a lot of stupid decisions. There were more flashbacks - still uninteresting - of the Tearling's founding. And then for some unknown reason the author added zombies. WTF?!

Do you remember the final episode of Friends when it turned out to all be a dream? The resolution of this series is fairly similar and just as unsatisfying. But instead of a dream, time travel permitted Kelsea to go back and kill the people originally responsible for the kingdom going off course, so the majority of the events in these three books never really happened.

After finishing this series, I felt like the author had just been jerking my chain.

*SPOILERS...ish*

One of the worst endings of a trilogy that I've ever read. It left me wishing I'd never read any of the books. I'm not against a lot of darkness and grief, I'm not opposed to a complete failure to deliver a happy ending for the characters, but if we're going to get darkness and grief, I'd like it to at least be well-executed darkness and grief. The author finds a plot device to utopia-fy the Tearling without actually giving poor Kelsea one single ounce of joy - and the overall happiness of the country itself is superficial, generalized and unsatisfying. The ending isn't consistent with Kelsea's character, is disorganized and jarring, and just generally feels awful for the reader.

In short, it's a failure. Not a satisfying bit of escapism, as the best pulp genre fiction is. Not an envelope-pushing novel that's moving the genre forward, as in the best literary genre fiction. This final volume takes a promising series and in one masterstroke turns it into nothing but a white hot mess.

I found this, the 3rd book in a series, in a local shop. It seemed interesting, so I purchased the first 2 books here. The first book was a slow start, the 2nd book I tore through in record time, this book started out almost as compelling as the 2nd. Then - Where oh where did all this junk come from? A mysterious crown, mentioned in the first book, found then used at the very end to change history? WHAT? Vampire children, whose beginning, continued existence, & multiplication weren't explained? The Red Queen's transformation - really?? Lily's point of view dropped, Katie's story just didn't gel, Kelsey's story was so muddled by the end... left me completely unsatisfied, feeling let down to say the least. Definitely not going on my bookshelf as a favorite fantasy series to re-read.

For a novel that's pretty much an absolute train wreck, this book is so, so good. In this last book of the series, we find Kelsea right where we left her at the end of book two. Trapped by the Red Queen, Kelsea is far from a kingdom that is quickly falling apart. The Red Queen has her own problems now that Kelsea has released Row Finn. As both queens soon discover, there are no boundaries for people who want the world for their own. Kelsea's visions into the past give her insight into their common enemy, but as always, the past reveals itself at it's own pace, and unfortunately for the Tearling, answers may come too late.
I've read very few authors who enjoy torturing their characters as much as Erika Johansen. If the last two books hadn't convinced you that everyone has to sacrifice something in pursuit of utopia, than this book surely will-- and the process will be decidedly unpleasant. Although the book boasts strong characters, Johansen uses the characters to move forward the main themes of the novel instead of having the novel revolve around the characters. This means that as soon as a character's purpose is exhausted, the character is relegated to a minor role, which I personally didn't like.
This may have completely wrecked the book for me were it not for the worthiness of the ideas that the characters support. Throughout the series we've seen Johansen explore human greed and cruelty and how it affects governments and organized religion. Going back to the origin of the Tearling, this book really drives those points home. Johansen provides an insightful illustration of how easy it is for a community to go astray.
The resolution of the series is confusing. As always when time is introduced into a narrative, the thread of the story is held together by a very thin string. Johansen very nearly severs that string this last book, but luckily for her, it just barely manages to hold itself together. The ending is what prevents me from applying a rating to this book, as I still don't know how to approach it, so I'll have to leave all of you to form your own opinions.
Overall, this was a solid series with complex ideas and a strong female heroine. There were many things that I liked about the series (the writing for one) and many things I didn't (the extremely negative representation of religion), but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone. This was a suitable ending for a series that has always followed it's own rules.

I’ve been following the Queen of the Tearling series for several years now, and have been impatiently awaiting the final installment of the book. The Fate of the Tearling is not the ending that I expected, but I found it satisfying nonetheless.

For any of you who haven’t read the previous two books, here’s the concept in a nutshell: Our modern Earth goes hella fascist, and life gets pretty dark. A band of survivors led by a man named William Tear manage to escape, and travel on ships across time/space to a new world where they can create a better future–but something goes wrong. Human nature gets in the way of Tear’s utopian vision, and you get the Tearling, a kingdom that’s Game-of-Thrones mixed with the Hunger Games. After being raised in the forest by her aunt and uncle, a teenager named Kelsea Raleigh becomes its queen. She’s rightfully outraged by the injustices she finds in her newly inherited kingdom, and tries to set things right, but she’s fighting against generations of compounding mistakes, and it’s a losing battle. Meanwhile, the crown jewels are imbued with magical properties, and offer Kelsea glimpses into the Tearling’s past.

The Tear sapphires and their powers provide a way to unite the past and the present, so that we are following two parallel but related storylines. In The Invasion of the Tearling, we alternate between Kelsea’s problems in the future, and a young woman named Katie who lived in the time right after the crossing. Katie’s story is at the center of understanding what went wrong with the Tearling in the first place, and understanding the past is the key to fixing the future.

Along with Katie’s story, The Invasion of the Tearling returns to characters old and new. I particularly enjoyed the treatment of the Red Queen. In the first book, I felt like she was a ripoff of Melisandre from A Song of Ice and Fire, but the following two books fleshed her out a lot more as a character. Because Kelsea spent time in the Red Queen’s head, we’re able to empathize with her to a degree, and understand the ways in which she was a product of her own upbringing and not just a haphazard force of evil. And she’s still evil, don’t get me wrong, but she’s complexly evil, driven by her own insecurities and her desire to rise above a childhood of being someone else’s pawn.

There are many plot twists in The Invasion of the Tearling that I wasn’t expecting. I suspect that some readers will not enjoy the ending, because it seems like a Hollywood cop out. At the same time, I appreciated the thoughtfulness that Erika Johansen gives to how that ending impacts the characters. A lot of things happened to Kelsea in the past three books, and we get to see how she manages to live with herself and her decisions, none of which are without consequences. Everything comes with a cost, especially magic, and so the ending was both hopeful and bittersweet.

Actually, I think that general sentient sums up my thoughts on a lot of the plot points in this series–while many characters and events may not feel entirely original, the thoughtfulness that goes into them sets them apart from typical fantasy tropes.

Without doubt, this is the best trilogy i've read in many years. Plot and character development are masterful, with the author maintaining a firm hand on the complexities of the stories, both past and present. It was a pleasure to read such a well written work that raised a number of political and moral issues, that created multidimensional characters who really grappled with "their dark side", and which maintained pace, suspense, and adventure throughout. I didn't want it to end ..... and find the polarised views of readers almost a reflection of the central tenet of the story. Is a utopian society a possibility or are the views of people simply too diverse for humanity to live harmoniously? How will Kelsea "survive" in the new world she created - perhaps little differently to present day refugees from war torn countries attempting to make new lives for themselves in very foreign lands. Or, little differently to people with tragic pasts who have lost all family members. Kelsea is resilient, she'll make it, and maybe write her own fantasy of the Tearling, to add to the library collection ... as long as she isnt tempted to "borrow" those sapphires, just to spice things up a bit. I very much look forward to new works by this author who has a fabulous imagination and the ability to translate this onto paper so engagingly. Well done Erika.

What just happened? I was so invested in this story and these characters... I wish there could have been a little more explanation concerning the Fetch and his crew, Row Finn and his minions, and their respective histories and punishments. I felt a little cheated when Kelsea woke up to this Utopia, effectively having wiped out, not only both previous books/storylines basically, but also whole characters and relationships. The book, as expected, was well written, I did enjoy it as a whole, but I’m not sure I like the way she got to the ending.

I eagerly awaited having an opportunity to read/savor this third Tearling book. Although it was an interesting read, there were sections that felt disjointed or rushed and some were simply disturbing. Still, I appreciate the details of learning more about various parts of New London and of Demense and becoming better acquainted with the Mace, Aisa, the Red Queen and others.

Ultimately I found myself just trying to read through to the end, which is a disappointing feeling for a reader like me.

I enjoyed seeing the reference to local bookstores, Copperfield's. It really is a treasure of a bookstore chain.

This did not measure up to the promise of the first two volumes in the trilogy. It feels like the author lost a sense of her characters and her true plot. For example, in this volume two of the primary characters act completely out of character (for reasons that are neither developed nor explained). The author, in a sense, abandoned them, and that strikes me as either 1) lazy, 2) inconsiderate (of readers) and 3) odd.
the ending was not at all "satisfying" (as the jacket copy claims). It was nonsensical and unjustified. Did the real author die and imposter step in to take her place?

I was disappointed in this book. I finished it because it just didn't feel right not to. The original stories I did read didn't really connect with this book. I felt like a lot of questions were left unanswered and new doors were open to leave the readers wanting more instead of giving them closure. I gave it a 3 stars in hopes that she will probably do a spin off series and because I fell in love with the original story.

The story starts out as engrossing as the previous books. We learn more about William and his first settlers, the powers of the sapphires, and more about Fetch. It builds and builds and then...
And then it sucks. The ending left me disappointed and irritated because I was look forward to this book so much. She literally kills it. Murders everything she built and for what? I see no real point to the ending she wrote other than she just....ran out of ideas? I don't know. It is a very unsatisfactory ending to what started as an amazing trilogy.

This book had so much potential, and I am sad to join the other disappointed reviewers. Deeply unsatisfying. Two stars instead of one because I still found it to be a page-turner. For those of you who read the first two excellent books, it's still an entertaining enough read.

Spoilers ahead:

The other reviewers have already touched upon many of the largest flaws--the deus ex machina ending with the nonsensical time-travelling crown (Kelsea and all her friends still exist in the parallel universe future! B.S.!), the ridiculousness of the idea that killing one poisonous person, Row Finn, would somehow magically solve all the problems of the Tearling. But fewer have commented on some of the other deeply troubling developments of this third volume.

First, its one-dimensional treatment of communism, capitalism, and religion. Really, Ms. Johanson? Every time these three topics came up--although the first two were never referred to by name--I wanted to slam the book on the table. The first two books dealt with all these issues so beautifully, in a nuanced fashion, because governing a society is really complicated, gray-area stuff. In this third book, that nuance went out the window! William Tear's "Utopia" was just communism. And all of Finn's seemingly evil, corrupt visions of a meritocratic society was just capitalism (with extra greed and zombie children thrown on top). Finally, I am an atheist myself, but the portrayal of religion as something poisonous and only used to manipulate the weak was, well, manipulative and weak writing. The ending, where New London has some communist qualities, some capitalist, and a dash of religion (Brother Tyler seems alright) also felt bizarrely out of place after painting a meritocratic society as Evil with a capital E through Row Finn. Now it's okay that the doctors are richer? Huh??? (Oh--and how hypocritical to treat religion with disdain throughout the book when your whole story is an adaptation of Noah's Arc and Cain and Abel with some Back to the Future thrown in. Nice.)

Second, for some reason, William Tear is still seen as good, his vision praised, even though he was clearly a big prat. Why, in his religion-free society where presumably monogamy was not required, people had freedom of sexuality, and bastards would not be disgraced, could he not raise BOTH his sons??? And WHY, in this society where no one was supposed to be special, did was Jonathan protected by a guard? This was never explained. Tear kept insisting he didn't rule his people... but then he expected Jonathan to rule? Tear was a horrible leader! At times Johanson seemed to point this out (like when Katie notices how selfish he is to leave Town to try and save Lily), but you leave the book with William and Jonathan Tear = Good and Row Finn = Evil. Also, why did Kelsea/Lily/magic monster kill Jonathan? This seemed really out of the blue. I think it was to avoid a monarch situation. . . But then Jonathan's (or Row's) daughter, born from Katie, ends up a monarch anyway? Ugh. Just ugh. The way Tear was handled was simply not consistent with the themes of the book, and those contradictions were at times noted, but never explored or explained.

Finally, did anyone notice the striking parallels to Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)? I know George R. R. Martin did not invent many of the fantasy tropes at play, but some of these characters uncomfortably close to his, especially Aisa (just like Arya Stark, haunted girl great with a blade who transforms into an assasin), Ewan (so like Hodor, a mentally disabled giant with a heart of gold who heroically saves the protagonist), and the Red Queen (a cross between Melisandre a.k.a. the Red Woman, an ageless sorceress who uses dark fire magic, and Cersei, ruthless and paranoid ruler obsessed with power). Oh, and those zombie children are a bit like the white walkers, the ultimate threat of undead killers looming in the background while humans struggle for power (although unlike Martin, Johanson only introduced the zombies in the last volume).

Ms. Johanson couldn't decide what to make of this story, so she settled for lazy, sloppy, one-dimensional storytelling full of contradictions, but not the good kind in the first two books. The bad kind that undermine storytelling and leave it devoid of most of its meaning. At least it was somewhat entertaining, but that's all it was.

Picking up this long-anticipated conclusion to the Tearling trilogy was simultaneously thrilling and terrifying for me. I’m no stranger to trilogies, you see, and I have long held the opinion that they are the hardest type of story to write. As the author builds the momentum of the storylines in the first two books, the end result in the third is often that the story has a life its own that can’t be contained enough to land the ending. I’m happy to say that, in this, Erika Johansen sets herself apart from the pack: THE FATE OF THE TEARLING is a full, rich book that doesn’t take shortcuts on its pathway to a brilliant ending.

I read THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING, with the sequel, THE INVASION OF THE TEARLING, following quickly on its heels. But it’s been a while, and I’ll confess that I had to go back and re-read the last 175 pages of the second volume to brush up on the crucial ending before returning to THE FATE OF THE TEARLING. While most stories wouldn’t require this level of investment, Johansen’s trilogy does, and it's one of the things I love most about her storytelling. She expects the reader to keep up and doesn’t sacrifice time or story in an effort to micromanage the book’s consumption.

The world of the Tearling is a vast one, spanning not only space and a large cast of characters but also dual timelines seen through Queen Kelsea’s visions of the past through the Tear sapphire. As the plot rolls along, the story fragments a bit to keep the reader up to date on Kelsea’s journey (now a prisoner of the Red Queen in Mortmesne), the Mace’s strategies (presiding over the Tearling as regent) and Katie’s life (the historical thread racing to inform current time). While at times I felt as though the story spent too long in any one place, the variety in viewpoints and settings kept the purposeful forward motion of the novel on a rapid pace towards its cohesive conclusion.

More commendable still, the story didn’t leave behind periphery characters in its wake. We learn more about the Mace’s troubled past; Javel’s search for his wife, Allie; and the Fetch and Row Finn’s history is laid bare. The Red Queen, who has starred in the villain role for the first two installments, is suddenly a more empathetic character, leaving way for new forces of evil to terrorize our heroes.

If I had any major complaints, it would be these:

- The heavy-handed reminders that this book belongs on the adult fiction shelf: The crassness of language built to a place where I no longer felt it was organic to the story itself but was instead included to make a point about appropriate audience. In my opinion, there are better and more effective ways to graduate a story beyond the young adult (YA) realm.
- The overall arch of storytelling lacked romance, instead relying on lust and seduction that gave the underlying feeling of the book a darkness that I could have lived without.
- The level of violence was, at times, pretty gruesome. If it had been a movie, I would have been watching through my fingers during those parts. (A preference, to be sure, but sensitive readers be warned.)
However, certain themes of these novels rang eerily true in our modern-day culture: That one person’s version of a better world isn’t enough --- it has to extend beyond the reach of any individual and be brought into balance with multiple viewpoints. That power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely --- a chilling warning of what can happen when power is wielded in the hands of someone absent an internal moral compass. And that the consequences of one seemingly small choice can make all the difference in the long run.

By the time I finished reading this concluding volume, I felt as though I had read more than one book and lived more than one life. THE FATE OF THE TEARLING is a triumph.

Reviewed by Amy Haddock

I won't give any plot line up. All I can say is having waited for a conclusion to the series, I am disappointed. It is as if the author started with a great idea and then just didn't know how to see it through. I left it with a "huh?" kind of attitude as the story ran to its conclusion with no real satisfaction or tying up of loose ends. A definite twist, but not necessarily a good thing. For readers of the first two, go ahead and see it through like I did, but don't expect much.

I have let a few months get in between this book and me. I wanted to let it sink in and not be reactionary. But you know what happened? I am ever haunted by the final third-ish. Haunted. I really enjoyed the first two books and much of the third. You know what it reminds me of? In the forth grade, I wrote a short story and ended it by saying the whole thing was a dream. My fellow forthgraders thought this was so clever, on the next batch of class stories, practically everyone ended their stories as dream revelations. Point being: That kind of ending is neither new nor clever. Finish the damn book properly. Finish the series with dignity and courage and splendor. The editors and the author really disappointed its readership with this conclusion. And here I am, I simply cannot get the bad taste out of my mouth.

I thought the first book was... ok. I thought enough of it to read the second one. I promised myself I wouldn't bother with the series after I read that book but here I am. The series went from ok to really bad. I don't know if others would agree but I got the feeling the author was trying to write some great epic but for me it just fell flat.

Read the horrible reviews and prepared myself to be disappointed. I was not. On the contrary, thought the author came up with an interesting ending. Stop reading here if you want to avoid spoilers. The criticism seems focused on the "horror" aspects of the story, or a crown that can travel thru time. I thought the author created her own world with her own rules and invited us to visit. I enjoyed my visit.

Wow, I did not expect this book to be as awful and disappointing as it was. As some have pointed out, when the book is in the "present" Tearling, it's more fun and detailed. When we are brought in the "past" Tearling, it's confusing and, honestly, boring. The first book in the series was wonderful! A page turner that I could not put down. The second book was ok, but the Lily mash up was uninteresting and unnecessary. By the third book, I just got sad that the promise from Book 1 would be unfulfilled. I truly think that Johansen can spin a great story - we saw that in Book 1. I'm hoping that her next fantasy adventure captures the spirit of that book, not this one.

As an end to the trilogy, this book is a solid three stars. Worth the read, certainly, but the ending could have been executed better, as many people have pointed out. But it's hard to end a great series.
Even with that, I enjoyed reading it thoroughly and finished it in a few days. I found the writing interesting and creative (as usual) and the world building continued to be exciting and immersive. The character building was pretty solid, and I enjoyed the time spent with the Red Queen. I was disappointed that there were a few questions left unanswered, but they weren't too big.
Over all, the ending was a bit underwhelming, but it was worth the read to see where the story ended.

I'm only giving this 3 stars because I couldn't put it down and very rarely does a book captivate me since Harry Potter. I have a HUGE problem with the ending of this series. It was a cop out and I think it was due to pressure to move toward Movie royalties quickly. The ending was so rushed and Spiraled so far out of control that it left me with so many "but that's impossible" statements in my head. I know that it's fantasy and that's sort of the name of the game but let's me real, *spoiler* if it went that way, Kelsea would have never existed in the ending. Nor would anyone else from the story. It also defeats the purpose of a lot of the lessons I enjoyed throughout the books by making it possible to just go back in time and kill off ONE villain to guarantee a bright future. Emapthy was one of my favorite things to take away from this and in the end it was just trampled all over because of the one dimensional characters that took over.

Book #1 is easily one of my favorite fantasy stories, but neither of its sequels lived up to my high expectations. That's not to say it's not a good series, but I had high hopes that weren't quite met. And the ending is pretty much exactly what people tell you not to do in all the typical writing advice. While a surprising and interesting ending, it was a little disappointing.

**Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy**

THE FATE OF THE TEARLING left me with lots of feelings. The first two-thirds of the book were rock-star. And, to be fair, the last third of the book was good too, it just wasn't what I was expecting. So, without spoiling anything, I am going to try to review this book for you. First of all, if you read the first two, definitely read the third. You'll want the closure that it provides. And if you haven't read the first two, I definitely recommend them. The trilogy has a very different feel than a lot of other fantasy trilogies, to its benefit.

Second of all, Kelsea. I love her so much. She is so freaking awesome - she does what she feels is right, but she makes mistakes and isn't perfect either. I don't like perfect heroines who can do no wrong, because they don't feel real to me. Kelsea's questioning of her past decisions, her anxiety about whether or not she did the right thing, feels like a young adult reaction to life, much less running a country. For the most part the characters really carried THE FATE OF THE TEARLING. Even the Red Queen had so much depth to her that I almost felt sympathy for her. (Almost, she was still awful.) And nearly everybody from the first two books makes an appearance in the third, so there were very few loose ends that were not tied up.

One complaint I had was that the magic system in the Tearling was underdeveloped. It seems the magic came from the sapphires, but where did the sapphires come from? It was implied they came from the mountains in the Tearling, but if that was the case, why weren't there more of them? I had some other unanswered questions regarding the magic, but I really don't want to spoil anything for you.

All in all, THE FATE OF THE TEARLING is a strong, character driven book. While some aspects of the world-building could have been better, there was enough set up to make things believable, and to give the characters room to grow and evolve within the context of the world. It offered an interesting ending that I totally didn't expect and tied up a lot of character storylines. In my opinion, it was a good ending to a trilogy, and totally worth the read.

I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about this book. That's because the ending was VERY POLARIZING. I'm going to try not to include any spoilers in here because I want to convince you to read this book/finish this series.

This was my favorite book in the series, even despite the ending that makes me feel a little uneasy. From the prologue it was like BAM! action-packed, fast-paced every scene is clearly important and relevant to the plot. It had a lot of the more fantasy-esque elements of the first books that I loved and also incorporated the idea of the dual storylines that we had in the second book, but this time there was a distinct, direct link between the parallel scenarios. I felt like I learned a ton of backstory and motivation for some of the most interesting, mysterious, and thus-far ambiguous characters in the series. In every chapter something happened that made me either gasp, drop my jaw in shock, stiffle a smile, and/or scream.

I was a little underwhelmed with the character development of the Fetch. He was one of my favorite characters from the beginning because he was so intriguing. He reminded me of a mixture of Thorne from Scarlet (and the rest of the Lunar Chronicles series) and Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows . The prologue made me SO EXCITED to learn about him and Row Finn and whoever this Katie person was... and I did love those sections. However, I felt like the Fetch didn't have a good presence in this installment. He seemed like such an important character form the get go, but in reality, he was just sort of a follower? He didn't have that distinguishing feature in his backstory that explained his future character. He felt like a mere member of a group and so he lost a lot of his defining traits from the first two books.

Katie, Row Finn, and Jonathan Tear had such an interesting dynamic; I really loved reading about the three of them. I was also disappointed in Lily's character development because she played such a pivotal role in the Invasion of the Tearling, but in this book she was sort of portrayed in a simple, docile, motherly role. This, of course, could be largely due to point of view, as being limited to Katie's perspective in these sections was very likely the reason Lily just seemed like a friend's mom. But still, whenever Kelsea would think about Lily and how important Lily was, I would just be like: umm, girl, get with it: Katie's where it's at!

I love love love Ewen. Such a sweet character; I'm glad he got a larger role in the story. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that we got the follow through of Javel--a seemingly cameo part--from the first book all the way through to the last one. Brenna was insane and super interesting to read about. Every scene she was in was SHOCKING AND CAUSED SO MUCH ANXIETY OMFG. Aisa was another badass character. I'd be so down for a spinoff novel about her, which I'm about 99% sure will never happen... but still one can dream!

And then, oh then, there's the ending... Let me say, it wasn't my favorite thing in the world. BUT I don't think Erika Johansen ruined the series with it and I still think this book deserves 5 stars regardless. The fact is, she created a scenario of which the ending was so impossible to predict. I think that is such a difficult accomplishment to achieve. I'm sure no one saw this ending coming, but she did include enough hints throughout the novel to make it plausible and I commend her for that.

So thank you, Erika Johansen, for such an epic series. I'm looking forward to whatever you write in the future.

I loved this trilogy! Every book was enjoyable, the main character was a strong, intelligent, brave woman who does make mistakes but owns up to them, I absolutely love the ending of this book, I think a lot of people who read this series won't enjoy the ending because the author obviously follows her heart and allows Kelsey to make the right choice for everyone not what would have been the most popular. This had a fabulous ending!! So worth reading three books, I can't wait to see what Erika Johansen does next I truly am a fan!!

I thought the first book was... ok. I thought enough of it to read the second one. I promised myself I wouldn't bother with the series after I read that book but here I am. The series went from ok to really bad. I don't know if others would agree but I got the feeling the author was trying to write some great epic but for me it just fell flat.

Read the horrible reviews and prepared myself to be disappointed. I was not. On the contrary, thought the author came up with an interesting ending. Stop reading here if you want to avoid spoilers. The criticism seems focused on the "horror" aspects of the story, or a crown that can travel thru time. I thought the author created her own world with her own rules and invited us to visit. I enjoyed my visit.

As an end to the trilogy, this book is a solid three stars. Worth the read, certainly, but the ending could have been executed better, as many people have pointed out. But it's hard to end a great series.
Even with that, I enjoyed reading it thoroughly and finished it in a few days. I found the writing interesting and creative (as usual) and the world building continued to be exciting and immersive. The character building was pretty solid, and I enjoyed the time spent with the Red Queen. I was disappointed that there were a few questions left unanswered, but they weren't too big.
Over all, the ending was a bit underwhelming, but it was worth the read to see where the story ended.

This thrilling, fast paced novel is just what you want the end of a series to be. Erika Johansen, throughout her series has spun a detailed and intelligent coming of age story with all the grit and emotional turmoil you find out in the real world. The characters are so human and flawed but in the best, most relatable way. You end up feeling as if you were reading about friends as opposed to fictional characters stuck between the covers of a book. Following Kelsea on her journey through her kingdom and the past you glimpse a world with a rich history full of the best and worst humanity has to offer.
If you’re looking for a series that will thrill you and keep you guessing until the very last page then look no further. I cannot recommend this one enough.

For more reviews check my blog: corkbug09.wordpress.com

I'm only giving this 3 stars because I couldn't put it down and very rarely does a book captivate me since Harry Potter. I have a HUGE problem with the ending of this series. It was a cop out and I think it was due to pressure to move toward Movie royalties quickly. The ending was so rushed and Spiraled so far out of control that it left me with so many "but that's impossible" statements in my head. I know that it's fantasy and that's sort of the name of the game but let's me real, *spoiler* if it went that way, Kelsea would have never existed in the ending. Nor would anyone else from the story. It also defeats the purpose of a lot of the lessons I enjoyed throughout the books by making it possible to just go back in time and kill off ONE villain to guarantee a bright future. Emapthy was one of my favorite things to take away from this and in the end it was just trampled all over because of the one dimensional characters that took over.

Book #1 is easily one of my favorite fantasy stories, but neither of its sequels lived up to my high expectations. That's not to say it's not a good series, but I had high hopes that weren't quite met. And the ending is pretty much exactly what people tell you not to do in all the typical writing advice. While a surprising and interesting ending, it was a little disappointing.

**Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy**

THE FATE OF THE TEARLING left me with lots of feelings. The first two-thirds of the book were rock-star. And, to be fair, the last third of the book was good too, it just wasn't what I was expecting. So, without spoiling anything, I am going to try to review this book for you. First of all, if you read the first two, definitely read the third. You'll want the closure that it provides. And if you haven't read the first two, I definitely recommend them. The trilogy has a very different feel than a lot of other fantasy trilogies, to its benefit.

Second of all, Kelsea. I love her so much. She is so freaking awesome - she does what she feels is right, but she makes mistakes and isn't perfect either. I don't like perfect heroines who can do no wrong, because they don't feel real to me. Kelsea's questioning of her past decisions, her anxiety about whether or not she did the right thing, feels like a young adult reaction to life, much less running a country. For the most part the characters really carried THE FATE OF THE TEARLING. Even the Red Queen had so much depth to her that I almost felt sympathy for her. (Almost, she was still awful.) And nearly everybody from the first two books makes an appearance in the third, so there were very few loose ends that were not tied up.

One complaint I had was that the magic system in the Tearling was underdeveloped. It seems the magic came from the sapphires, but where did the sapphires come from? It was implied they came from the mountains in the Tearling, but if that was the case, why weren't there more of them? I had some other unanswered questions regarding the magic, but I really don't want to spoil anything for you.

All in all, THE FATE OF THE TEARLING is a strong, character driven book. While some aspects of the world-building could have been better, there was enough set up to make things believable, and to give the characters room to grow and evolve within the context of the world. It offered an interesting ending that I totally didn't expect and tied up a lot of character storylines. In my opinion, it was a good ending to a trilogy, and totally worth the read.

I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about this book. That's because the ending was VERY POLARIZING. I'm going to try not to include any spoilers in here because I want to convince you to read this book/finish this series.

This was my favorite book in the series, even despite the ending that makes me feel a little uneasy. From the prologue it was like BAM! action-packed, fast-paced every scene is clearly important and relevant to the plot. It had a lot of the more fantasy-esque elements of the first books that I loved and also incorporated the idea of the dual storylines that we had in the second book, but this time there was a distinct, direct link between the parallel scenarios. I felt like I learned a ton of backstory and motivation for some of the most interesting, mysterious, and thus-far ambiguous characters in the series. In every chapter something happened that made me either gasp, drop my jaw in shock, stiffle a smile, and/or scream.

I was a little underwhelmed with the character development of the Fetch. He was one of my favorite characters from the beginning because he was so intriguing. He reminded me of a mixture of Thorne from Scarlet (and the rest of the Lunar Chronicles series) and Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows . The prologue made me SO EXCITED to learn about him and Row Finn and whoever this Katie person was... and I did love those sections. However, I felt like the Fetch didn't have a good presence in this installment. He seemed like such an important character form the get go, but in reality, he was just sort of a follower? He didn't have that distinguishing feature in his backstory that explained his future character. He felt like a mere member of a group and so he lost a lot of his defining traits from the first two books.

Katie, Row Finn, and Jonathan Tear had such an interesting dynamic; I really loved reading about the three of them. I was also disappointed in Lily's character development because she played such a pivotal role in the Invasion of the Tearling, but in this book she was sort of portrayed in a simple, docile, motherly role. This, of course, could be largely due to point of view, as being limited to Katie's perspective in these sections was very likely the reason Lily just seemed like a friend's mom. But still, whenever Kelsea would think about Lily and how important Lily was, I would just be like: umm, girl, get with it: Katie's where it's at!

I love love love Ewen. Such a sweet character; I'm glad he got a larger role in the story. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that we got the follow through of Javel--a seemingly cameo part--from the first book all the way through to the last one. Brenna was insane and super interesting to read about. Every scene she was in was SHOCKING AND CAUSED SO MUCH ANXIETY OMFG. Aisa was another badass character. I'd be so down for a spinoff novel about her, which I'm about 99% sure will never happen... but still one can dream!

And then, oh then, there's the ending... Let me say, it wasn't my favorite thing in the world. BUT I don't think Erika Johansen ruined the series with it and I still think this book deserves 5 stars regardless. The fact is, she created a scenario of which the ending was so impossible to predict. I think that is such a difficult accomplishment to achieve. I'm sure no one saw this ending coming, but she did include enough hints throughout the novel to make it plausible and I commend her for that.

So thank you, Erika Johansen, for such an epic series. I'm looking forward to whatever you write in the future.

I loved this trilogy! Every book was enjoyable, the main character was a strong, intelligent, brave woman who does make mistakes but owns up to them, I absolutely love the ending of this book, I think a lot of people who read this series won't enjoy the ending because the author obviously follows her heart and allows Kelsey to make the right choice for everyone not what would have been the most popular. This had a fabulous ending!! So worth reading three books, I can't wait to see what Erika Johansen does next I truly am a fan!!

Dissapointing. After reading this last book of the series, I can't recommend the series. The books themselves aren't boring, but there seems to be no point to the story once you learn the unsatisfying ending. They seem childish in retrospect. I'm not keeping these in my library. Stick to the good series like Stormlight Archive, Lightbringer or Fire & Ice Series.

I loved the first two books and was hesitant to read this one after glancing at so many reviews where readers hated the ending (sooooo disappointed by the third book in Hunger Games... I hate a bad ending...). I loved the whole series, and I loved the ending- I don't see how it could end any other way. For those of you on the fence based on other reviews, my two cents is that is was great.

I see a lot of bad reviews about this book. I almost gave up on reading this book until I got up to page 250 or so. But I stayed with it and omg!!! It didn't end like I thought it would. But that's what I loved about this story. I am still thinking about it two weeks later. I always thought it would so great if I could go back in time and

Really good book. I got lost in the story. If it has been a while since you read the first two books, i suggest you refresh your memory because the author just dives right into the story from where the second book left off (which i prefer). I did not see the revelations coming and this was a great ending to the story.

I loved the first two books of this series and loved about 70% of this one. It starts to answer questions the reader has about the history of the kingdom through the eyes of another influence from the past, but by the end of the book, it feels like Johansen just wanted to undo everything she had written. Few things felt tied up and I definitely was left with a sense of sorrow for the characters' outcome(s). Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading a majority of the book and would still recommend reading it to wrap up the series.

I loved the previous books and found this one forgettable and confusing. The story of the sapphire, Katie, The Orphan, and William Tear was confusing. I got lost between time periods and characters. The final was disappointing, confusing, and a cop-out. Nothing was resolved and nothing solved.

I'm really conflicted about this book. First off, it took me a little while to get into it because the beginning felt a bit slow. Once things started picking up, I enjoyed myself a lot more. I would have given it a higher rating, but I'm still not sure I liked that ending.

So many twists and turns. I absolutely LOVED this series! I rarely leave reviews on books but just had to say how much i enjoyed being transported to kingdom in Erika Johansen's imagination. PLEASE WRITE MORE BOOKS! Thank you so much !!

I was so invested in the the characters brought to life in the first two books of the trilogy that I was positively giddy at the prospect of reading the final chapter, the denouement... but I didn't particularly like the ending.

Still a wonderful adventure, blending time travel, dystopian-medieval themes,blood and gore, sapphires (my birthstone) and then some. I really look forward to reading more fantasy from Ms. Johansen.

"If wishes were horses, then beggars might ride." - English Proverbs.

Incredibly satisfying end to an elegant and intellectual series. Zero complaints, endless praise. Absolutely gorgeous imagery, interesting character development and complete/delightful story arcs. If I had a third thumb, it would be up, too.

The ending was not what I expected but it works. At first when the 2 worlds collided with Kelsea and Lilly I wasn't happy. But the more I read the book the more I became invested in them both. The same thing with Kelsea and Katie. I really enjoyed this series.

Everything everyone else stated about this book is how I feel. I loved the first two books, but was immensely disappointed in the last 20-30% of the book. The ending was so disappointing. Such a sad ending for a girl who gave everything. I don't know if the author was rushed or just ran out of good ideas, but it's could have been so much more...

Does a decent job of bringing everything together and juggling the various plots, but several of them feel like they needed more time to breathe. It's odd that a 496-page book feels so briefly sketched in places; I'd be interested to know how much was left on the cutting room floor. Unlike many of the other reviewers, I felt the ending was thematically sound and narratively satisfying - not shocking, but not obviously telegraphed either.

It took me longer to read this final book in the trilogy, because I was reluctant to get to the end of, what has been for me, an extremely worthwhile read. Now I can't decide how to feel about that ending. The emotional part of me feels betrayed and angry, while the rational side wants to know how else it could have possibly ended. Most of the time my emotional side wins out, and I want to meet the author so I can growl through my teeth at her, then stalk away like a wounded animal. Other times, I know that I would just give her a pat on the back and say "You did what you had to do." Sigh...loving books is hard.

I enjoyed the first 2 books in this series and was engaged throughout this entire book, until I reached the ending. I felt like it was cobbled together, like the ending of “Allegiant”, and the author took the easy way out with ending the series. However, I’m not the author and it’s not my book; I just know personally I was - and am - very disappointed with the ending. I had higher hopes for Kelsea.

The ending for this group of books, was kind of sudden and short. The ending made sense, in a way, but it was so "sudden" and under explained, I kept wanting to go back and see if I had missed something. I was disappointed.

A great book that pulls the other two together and offers an unexpected ending. Well written, sad at times, and touching on challenges of all society. Don't agree with low ratings. Well worth the read.

Not as good as the first two, but still entertaining and satisfying. Primarily a vehicle for the author to discuss the early days of New London, which is quite interesting. Overall a satisfying conclusion to the series.

the arc of the story was good. i generally enjoy books that bounce between past and present. my biggest problem with this was the ending, which was rather anticlimactic, given the buildup that came before. still, i liked delving into the land’s history. for all the disappointment of the ending, i still rate the story fairly high because i loved most of it.

I loved this trilogy, it is one that I am sad to say goodbye to the characters. The author does an amzing job of enveloping the reader into the world they are reading. Often there are times in novels where the reader knows what is happening or what will happen before the main character does. This is the most frustrating part for me, in the Tearling Series I was learing evrything right along with Kelsea Glynn. I look forward to rereading this trilogy.

Wow. In the conclusion to her Tearling Trilogy, Erika Johansen takes on some of the time-honored tropes of Fantasy and Speculative Fiction and turns them firmly on their respective ears. Utopias, the nature of time, the immutability of choice, the value and cost of personal sacrifice--Johansen stands up to all of these and more, wielding her pen in fine, swashbuckling style. These characters are complex: the heroes have flaws and make mistakes. The evildoers have depth and change with experience. Johansen doesn't compromise in pulling together the climax of the three heroic timelines, and readers looking for a storybook ending, with a wedding, happily ever after, and stars above the White Tree of Gondor may be disappointed. Yet, this unexpected, yet compelling conclusion, offers hope, not just to the Tearling, but to all of us who look for a better world.

Don't miss it.

PS: Makes me nuts when reviewers use product reviews to complain about technical problems. Is there a way to sort them out?

I really enjoyed the Tearling series. The ending left a little to be desired and there were some let downs in the book (ie the identity of Kelsea's father), however, all in all I loved the series and would recommend it.

I have to say that all of the negative reviews are very hurtful for this book. I think it was beautifully written and I thought the ending was perfect! No, it's not the happy ending that everyone wants, but it was what's best for the character. So happy that I read this book!

An amazing, and original end to the Tearling trilogy. Fate of the Tearling packs in multiple page-turning plots that leave you on the edge of your seat as you wait to find out what happens. I couldn't foresee the ending, and I'm pretty good at figuring out how most books end. There is so much going on in this third book, many back stories that tie all three books together as well as new story lines. I started putting the book down as I came to the end because I didn't want to ever get to the last page. I love this book and series for its original story, three dimensional characters, and I was happy to be swept along for the ride.

In this epic conclusion to the Queen of the Tearling series, lines will be crossed and questions will be answered.

Seeing no other option to stop the invasion of her kingdom, Kelsea sacrifices the one thing she knows the Red Queen wants-herself.

Kelsea is transported to Demesne, where she continues to have visions of the Tearling just after the crossing. We learn more about the Fetch and the Orphan. Who they were and where they came from and how they are tied in with the Tearling and the Red Queen.

More background is given on the how and why of so many questions. There are many surprises and twists that are shocking.

A rollercoaster ride of emotions, The Fate of the Tearling is one of the best conclusions to a series that I have read so far. This series is a must read. Believe me, you don't want to miss it!

This is the laziest ending I have ever had the misfortune of reading. I loved the first two books and the first 3/4 of this book. However the ending is just bad. I'm honestly just disappointed. Can I say boo in a book review?

I loved the first book and greatly enjoyed the second. I was totally on board reading book three until it got to its ending. It's such a cop out. Instead of a satisfying end to the characters we've come to learn and love we get deus ex sapphire.

A wild and satisfying ending but, as with the previous two installments, this trilogy is just too political for me. I'm not even saying that because I disagree with the politics, I generally agree with the views of the author that are presented but the preaching and politics of this trilogy are heavy handed, overwhelming.

what a waste of time on this series! This ending was a throw away! To have readers get invested in the THREE series characters and then end the series like that was such a dissapointment and waste of my time. I'll never read a book by this author again. Dont waste your time!

The first two books in the series were great! I was really excited for the third book, but I have to say I was very disappointed. The ending was not very good, and most of the characters did not get the ending they deserved.

I haven’t been this upset by a books ending in a long time, and I think it has something to do with the fact that the entire series was such an incredible, original experience. I don’t know how to feel!

I looked forward to this book for so long and was let down. The ending was a bitter pill to swallow, I kept searching for more pages, hoping for a better outcome for Kelsea. I want to weep in disappointment.

Disappointed. I wished i had stopped at 3/4 of the way through. I feel as if the author were going for a really interesting ending and failed. I loved the first two books and wish I just hadn't even read the last one.

It was great in the first two books. The last book was terrible. Completely boring and nonsensical ending. The ending did not align with the series and had no bridge to connect it to the rest of the story. Very disappointing.

The Fate of the Tearling is a fantastic wrap-up to the series. While I am sad to see it end, I am glad that I have the ability to open the books and read in again. AND AGAIN! It is safe to say that this trilogy will be one of my beloved series, claiming a spot next to The Graceling Series, Throne of Glass Series and The Wrath and the Dawn Duology.
I enjoy a great epic fantasy where the main character rises above their situation and is triumphant. Queen Kelsea does just that with the help of the Tear Sapphires, her parentage, and her wit.

In this last installment, we find Queen Kelsea in Mortmesne as a prisoner to the Red Queen (or rather Crimson Lady as Kelsea calls her.) She needs to find her way back to the Tearling and save her realm. BUT HOW! During her time in the dungeons, she figures out ways to be successful and sees some of the errors of her ways.

I love seeing how the secondary characters grow and improve within the pages of this last novel. Of course, the ending is bittersweet. Why? Well because of its the last book in the trilogy but also because… Read it! You will see…

5 Stars goes to Erika Johansen!! I look forward to more of your work!!

SPOILERS

Where to begin?

The author has very strong political views, and they completely interfere with enjoying her work. She has to be an atheist, and is a thousand percent against God - anyone who believes in religion is "small-minded," to quote her. It's different in works like say, "Game of Thrones" where people don't believe, because the fictional gods in that story have nothing to do with our real life beliefs. But "Christers" are dumb or evil in this story, and it seems to have escaped Johansen's notice that nearly 71% of all Americans identify as Christian. And that are lots of other faiths that are practiced in this country which means that, by far, the vast majority of people in America believe in God. So from a marketing standpoint, I don't now how smart it is to constantly bag on religion when so many of your readers identify as religious.

Johansen is also apparently a communist/socialist. And every line of this book is threaded with those beliefs. Like William Tear hating on religion (and might I just point out what a terrible person he is? He's supposed to be the Great Leader, the Utopian idealist, but he's a jerk. He lets the woman destined to become his wife and mother of his child get tortured for three days (to prove her loyalty???) before choosing to save her. He impregnates a woman and then abandons her for Lily and doesn't father his child AT ALL). He looks down on them for their worship of their God, not recognizing the same worship that exists in his own world for himself. Katie accuses church-goers of doing everything their leader tells them to do...much as she does everything William Tear tells her to do without question. She steals. She lies. She goes against every kind of human morality that has ever existed, but you know, that's all cool in pursuit of a better world (very Machiavellian).

Tear wants to go back through his portal to retrieve some doctors and one of the reasons why (and I'm not making this up, this is actually in the book) is because "We have no one who knows how to perform an abortion. Think on that for a moment." Okay, what am I supposed to think? Oh yes, that being cut off from civilization the most important thing to worry about would be the ability to have an abortion. WTF? Personal belief or not, it completely contradicts the world building. In Tearling, the human race is starting over. I would think having children would be of paramount importance for continuation of the species. But apparently it's BEYOND TERRIBLE and COMPLETELY WORLD-ENDING that no one can perform abortions!!!! I suppose I can see why it might be necessary to have an abortion doctor though because most of the women in these books are skanks. The Red Queen sleeps with a different dude every night. In this book Katie, a virgin, manages to sleep with two guys in the space of about a week (one of whom she's scared of and despises). Kelsea is similar - she's never even been kissed but wants to bang Pen. So she does (she also desperately wants to sleep with Row Finn and The Fetch upon meeting them). Here's a thought - stop sleeping with everything that moves and you won't need abortions. Problem solved!

Or how about this gem - "Entire countries would close their borders and build walls to keep out phantom threats. Can you imagine?" Only they aren't phantom threats. Look at 9/11. The Boston Marathon. The abuse of our welfare system by people who pay no money into it at all. This is no phantom menace - this is real and has happened and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous and dangerous. Walls in the Tearling certainly saved a great number of lives.

Kindness and compassion are constantly preached (and even enforced), but not by main character Kelsea. She is selfish, judgmental and has a serious anger management problem. It turns out her long-dead mother is not dead, and while Kelsea can excuse the actions of the Red Queen (aw, it's okay that she's had thousands of people raped and murdered and tortured because she had a bad childhood, y'all!), she is utterly disgusted by her mother and refuses to even speak to her. There is no kindness, compassion and absolutely no forgiveness for the woman who gave her life (I guess she didn't have a bad childhood?). I can't see where Kelsea has any of the ideals she supposedly, constantly champions. And then, in a very communist like way, she proclaims that "blood doesn't make Elyssa a better mother, nor had it made Mhurn a father." That "Animals cared about bloodlines, but humans should have evolved to do it better." Putting aside the fact for now that Kelsea murdered her father (and her guards, who knew who he was to her, did not step in and do anything to stop her from murdering her own father), family does mean something. It is important. Children are not raised by the state; they are raised by mothers and fathers. And when the family unit deteriorates, society falls apart. But putting that aside, Kelsea is simply a miserable character, a self-righteous hypocrite and an unlikable heroine. I think I kept reading because of how much I liked the other points of view of other characters, but she's a mess.

And then...there's the ending. It is quite possibly one of the worst endings to any book/series I have ever read. The constant flashbacks in Book 2 and 3 were over-the-top annoying, but I thought they were leading somewhere important. That there would be some lesson learned or some secret revealed that would allow Kelsea to vanquish her foes and restore her world. Nope! Instead, Kelsea travels back through time (everybody thinks she's Lily because she looks like Lily) and her plan to stop the bad guy is to literally climb out of Katie's mouth and shed her Katie skin on the floor (leaving me to wonder how Katie 1) survived that and 2) was herself again after it was all over) and she kills Jonathan Tear herself and then murders Row. I've never seen such a blatant case of deus ex machina in my entire life. And despite her severely screwing with a timeline, Kelsea can find her old friends (who don't remember her at all) and see her magical, Disney world she's created by murdering people. (She mentions a "living wage" for everyone. Dear socialists, please go to Faces of 15 to see what happens when you force a "living wage." Companies go out of business, move to a new state, replace their workers with kiosks/machines, eliminate staff and/or cut their hours, or raise their prices dramatically. I'd rather not pay $30 for a pizza, thanks. Please read an economics book. I'm sure the store sells one.)

I'm never reading another Johansen book again. This was truly terrible.

The first audiobook had a decent narrator. I would have been happy had she done all three. The second was my absolute favorite, Davina Porter. She does the entire outlander series and she's amazing.

The third audiobook was just released this morning and the narrator is absolutely awful. She speaks way too slowly and is incredibly boring. She doesn't have the passion or tone of the book at all. I'm hoping the store will refund me the credit because I'm not sure I can get through the audiobook version of this wonderful story and horrible narrator.