Publishers Weekly
09/12/2016
In this centuries-spanning epic adventure, Johansen concludes the Tearling trilogy (after The Invasion of the Tearling) with Queen Kelsea Glynn risking everything to save her beloved, beleaguered homeland from troubles both internal and external. Beset by visions of the time after the Tear’s founding some 300 years ago, she struggles to understand how the past defines the present and what part the malevolent Orphan, the enigmatic Fetch, and the ruthless Red Queen of Mortmesne have yet to play in the destiny of their world. Numerous stories play out against a wide backdrop, with the death of a dream creating hope for the future. Johansen’s vision—a society tearing itself apart amid the effort to redefine itself—is ambitious, and the conflict is fleshed out through myriad character arcs, some more compelling than others. However, the bittersweet resolution, which wraps up the story quite nicely, undermines much of what transpires here. The historical scenes carry more weight and significance than the chaos of the present, though Johansen adeptly describes the destruction and despair. This is a solid, if not entirely satisfying, end to the series. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, William Morris Endeavor. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Kelsea flourishes alongside the other female characters at the center of the novel: These are powerful, determined women who work hard to accomplish their goals even as their mistakes haunt them. Johansen doesn’t punish them for these mistakes; she allows them to grow, leading to a well-earned ending.” — Washington Post
“Johansen has consistently taken huge narrative risks with this series. . . . With richly developed characters who are never boring black and white, and villains who are as fascinating as the heroes, the finale of this outstanding series will be talked about by readers.” — Library Journal, Pick of the Month
“Johansen’s vision—a society tearing itself apart amid the effort to redefine itself—is ambitious, and the conflict is fleshed out through myriad character arcs. . . . wraps up the story quite nicely.” — Publishers Weekly
“Excellent.” — Entertainment Weekly, “Must List”
”The final Queen of the Tearling installment continues to follows the fate of Queen Kelsea and the Tearling in a heart-pounding, epic conclusion of this series. It’s one that’s been eagerly anticipated, so if you haven’t read the prior two books, you’ll definitely want to get on top of that.” — Buzzfeed
“This is a thrilling conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. . . . Johansen’s fans will be pleased.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Fantasy fans will flock to this electrifying conclusion to the best-selling Tearling trilogy.” — Cosmo Reads
“...Find out the result of Queen Kelsea’s bejeweled sacrifice in the finale of our favorite fantasy trilogy.” — Entertainment Weekly
“Fantasy fans will flock to this electrifying conclusion to the best-selling Tearling trilogy.” — Cosmopolitan
“Genuinely subversive: social commentary in the guise of supernatural adventure.” — Locus Magazine
“A time-traveling adventure with the fate of a world in the balance. . . . Johansen creates her most sweeping vision of Kelsea and her world yet, packing her story with political machinations and explosive revelations, including the long-withheld identity of Kelsea’s father. The stunning ending makes a bold statement about sacrifice and rebirth. . . . Astonishing.” — Shelf Awareness
Cosmopolitan
Fantasy fans will flock to this electrifying conclusion to the best-selling Tearling trilogy.
Cosmo Reads
Fantasy fans will flock to this electrifying conclusion to the best-selling Tearling trilogy.
Locus Magazine
Genuinely subversive: social commentary in the guise of supernatural adventure.
Entertainment Weekly
“...Find out the result of Queen Kelsea’s bejeweled sacrifice in the finale of our favorite fantasy trilogy.”
Booklist (starred review)
This is a thrilling conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. . . . Johansen’s fans will be pleased.”
Washington Post
Kelsea flourishes alongside the other female characters at the center of the novel: These are powerful, determined women who work hard to accomplish their goals even as their mistakes haunt them. Johansen doesn’t punish them for these mistakes; she allows them to grow, leading to a well-earned ending.
Buzzfeed
”The final Queen of the Tearling installment continues to follows the fate of Queen Kelsea and the Tearling in a heart-pounding, epic conclusion of this series. It’s one that’s been eagerly anticipated, so if you haven’t read the prior two books, you’ll definitely want to get on top of that.”
Shelf Awareness
A time-traveling adventure with the fate of a world in the balance. . . . Johansen creates her most sweeping vision of Kelsea and her world yet, packing her story with political machinations and explosive revelations, including the long-withheld identity of Kelsea’s father. The stunning ending makes a bold statement about sacrifice and rebirth. . . . Astonishing.
Washington Post
Kelsea flourishes alongside the other female characters at the center of the novel: These are powerful, determined women who work hard to accomplish their goals even as their mistakes haunt them. Johansen doesn’t punish them for these mistakes; she allows them to grow, leading to a well-earned ending.
Cosmopolitan
Fantasy fans will flock to this electrifying conclusion to the best-selling Tearling trilogy.
Raging Biblioholism
All in all, a solid end to a great trilogy – one that I hope gets all the credit it deserves for being at the top of its field these days.
Library Journal
★ 10/15/2016
At the end of The Invasion of the Tearling, Kelsea, Queen of the Tearling, turned herself and the sapphires she controls over to her enemy, the Red Queen of Mortmesne. She named the head of her guard, Mace, as regent in her absence and obtained a guarantee from the Red Queen that the Tear would be safe for three years. Even imprisoned and without the sapphires, Kelsea is still seeing visions of the past, this time through the eyes of Katie, a young woman living in the early days after the Crossing. In Kelsea's time Mace works to recover Kelsea from the Red Queen's dungeons, while in Katie's time the seeds for the downfall of Tear's utopian dream are sown. Johansen has consistently taken huge narrative risks with this series, which started as a traditional fantasy and then began incorporating glimpses of a dystopian alternate world. VERDICT With richly developed characters who are never boring black and white, and villains who are as fascinating as the heroes, the finale of this outstanding series will be talked about by readers. [See Prepub Alert, 11/30/15.]—MM
MARCH 2017 - AudioFile
The final installment of this elaborate trilogy opens with an imprisoned queen and a kingdom on the brink of ruin. Narrator Polly Lee's crisp British accent and deliberately measured pacing are fine qualities for an audiobook of this magnitude. Queen Kelsea Glynn has surrendered herself and her magical sapphires to The Red Queen to protect the Tearlings from invasion. While strong with her portrayals of the female characters, Lee falls short in keeping the many males distinct. Furthermore, Queen Kelsea's mysterious ties to the past bring on sudden time shifts, making an intricate plot even more difficult to follow. It’s an intriguing story, but one that requires careful attention from the listener in order to follow along. E.E. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Review
Sept. 7, 2016
The Red Queen is off her head—and heads, it seems, will roll in this closing installment of Johansen’s Tearling trilogy.The first volume of the Tearling triad, Queen of the Tearling (2014), struggled under the weight of its establishing requirements: Johansen had to build and populate a world, then wind her heroine up and get her going. The second, The Invasion of the Tearling (2015), propelled Kelsea to a place of power—and deservedly, since she had plenty of chops to lead her people against a constellation of bad guys from Mortmesne. This last volume finds Kelsea in a position of queen sacrifice, to borrow a chess metaphor: she’s turned herself over to the foe and is now in the Red Queen’s slammer, where a jailer patiently instructs her, “Women shouldn’t curse,” to which her reply is, “Get fucked.” That’s noblesse oblige, indeed. But, the world of the Tear being a place where all kinds of magick gets tossed about with abandon, things have a habit of going topsy-turvy all of a sudden; Kelsea finds herself sprung, sapphires back in hand, the Red Queen tugging at her “in an iron grip of terror”—a good time, one might say, to get some negotiating in. Will peace prevail? Who knows? Though Johansen leaves herself a little wiggle room to turn her trilogy into an ongoing franchise, Silmarillion-like, the end gets all liony, witchy, and wardroby—and, the most overworked plot trick of all, would seem to turn on a dream, or perhaps even a dream within a dream, requiring more than a little disbelief-suspension. Still, the writing is smart and tinged with a kind of rueful, bookish philosophizing throughout (“Religion always rode on the back of turmoil, like a jockey”), a touch above a lot of sword-and-sorcery stuff—but still very much bound up in the conventions of that genre. Overall, a satisfying close to a long but worthy yarn.
