This is the third, and final book, of the Gemma Doyle series by Libba Bray. Although this was an excellent book; I think it was the weakest of the series.

This book picks up with the girls back at Spence Academy looking forward to a new school year. Gemma is struggling to use her magic to summon a door to the realms and also finds out that the wing of the school that burnt down is being rebuilt. Gemma has more visions and eventually they lead her to find that there is a door to enter the realms in the old wing of the school. When Felicity, Ann, and Gemma enter the realms they find that things have changed; the creatures from the Winterlands are missing. Gemma is pressured by the forest folk to share the magic that she bound to herself in the last book and is unsure of who to trust throughout the whole book.

There is a lot to say about this book. The book was very long; a bit too long. It is a long time until Kartrik enters the story and initially you are left wondering if you'll ever see him again. Gemma's character became kind of frustrating to read about. She knows that what she does with the magic is really important, yet she seems to spend a lot of time playing with the magic. This seems inconsistent with her character; usually she gets things done. In this book she spends a lot of time using the magic for frivolous purposes. I am not sure if this was supposed to portray Gemma's immaturity or what the purpose was.

This book had some interesting political overtones; which were different from previous books in the series. There was more of a women's rights and worker's rights theme to this book. I thought it was strange that politics enter into the storyline fairly prominently. This was something the girls never worried about much before. Maybe the politics were supposed to show us that the girls were maturing and starting to pay more attention to society outside of their little happy sphere.

I am not surprised at how things ended between Gemma and Kartrik. I am surprised that so many readers were caught off guard by the result of their relationship. Really, to stay at all true with the times, that was probably the best way to handle things. Felicity, Gemma, and Ann are already bolder than I think the society of the time would really allow for; what happens with Gemma and Kartrik brings a bit of realism to the story.

I though Felicity and Ann's storylines were well done and wrapped up nicely. I especially like how Ann's story went; that girl deserved a nice turn in her life. I think Felicity's story ended on a more positive note than it would realistically. As for Gemma's final story; I have to agree with other reviewers that that was totally out of left field. No idea at all where that came from. Gemma's decisions about her future didn't seem to fit with the rest of Gemma's interests and life style. It was odd. I am not sure if the author's sole intention was to surprise and shock but, well, I guess if that was the intention, it worked.

Overall the book was well-written, ended okay, and left the characters in pleasant (almost too pleasant) stages of their lives. I wish the story had been a bit tighter, that Gemma's character had stayed more true to her, well, character, and that things hadn't ended on such an absurdly positive fairytale-ish note. Other than that it was a very satisfying read and a good conclusion to an absolutely wonderful series. It will be interesting to see what Miss Bray writes next! ( )

After being so amazingly impacted by the first two books in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, I had been wanting to read this conclusive volume for a long while.
Maybe I was simply expecting too much, but I was a bit disappointed by "The Sweet Far Thing."
While it wasn't all that terrible, there was just too much wrong with it for me to enjoy it nearly as much as its prequels.
Firstly, at 848 pages, it was much too long. It seemed that the author wanted to stretch the book out into a grand, very long, epic - but it wasn't. The plot would have much better fit into a book half this one's size.
Also, I was disappointed by the characters. They did not seem so engaging or lifelike as before.
The plot was largely predictable, and I was not really surprised by anything that happened.
Libba Bray does her best toward the ends of books, with thrilling, page-turning climaxes, but do not expect such here. The climax kept breaking off, and Gemma would go see her family, or something inconsequential. It made little sense and took away much for the desired feeling of urgency and excitement.
However, it is true that not all in this book was bad. I liked how everything ended, even if it was a bit sad. The author ties every event from the first two books together well.
In short - not nearly as good as the first two, but still a good book. ( )

The third book in the trilogy.

Great ending to a very mind provoking series about the portal to the afterlife. Romance couldn't evade this series nor could the seriously followed rules of etiquette of the 18th century. Adventure, romance, sacrifices, loyalties, all send you to another realm with Gemma and her friends. Enjoy! ( )

I did not like this book as much as the first two. For one, I was incredibly disappointed with the Kartik and Gemma relationship...if you could call it a relationship. Their relationship seemed to be very "go with the flow" and kissing was supposed to be enough, I guess, to convince the readers they loved each other. How could they when every time they talked one of them went running off into the woods! I swear, after the fifth time Kartik said he was leaving for good I rolled my eyes...why does he keep saying this? Then it's Gemma's turn to pretend to leave. Then they are back together the next day all smiles and full of kisses, without a moment's hesitation. This is the sum of their relationship. Like I said, disappointing.

The structure of the novel is so chaotic that I had difficulty finding what the author's motive was---or the characters! Gemma complains about being lonely, then is thankful for having friends, then she hates her friends, then she loves her friends the next day, then hates them again and hates Kartik, then loves Kartik and hates her family, then....everything was just too fickle! Gemma spends the entire book roaming around without any clear purpose. She seems to be a strong independent thinker, but she never really has the energy to physically carry out independent action. So many times I wanted her to stand up for herself, be it to her friend or the Centaurs and she never would.

The books seemed to to skip from events too abruptly. They were very rushed and I think about half of them could have just been left out all together. I loved the series, and the whole idea behind the story. I also love how the author describes situations and makes her readers think deeply about the confinement Victorian women suffered...and this book had so much potential (why I hate to give it less than 3 1/2 stars)! Sadly, it just seemed like a bunch of writing without any thought behind editing to make the story more accessible to its readers. ( )