Full Circle (The Castings Trilogy) (edition 2009)

Fall-Winter-2010

I really enjoyed this series. The characters were multi-faceted, even Acton and Saker, and everything really did come full circle. Every past story had a purpose, and they all ended up fitting together nicely. I thought I might be disappointed by the ending - just because I usually hate it when things are too easily solved - but this was totally satisfying. I'm looking forward to Freeman's next book as well. ( )

James Tiptree Jr once wrote, in the context of a discussion of fantasy novels, 'Who insist on a captain, a boss, a Great Leader? Who have evolved lunatic systems of authoritarianism in every known activity except maybe solo farming? Who gratefully accept being beaten up and then faithfully follow the bully? Three guesses. And don't say guppies.'

There are moments in Full Circle where I found myself thinking subliminally of guppies – though some of the characters who inspired that response were able to grow beyond their grateful adjustment to domination.

This is a most satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy: there is an army of the dead, the living world as we know it is under threat of extermination, the web of comradeship and betrayal, love and loss, heroism and cowardice, filial piety well placed and misplaced, vengeance and forgiveness, violence and tenderness, epic sweep and intimate gesture is as complex as anyone could hope for. As an added fillip, things happen in the climactic scenes that make one want to go back to the start and graze one's way through the whole 1000+ pages. ( )