Series: Gemma Doyle
Titles: A Great and Terrible Beauty | Rebel Angels | The Sweet Far Thing
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: YA | Gothic | Historical Fiction | Fantasy
What it’s about:
Listen, I’m about to be biased as h*ck in this post. This is my most favorite series OF ALL TIME, so watch out.
This trilogy follows Gemma when her mother dies on her 16th birthday and she is sent from Bombay, India, where she grew up, to England to attend a prestigious boarding school. She’s tall, gangly, red-haired, and freckled, so of course she’s somewhat of an outcast. She eventually befriends Anne, Felicity, and Pippa and they discover a doorway to another world, they call the Realms. Here, Gemma meets her dead mother, who has yet to cross over because her life’s mission isn’t complete, but the Realms and the magic within it are in danger. Gemma, Anne, Felicity, and Pippa vow to save the magic from the evil creature that killed Gemma’s mother and keep the Realms safe. And that’s just book one.
Book two, Rebel Angels, comes at Christmas time of 1895, Gemma and her friends are off on holiday, but their new teacher is suspicious and they think she might be the mastermind, Circe, behind what happened in the Realms earlier that year. Gemma meets a mental patient named Nell who has information about the Realms that not any random person would know. She’s keeps herself unsane (I’m using this word as opposed to “insane” because it doesn’t feel right) to protect herself from Circe, and Gemma has to fit all the pieces together to find out who Circe really is.
The Sweet Far Thing is the epic (and albeit long winded) conclusion to the story. We know who Circe is and what her end goal it. The girls are under fire from the creatures of The Realms for “hoarding” magic, and they must find a way to share it equally amongst the creatures AND another group of humans called the Rakshana. In the meantime, Gemma and Felicity are facing their public debuts and Anne is dreading becoming a full-time governess for her two young cousins. Gemma has to come to terms with what it means to give up the magic, what it means to the Realms, what it means to herself.
Why I love it:
Y’all, I fucking love this series. It’s got angsty Victorian teenagers, it’s got magic, it’s got friendship, it’s gothic, it’s gorgeous writing. Ugh it’s great. I started reading A Great and Terrible Beauty in 2013 when it came out. I probably bought it because I loved the cover, and I was not disappointed. I remember staying up super late reading it and I was at a particularly spooky part and I just couldn’t stop. It’s one of the first times I remember not being able or not wanting to put a book down. I recently finished a reread of it last year (2019) and was just as broken up about the ending as I was the first time I read it.
The romantic subplot is my favorite because it’s between a well-off white girl and a shaggy Indian boy named Kartik. I have had such a crush on Kartik. A beautiful brown boy with long lashes and strong arms and a heart of gold. They spend much of the series fighting off their feelings for each other because it wouldn’t be allowed, but in the Realms, they can do whatever they want.
The only issue I have is the use of the word g*psy, though that group is also referred to as Romani, as they are. I sort of dismiss it because it is a period novel and that’s what they would have called Romani back in the 1890s. Yes, I understand that it’s not my place to forgive an author for using a slur of a group of people I’m not apart of and I do recognize it as being a no-no. But that’s really the only real trigger warning I’d give this series.
Why you’ll love it:
Girls, magic, mythological creatures like a gorgon and centaurs and mermaids, a strained but loving mother-daughter relationship, sweet romance, a little bit of gay, action, adventure, girl power, it’s got everything. Like I said above, the only real trigger I see (though I could be missing some) is the g*psy slur. Everything else feels pretty par for the course as Victorian England is concerned. It’s rich and colorful and atmospheric. It’s sometimes spooky, sometimes silly, a lot of times wholesome. The last book is quite long and sometimes can be a drag with a lot of end-game developing side plot, but overall it’s worth it. The ending of The Sweet Far Thing is a beautiful payoff to a long (in terms of pages) trilogy.
One more exciting thing is that Libba Bray teased in August of 2019 that Gemma might be coming back and every time I think about it, I get full body chills with excitement!
Enjoy!!
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