**I wrote this blog entry over three years ago when I was fresh out of high school, hence the numerous grammatical errors and such**
**Spoiler Alert**
‘The Sweet Far Thing’ By: Libba Bray was on my ‘must read’ list for quite a while. Living in Australia, where the book is not available in store I was forced to order my copy online and wait and gruelling 4 weeks for it to arrive from America. Having read the multitude of mixed reviews online I was consumed by so many conflicting accounts I found myself not knowing what to expect. I knew only one thing for sure and that was that ‘The Sweet Far Thing’ was very long. Which, in my opinion is generally a good thing (longer is always better.)
It took me a little more than three weeks to finish the book. Usually I’m a lot quicker (approximately a week), but in the case of ‘The Sweet Far Thing’ I found it myself constantly distracted. Put simply, ‘The Sweet Far Thing’ is too long. The plot, while interesting at times is like a piece of bubble gum stretched to the limit, so long that the sweet taste can no longer be appreciated. It’s true that the novel does have its moments; the last section is truly brilliant and kept me enthralled so deeply that I almost missed my station on the morning train ride to work. But overall the book is disjointed and confusing. It is full of scattered events which contribute to the plot in an uneven way. The most mundane events are painstakingly detailed over many chapters, while it seems like the most important issues are only given a paragraph or two.
The beginning of the book sets the tone well, with two poverty stricken men pulling the body of a woman from the Thames on a gloomy night. This woman, who is later identified as Wilhelmina Wyatt, torments Gemma from the dead, with a serious of confusing visions ultimately leading to the identification of the novels primary antagonist. The novel contains the same gothic atmosphere of the previous books in the series, an interesting take on the Victorian Age, not seen before in many books set in that time period.
The middle of the book was the most trying, with so many seamlessly pointless events crammed into an already unnecessary amount of pages. Gemma’s relationship with Kartik evolves too slowly and she makes all the wrong choices regarding her powers. She is also completely submissive to the shallow wants of her friend Felicity and Pippa. During this portion of the story I saw a weaker more selfish side of Gemma, which she doesn’t manage to shed by the end of the story. But I guess it is important to recognise that Gemma is a flawed hero, whether this makes her interesting or pathetic is still to be determined. The middle of the book sees most of the characters trying to selfishly advance their own agendas or being manipulated by others.
The end of the novel was my favourite part by far, although it was somewhat predictable. The Winterlands creatures enter the real world in an attempt to kidnap Gemma and take her to be sacrificed to the Tree of all Souls, so they may take her power and rule the realms and the normal world (our world). I felt somewhat satisfied reading the assault on Spence, as if it was the reward for enduring the first 80% of the book. It was also good to see some of the more loathsome characters gain their comeuppance; namely Cecily, Martha and Elizabeth. This combination of Gemma’s two lives in a battle for Spence was very satisfying and interesting.
Mrs McCleethy’s death was no surprise, but it was surprising that she wanted to go with Ann and Gemma in the first place; after all didn’t she dislike the girls? Wasn’t it her primary mission to contain the magic and stop the Winterland creatures? Then, why does she volunteer to go and rescue Felicity? I think that is what irritated me about the whole story; the author changed the established characteristics of her characters resulting in numerous unbelievable twists and events. Pippa’s eccentric religion and death just seemed like a jab at Christianity, especially the behaviour of Mae afterwards. The behaviour of Bessie after Pippa’s death is extremely uncharacteristic, even more so was Gemma’s acceptance of Bessie into her troop. The battle scene has some good parts, Gemma’s final confrontation with Eugenia was climatic, confronting and upholding the gothic undertones present throughout the whole novel. The end, apart from Kartik’s death it is quite happy. Gemma’s father may be sick but at least he’s facing his demons and going back to India; Ann is well on her way to achieving her dream of being an actress and Felicity is rich and free to live in Paris. The end of the novel for Gemma is more like a beginning, for the rest of her life. It is ambiguous; her true love is dead but at least she is independent and free living in New York.
My favourite characters were Gemma, Felicity, Circe and Gorgon. This is because they were interesting (if not good) and added to the plot. Circe was a particularly interesting and complex character, because on the one hand she is evil and manipulative, on the other hand she cares about Gemma’s welfare.
My least favourite characters were Ann, Pippa and Mrs McCleethy. Ann was annoyingly pathetic, McCleethy was irritatingly bitchy and Pippa didn’t seem to contribute to the plot. At first I felt sorry for Ann, but as the story progressed I found her to be a generally weak character who was to afraid to pursue her dreams.
Some noteworthy features of this book are:
☻ It has a vulnerable hero, which young girls and woman can relate to. Gemma has flaws and makes a lot of mistakes during the story. But let’s face it, if you were a previously sheltered, spoilt, aristocratic girl who suddenly finds herself the ultimate power in universe, with everyone desperate to get what you have, including a seemingly endless army of powerful hellish creatures you would be a bit anxious to and make a few mistakes. Gemma feels like she doesn’t fit in and she is right, but that’s ok. I think that’s a good message for a book to have.
☻ The richly detailed Victorian backdrop. The author Libba Bray has a talent for establishing a convincing setting, so much so that I felt truly ‘involved’ in the story. The rich historical backdrop is a plus for any historical enthusiast.
☻ The magical creatures, which were enchantingly terrifying and richly described.
Throughout the course of the novel the protagonist Gemma is confused, tormented, depressed and comes close insanity as the numerous living and non-living powers that be make it their mission to trick or force her into giving up her powers. Poor Gemma is constantly being manipulated or threatened to the point where she almost has a complete mental breakdown. No one was ever what they said they were and it just felt as if I was watching a train before it crashed, as Gemma made all the wrong choices, leading to the showdown in the Winterlands. Like Gemma I felt frustrated as a result of her experiences in ‘The Sweet Far Thing’. Gemma feels alone throughout the novel, as if her power and responsibilities have isolated her from everyone else. Indeed the moral of the story seems to be that we are all along, as a shown by a quote during the climax (which I can’t be bothered to look up). This may seem like a harsh moral, but there you go.
