The Queen of the Tearling Series by Erika Johansen

3 out of 5 stars (3 / 5)

Days after finishing the Tearling trilogy I still don’t quite know how I feel about it. I’ll tell you one thing for sure, I absolutely did not know what I was getting into when I picked up the first book. I thought it would be a fairly run-of-the-mill coming of age fantasy. I was prepared for it to be good because it’s had a fair amount of hype the last couple of years; I was not prepared for its intensity, maturity, nor the dystopian factor. Yes, that’s right, I had no idea it had  any dystopian elements at all when I first started reading.

Let’s start with what I liked. Erika Johansen does a first-rate job with intrigue. She posed so many questions and mysteries and kept them coming through all three books. Even half way through the last book she introduced more intrigue instead of just wrapping things up. This had to be the best part of the books, it kept me reading even when I thought I would for sure abandon the series, I had to know the answers to all the questions!

I also liked the imperfect world. I felt I had a good idea of the layout, magic (there isn’t very much so it wasn’t hard to follow), and general workings of the Tearling. Her secondary characters were all well done and while I wouldn’t advise getting too attached to anyone (the death toll is fairly high) I will acknowledge well crafted secondary charters.

Finally, the character development of our protagonist was so perfectly done, even when she is at her worst she never stops trying. It felt believable and authentic.

Now for the not-so-good. Something about this series just really rubbed me the wrong way. Johansen crafts her plot around extremism and absolutes under the pretense of grey area. The Tearling is a new world set in the future after our current world has regressed in pretty much every social issue. Johansen pushed a liberal social agenda hard, and even though I consider myself a fairly-middle-of-the-road sort of person when it comes to politics I have to admit this was a little much even for me. It may not be a very popular opinion but because these books were about as subtle as an elephant and its essence permeated every aspect of the book my enjoyment waned as I waded through its zealous agenda. Part of why I get so much enjoyment from reading is that it is a new medium to address perpetual cultural issues, but where other books handle it with grace and deft, these books were more like a sledgehammer. I think those especially with religious convictions may be particularly rankled. Readers from the left will take considerably less um-bridge with this series and I expect will enjoy it significantly more.

I also have a couple of other complaints mostly to do with the conclusion (it’s feasibility) and a laundry list of loose ends. These things are often expected in dystopian novels, especially trilogies, but they weigh more in my mind because I’m still not at peace with the heavy handedness of the aforementioned agenda. To be fair this book was thought provoking because of its extremity, just not for me in the way I’m sure the author intended.

I’ll not turn anyone away from this series because, like I said, there was so much I enjoyed, but I wouldn’t say this should go straight to the top of your To-Read list.

Here is a short recap of each book:

The Queen of the Tearling: The best of the three books. Kelsea was a little headstrong for my taste but her story is unique and she was heartfelt, if not a little too well-adjusted for having lived in isolation for 19 years. There is so much to like about this book. The story is unique but it fits the traditional fantasy/dystopian mold more than the other two. The possibilities in this book are partially what make it so good.

The Invasion of the Tearling: The weakest of the series. This book took concerted effort to complete. Luckily the answers to my burning questions were fed just regularly enough to keep me going. This book made the overarching plot a lot bigger and while at first I wasn’t sure I liked it, it eventually grew on me. Kelsea (MC) was not very likeable in this book and that made things even harder, but by the end I was glad I had pushed ahead. The last 50 pages of this book made reading the rest of it worth it.

The Fate of the Tearling: This was a good but not great concluding novel. I wish it had ended differently. And it isn’t merely that it wasn’t the ending I was hoping for, but that it just didn’t seem to fit with the other two; it’s almost as if the author really had no idea what was going to happen and just had to wing it. That said, this book is fast and furious and I read it the quickest of the three. I liked that we were still getting new characters and story lines even in this last book. If you make it through the first two you should push on if only to see how it gets wrapped up.

Violence:High       Language: Medium/High       Adult Content: Medium/High

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