The Sweet Far Thing is the third in Libba Bray's trilogy, which, as the back cover informs me, is called the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.*
And it's really, really good. It gave me shivers. And it made me cry. No, really. Libba Bray, you made me cry. I shall never forgive you.**
Now, if you haven't read the first two books (A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels) I suggest that instead of reading the rest of this post, which will likely contain spoilers for both of those books, you instead go and read the books themselves. You will like them, I promise.***
Gemma Doyle, at the end of Rebel Angels, bound the magic of the realms to herself, promising to share it with the tribes. Now, she must contend with the creatures of the Winterlands, the plotting of the Order and the Rakshana, the discontent of those who live in the Realms, and her feelings for a certain extremely hot Indian guy.****
Gemma must figure out who to trust and what to do, all while keeping up the pretense of a nomal, stifled, Victorian-schoolgirl life.
She does, of course, have friends to help her along-- sort of. Felicity is as scathing and power-hungry as always, and Ann wilts, if possible, even more than before-- though she does have breif moments of confidence and even triumph. Pippa is... not really Pippa anymore, though you'll have to read the book to find out what happens on that front. Kartik, is a friend, perhaps more than a friend, but again, you'll have to read the book. Libba Bray has said that there is Kartik/Gemma action, and there most definitley is.*****
The Sweet Far Thing is beautifully written, and, though it is over 800 pages long, manages not to drag on in the least. The ending, is, I thing, fitting-- but don't worry, I won't tell you what it is.
I award The Sweet Far Thing with four and one-half daggers.
*A name which, in my opinion, is entirly unfitting for the trilogy. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy? Yawn. Unfortunately, no one consulted me when they made this decision, so what can I do?
**The chances that she will ever read this are, of course, exceedingly slim. Ah, well. Such is life.
***And if you don't, YOU SHALL FEEL THE WRATH OF MY SPORK OF DOOM!!!
****Need I say it? MINE.
*****Insert evil cackle here.
Cackling, shivering, wishing Kartik were real, and yours,
PS This is the best YA cover of 2007, in my opinion. Possibly the best title. What do you think?
0 Comments on The Sweet Far Thing as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
Hello.
First pardon my poor english!
Lot of beautifull things to see in here, I'll be back later, for taking a good time.
Excellent, really.
AL from France.
Bonsoir Al,
Je suis Francais, tu peux donc t'exprimer sans problemes.
Merci beaucoup d'etre passe!
Great! I love the line ,the color and above all the damaged part.
great!
puree stef,l effet volume du vehicule est vraiment bluffant>>>>
!
Eh bien chapeau alors!
Du très bel ouvrage, qui a toute ma considération.
Je vais explorer les archives : que du bonheur.
Excellente continuation.
I've never seen anyone draw such wonderfully appealling cars and trucks as you do, Stephane.
Simply amazing.
great sketches Stef...
lovely work, i like your line trace, it is very personal the style you give to your drawings with it.
( =_=) regards!
eh bien; j'ai bien fait d repasser moi!
Unbelievable, comme dirait l'autre; assez d'accord avec le commenatire de "Vince" : vous avez donné vie à ces véhicules...
Surprenant.
A quoi sont destinés ces posts? -en toute indiscrétion, j'en conviens!
- Thanks Prottis.
- Thanks Rotbart.
- Salut Patrick! J'espere te voir bientot en Californie, je demenage a L.A en Septembre, et je ne manquerais pas de passer a San Francisco des que possible.
Merci d'etre passe!
- Thanks Vince, I really appreciate your comment. I'm trying to stop drawing cars and vehicles as I don't want to be seen as the guy who's only drawing cars.
See you very soon!
- Thanks Cereal Killer.
- Ces posts Al sont simplement mes croquis de voyages, sans aucuns but, juste pour le plaisir de dessiner ce que je veux quand je veux, sans contraintes.
Ceux-ci ont fait partis d'une expo a Londres le mois derniers.
Every time i get lost in your drawings! I love your lines!
You rly have an incredible talent!
Panda :)
Great images!I like those broken cars!Where you was in Croatia?
These are really awesome sketches. Love your style, your vehicles especially.
- Thank you very much Panda.
- Hey Andrei! I was on the island of Vis, between Croatia and Italy...beautiful!
- Thanks Edward.
Great stuff...I always enjoy your urban/car sketches, and especially when they get that wonderful PS color treatment!
Thanks Jared, I really enjoy coloring them on photoshop.
How long did it take you guys to take DOWN all the pieces?
Probably 1 hour, very quick. It was hell to carry everything back to work, Crookie and I were dying on the road.
How did you ever fit all that artwork on your scooter?
Nice to finally start seeing your sketches from Croatia!!
Beauties as always.
stef, just went through most of your blog - brilliant loose stuff. love the shapes and overall energy in all of these.
take care.
WOW!! Beautiful!!
- I'll post all my Croatia sketches very soon Mike.
- Thank you very much Nathan. I'm hoping to enroll to one of your course in L.A at the end of the year or next year.
- Thanks Lok, your cityscape sketches are amazing!
- Thanks Alina.
Sorry to see it all down, I really wanted to go back and have another look with some friends but time just got away. Maybe next year another one?
I'm glad someone is still giving access to his talent via blog. Thanks for sharing Stef.
Interesting designs: in some ways your jazzy pen and ink sketches preferable. It's nice to see a few real artists around SF (or LA) who can still draw a bit (unlike faux-artist-emotivists whose scrawlings wouldn't make it in the usual high school art contest, such as this bay area fascist. Know when some wannabe hipster starts into her favorite beatniks, she's usually F.O.S. and licking the, uh, boots of some cop or MBA type on the weekends)
Awesome. Just awesome.
"this bay area fascist"
Interesting observation, Phritz. Her "art" may be also be seen at New Demonic Worlds. What's amusing is how most modern satanists, such as the wannabe L-Ron Hubbards of
NW, are completely lacking in the style (and of course knowledge--most there would not know sein from zeit) of old-school blasphemers such as the beats or Henry Miller--. And the tools seem to believe Al Gore is an intellectual--
Fie! Perhaps some sketches from the Book of Revelation for phunn: die große Dirne.com
I haven't been to your blog in a long time and look at all of the awesome work i've been missing! Always inspiring and amazing drawings!
A quand mon print des toits de paris?
;-)
marvellousness
you bring such vehicularee to these sketches. I suggest you do some more if you get a minute.
great work...so much character in your sketches, even inanimate objects.
toute cette serie de voiture est trés chouette, comme le reste d'ailleurs.
merci pour ton commentaire.
TM
- Hey Mish, I hope we'll do another one all together.
Thanks for popping by!
- Thanks Rob.
- Thank you very much Shawn.
- Genevieve, tres tres bientot!
- Thanks Mick. I never heard the term "vehicularee" before. I'll post some more soon from Croatia, but I spent more than a minute on them :)
- Thank you very much JC.
- Merci d'etre passe Thierry. J'aime beaucoup ton travail.
exhibition in croatia! grande Stef!
Beautiful work Stefan! Hope the exhibition went well.
Cheers! =)
Nice blog. Beautiful sketches!
hello
your work is very good
please see my web & send comment
Tank you
by