Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

What I drank prior: Wine and cider. I drank a lot and I drank it fast.

Spoiler-free Overview: This review WILL have spoilers for books 1 and 2, see my review here if you want to know my inebriated thoughts on them.

So we start with Kelsey being imprisoned by the Red Queen, she gotta deal with that. We’ve got Roe and Katie and Jonathan and that timeline. As Kelsey learns more about how her visions work, she learns about why Tearling is the way it is. Kelsey’s loyal subjects are trying to save her, and Lazarus is trying to lead while being royally pissed that Kelsey left the Queendom to him. (Get it? Royally? BAHAHA i’m funny). Anyway, things happen.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: So it’s been a few weeks since I read this and I still have no idea how I feel about it. Sigh… I need to talk this out.

Characters: The characters are just as wonderful as they are in the first two. I love them. I also love that we got to know more about the Red Queen and where she came from. What a great friggin backstory. GREAT friggin backstory.

Plot: Ok so look. This book is incredibly fast paced. There are two plots, the past and the present, and they’er starting to merge. Kelsey has to figure out what’s going on and she’s gotta do it fast or the world is literally going to end.

Writing Style: It’s pretty great. I listened to these on audio and I loved the narrator.

World Building: So…I was confused by the world after book two. I’m not anymore, but I think it’s because I’ve stopped fighting it. It is what it is, and I’m not going to get it. Kelsey didn’t so… I don’t have to either *sticks tongue out*

*****OK THERE ARE GOING TO BE SPOILERS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SKIP IT****

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Ok… WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HAPPENED? She like… turned back time? I mean, it’s so beautifully sad. She’s the only one that remembers. The only one that knows what could have been. It made me cry so hard.

I really don’t know how I feel about the end. I love, and i mean LOVE, the fact that she didn’t win in her world. Like, there’s an actual immortal being running around killing EVERYONE. Beating those things, at least in my head, SHOULD be near impossible. Most of our fantasy worlds seem to win… a lot. But though our fiction shows the probability of winning at near 100%, I imagine that if those things were to actually happen, humanity would be dead. So I love that she lost.

Now… do I like that she.. kinda (?) won? I really hav eno idea. My drunk mind can’t make sense of it (Editor’s note: Sober Sam can’t figure it out either). sigh… someone help me work this out.

**END THE SPOILERS**

What to pair it with: Chocolate Cake Shots… a lemon should never taste like chocolate but it does. That’s how I feel about this book. A lemon that tastes like chocolate.

Rating: 4.5/5 Shots

COMMENT DOWN BELOW: WHAT DID YOU THINK SOMEONE HELP ME

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam