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Thoughts on the Gemma Doyle Trilogy
A Great and Terrible Beauty: I liked it well enough. It was an easy read and passably entertaining in regard to the overall mystery--even if I totally called the twist. My only complaint was that I did not buy the friendship between the girls at all. For example, when Gemma uses the word love in relation to her feels for Pippa, I had to roll my eyes. Perhaps we were told they, as a group, grew close, but I never saw it and certainly never got a single sincere vibe from any of their interactions. That and the fact that some of the feminism felt forced and anachronistic.
Also, there really wasn’t a single character I found myself actively liking or enjoying. I found them all rather flat, I guess. And many of the back story/character details designed to give them depth and make them sympathetic, honestly didn’t work for me. (But more on that later.) Meanwhile, I enjoyed the interactions of Gemma/Kartik much more before Bray actually began to expand upon the romance.
In sum, I liked the book well enough to read the second.
Rebel Angels: I actually enjoyed quite a bit. Mind, all of the same gripes I had regarding the characters, the girls’ friendship, and forced feminism remained and were exaggerated. The Gemma/Kartik relationship also began to irritate me more. Maybe it felt forced? I dunno. I think it was Kartik I took issue you with. Something about his personality/characterization I didn’t quite like. But the plot, I felt, was well put together, and once more I enjoyed the over all story and mystery. (Even if I called the twist yet again.) In sort, this was easily my favorite of the trilogy.
The Sweet Far Thing: Ugh. I did not like this book. Too unnecessarily long. And, while there were some things I felt didn’t quite mesh between the first two books, this solidified my stance that Bray was doing some major retconning as the story progressed.
For example, Ann’s desire to be an actress. Bray tells us that anyone who knows anything about Ann, knows she has a flair for the dramatic, but--her fainting skills from Book 2 aside--I didn’t recall there ever being any mention of Ann’s dramatic dreams. Or Felicity’s sexual abuse. In the first book she was all excitement and smiles at the prospect of her father coming to visit her at school. (Yes, I am aware that children who are sexually abused could exhibit such behavior toward the abuser/want their abuser’s approval, but that still doesn’t mesh with her later behavior toward him. Unless, perhaps it is related to his having begun to abuse his new ward...) But in the next books, she actively hates him. To that end, the lesbian thing was out of the blue. There was a moment in the first book where it crossed my mind, if only because they were so close and since Bray had already introduced the cutting thing it seemed another way of making them misfits. But nothing ever really seemed to hint at it. They seemed like nothing more than close friends, especially for the time period. Furthermore, I feel like Pippa’s reaction to Felicity and Gemma’s friendship would have been much worse had Bray already planned on a Felicity/Pippa romance. But maybe that’s just me.
To that end, since when is Gemma such a book nerd? I don’t recall her ever having found such comfort in them in the first book. And where did all the Tree of All Souls stuff come from? Surely there could have been some allusion to it before. And what happened to all the character development from the previous two novels? They certainly are not in the same place at the beginning of the third book as they were at the end of the second. I’m all for characters having flaws but the selfish, immature, pettiness that went on was just ridiculous. And I object to the fact Mrs. McCleethy gets decapitated while Miss Moore gets to pass on to greatness. What’s up with that?
Lastly, the forced feminism was even more heavy handed than ever. Gemma’s final speech to Mrs. Nightwing was completely soapbox. I’m all for feminism and author’s including themes, but there is no need for it to be that transparent. And the meandering plot did nothing to help. ...I just did not like this book.
That said, I did end up liking at least two characters by the end of the series, Mrs. Nightwing, because I have a soft spot for stern but loving matrons, and Tom, if only because he struck me as a very human character. (And I did rather enjoy Tom/Ann while it lasted.)
Also, there really wasn’t a single character I found myself actively liking or enjoying. I found them all rather flat, I guess. And many of the back story/character details designed to give them depth and make them sympathetic, honestly didn’t work for me. (But more on that later.) Meanwhile, I enjoyed the interactions of Gemma/Kartik much more before Bray actually began to expand upon the romance.
In sum, I liked the book well enough to read the second.
Rebel Angels: I actually enjoyed quite a bit. Mind, all of the same gripes I had regarding the characters, the girls’ friendship, and forced feminism remained and were exaggerated. The Gemma/Kartik relationship also began to irritate me more. Maybe it felt forced? I dunno. I think it was Kartik I took issue you with. Something about his personality/characterization I didn’t quite like. But the plot, I felt, was well put together, and once more I enjoyed the over all story and mystery. (Even if I called the twist yet again.) In sort, this was easily my favorite of the trilogy.
The Sweet Far Thing: Ugh. I did not like this book. Too unnecessarily long. And, while there were some things I felt didn’t quite mesh between the first two books, this solidified my stance that Bray was doing some major retconning as the story progressed.
For example, Ann’s desire to be an actress. Bray tells us that anyone who knows anything about Ann, knows she has a flair for the dramatic, but--her fainting skills from Book 2 aside--I didn’t recall there ever being any mention of Ann’s dramatic dreams. Or Felicity’s sexual abuse. In the first book she was all excitement and smiles at the prospect of her father coming to visit her at school. (Yes, I am aware that children who are sexually abused could exhibit such behavior toward the abuser/want their abuser’s approval, but that still doesn’t mesh with her later behavior toward him. Unless, perhaps it is related to his having begun to abuse his new ward...) But in the next books, she actively hates him. To that end, the lesbian thing was out of the blue. There was a moment in the first book where it crossed my mind, if only because they were so close and since Bray had already introduced the cutting thing it seemed another way of making them misfits. But nothing ever really seemed to hint at it. They seemed like nothing more than close friends, especially for the time period. Furthermore, I feel like Pippa’s reaction to Felicity and Gemma’s friendship would have been much worse had Bray already planned on a Felicity/Pippa romance. But maybe that’s just me.
To that end, since when is Gemma such a book nerd? I don’t recall her ever having found such comfort in them in the first book. And where did all the Tree of All Souls stuff come from? Surely there could have been some allusion to it before. And what happened to all the character development from the previous two novels? They certainly are not in the same place at the beginning of the third book as they were at the end of the second. I’m all for characters having flaws but the selfish, immature, pettiness that went on was just ridiculous. And I object to the fact Mrs. McCleethy gets decapitated while Miss Moore gets to pass on to greatness. What’s up with that?
Lastly, the forced feminism was even more heavy handed than ever. Gemma’s final speech to Mrs. Nightwing was completely soapbox. I’m all for feminism and author’s including themes, but there is no need for it to be that transparent. And the meandering plot did nothing to help. ...I just did not like this book.
That said, I did end up liking at least two characters by the end of the series, Mrs. Nightwing, because I have a soft spot for stern but loving matrons, and Tom, if only because he struck me as a very human character. (And I did rather enjoy Tom/Ann while it lasted.)