The Fate of the Tearling

By: Erika Johansen

Narrated by: Polly Lee

Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

The thrilling conclusion to the New York Times best-selling Tearling trilogy.

In less than a year, Kelsea Glynn has transformed from a gawky teenager into a powerful monarch. As she has come into her own as the Queen of the Tearling, the headstrong, visionary leader has also transformed her realm. In her quest to end corruption and restore justice, she has made many enemies - including the evil Red Queen, her fiercest rival, who has set her armies against the Tear.

To protect her people from a devastating invasion, Kelsea did the unthinkable - she gave herself and her magical sapphires to her enemy - and named the Mace, the trusted head of her personal guards, regent in her place. But the Mace will not rest until he and his men rescue their sovereign, imprisoned in Mortmesne.

Now, as the suspenseful endgame begins, the fate of Queen Kelsea - and the Tearling itself - will finally be revealed.

©2016 Erika Johansen (P)2016 HarperCollins

Critic Reviews

"Intoxicating...Thrilling and thought-provoking." ( Buzzfeed)
"This is a thrilling conclusion to a fantastic trilogy...Johansen’s fans will be pleased." ( Booklist)
"Katniss Everdeen, you have competition." ( Entertainment Weekly)

Wow

What can I say, it’s an amazing trilogy and if you haven’t read it yet then your doing yourself an injustice.

It was okay.

I don’t understand why the narrator changed from the one that did the first two?

I also felt the end was seriously rushed, kinda disappointed in the conclusion of the story

Trilogy went weird

The best thing I can say about this was that it was unpredictable... I loved the first book, was ambivalent about the second, and the third was out and out weird. The thread of the story seemed lost in ever more peculiar time travel and the characters became less real and believable as the story progressed.

For a long moment

How did the overused and repetitive phrases get through editing? There are way too many lingering gazes described through the phrase "for a long moment". Drove me a little bonkers and detracted from an otherwise decent story. Didn't take the direction I was expecting, but I don't know if that excitement made up for that stupid phrase popping up in every other... moment.

Had great hopes after books 1 & 2

If you could sum up The Fate of the Tearling in three words, what would they be?

Massive Disappointing Ending

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Mace. I don't feel like the author really allowed us to get that close to anyone other than him and Kelsea and she was just a bit of a nightmare sometimes. Although absolutely terrifying you could sense he acted out of kindness and love, not stupidity and rashness like Kelsea

Would you be willing to try another one of Polly Lee’s performances?

No. The other two books had great narrators that I gave 5 stars for but Polly Lee's voices for some of the male characters were ridiculous, and some of the voices for the women were too simpery

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

'When the end comes, prepare for disappointment'

Any additional comments?

I had such high hopes and gave great reviews for the first two books but this book just went completely downhill in the last half. It had such potential for a great, heartwarming, lifting ending but it was not only a massive anticlimax, but depressing, and I suppose whilst the ending was what Kelsea was ultimately supposed to do to 'do the right thing for her people', it was demoralising and distressing to find her in the situation she was in. I thought it cruel that she must *SPOILER* not only bump into Carlin, Pen, Mace and Father Tyler but not a single one recognise her - even if the last line was just a hint of a comment from one character and it left you infuriatingly hanging would have been better than her standing watching Pen go off to another woman or Mace look right through her. I also feel the author must be inexperienced or new, because there were many plot holes and unexplained answers for me that I will never have explained. I also kinda felt throughout the whole book the author just wrote the whole thing just to take repeated digs at religion, which whilst not wholly religious myself I still found tiring after a while. In short, all 3 audiobooks were 52hours and 40minutes in total and I feel like after investing so long in listening to them all that I was completely cheated out of a fulfilling tale right at the end.

I was disappointed in the end of the story.

I was enjoying the trilogy but was disappointed in how it ended. It was building up to something and it just became quite generic at the end.

Changes in narrator is irritating!

Would you listen to The Fate of the Tearling again? Why?

This is a great book, book 3 in the series. Loving the time lag story line, the story and the characters.

What aspect of Polly Lee’s performance might you have changed?

Changes in narrator between books is irritating and distracting but when the accent of the characters change dramatically between books, this is incredibly frustrating and spoiled my experience. E.g. William Tear goes from sophisticated, well spoken gentleman to Dorset farmer between book 2 and 3 - sort it out!!!

Go Queenie!

I absolutely loved it! The characters are amazing and I loved the use of number three. Oh, and the ending was fabulous!

Good but...

I was so excited to listen to this book! I loved how it got darker and how the characters developed but the ending... I did like how it wasn't the typical 'happy ending' but I do feel like the ending was a bit rushed. Would definitely love another book, kinda of a what happened next novella, just to conclude it more. But overall still a fantastic story and can't wait to read more of Erika's books in general.

Brilliant conclusion to the trilogy

This book answered almost all of the questions I had about the story and characters introduced in the first two. I really enjoyed it and found it a satisfying conclusion, with just enough left to keep me wondering and thinking about the story afterwards. The world the author has created is absolutely fascinating, the characters are believable and layered, and the fantasy elements are intriguing. A great series for fantasy lovers who like a bit of history and politics thrown in.