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    The Fate of the Tearling: A Novel
    The Fate of the Tearling: A Novel
    The Fate of the Tearling: A Novel
    Audiobook19 hours

    The Fate of the Tearling: A Novel

    Written by Erika Johansen

    Narrated by Polly Lee

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 29, 2016
    ISBN9780062471826
    Author

    Erika Johansen

    Erika Johansen grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. She went to Swarthmore College, earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and eventually became an attorney, but she never stopped writing.

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    Reviews for The Fate of the Tearling

    4/5

    84 ratings23 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I was lost in this book for days. A wonderful book
    • 5/5
      Excellent ending to a great story. I enjoyed all three books in this series. I was caught up in the storyline from the very beginning. The flawed idea of a utopia went spectacularly wrong as it didn't account for human nature. The point Kelsey chose to correct was unexpected so was the chosen correction. It was sad what she lost but kept with an acceptable set of rules for changing a timeline.
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed the series and would read another from this author.
    • 5/5
      The conclusion tore me apart. Honestly I was in tears. But a fitting conclusion to this remarkable story. I loved all 3 of the books, but i don't think i can re- read them. Wonderfull and awful at the same time, full of hope and despare. I guess each reader will take something different from the end. Thank you for the wonderful cautionary tale, and the queen of spades.
    • 1/5
      ahhhhhhhh i detest the ending!!!!! just horrible. first two books were so good! it is ruined now. :'( left me with a feeling of major want.
    • 5/5
      I adored this entire series! what a beautifully created world! I did not want it to end but it was a well-rounded series!
    • 4/5
      Quite the complex finish to this series. The time travel back and forth might seem intimidating to some readers, but it ultimately completes the framework to what happens at the end. Lots of action, darkness and violence, but all three are integral to the story. I couldn't help feeling empathy for Kelsea at the end because of how much she sacrificed.
    • 3/5
      This is the final book where Kelsey attempts to save the Tearling. As in the previous books the story was quite engaging and kept me reading and interested. I have, however knocked off one star because the ending was completely random. Time travel is involved and although things turn out well in the end there was really no knowing why they did turn out this way.
      Kelsey helped her female ancestor eliminate the clear enemy whose hatred and jealousy started the rift in the Tear. While tampering with time in this way she was careful that Katie her female ancestor had the two sexual encounters (with the two different men) who might have fathered her Tear lineage. In the end she did not cancel her existence but she was reduced to a non-entity in the perfect world she wanted for her people. So perhaps this was a bigger sacrifice than just cancelling out her existence. The book closes with her breaking down and crying in front of the librarian who had fostered her in the first run of her life when she was the Queen.

      Now, while retelling the story in this way, I think the ending has redeemed itself for me somewhat. Kelsey made the ultimate sacrifice for her people, and she will live her life out knowing that nobody will ever know or thank her for it. That is why the book ended so abruptly.
    • 5/5
      Not what I expected is the best way to describe my reaction to this book. Even after mulling it over for a bit, I am on the fence about it because the ending left me all tangled up. I felt what happened was inevitable given the circumstances; however, I find myself wishing for a better resolution. Also, the end was rushed and it left me with too many questions to feel like the book brought proper closure to the story. Even though I was not a fan of the ending, I enjoyed the rest of the story. I appreciated the further world building, especially about the founding of The Tearling. The continued character development was excellent. I especially appreciate how the author handled some difficult topics in this book (all her books really). For example, slavery, religion, monarchies, body image, etc. She tackled a lot of hot topics in this series. This book is my least favorite in the series for the reasons I mentioned at the beginning. However, after reading other reviews, it seems the majority of people either loved or hated it. Therefore, I suggest you read it and make you own decision on which side of the fence you fall.
    • 3/5
      Didn't find it as compelling as the first two and was weirdly disappointed by the ending-- like we had done all that work through the first 2.5 books for this?
    • 3/5
      This review is going to steadily devolve into a muddled rant, so I'll preface with this: I devoured this book. Read the entire trilogy in three days (I love you libraries). So there is something which makes this fundamentally a Good Book.

      But. Having reached the end, my memories of the best scenes are tarnished by, not the ending itself, but how many of those great scenes were rendered irrelevant. (For specifics, see spoilers. And I mean, spoilers.)

      Rant time! Even EXCLUDING the fact that everything is rendered moot by Kelsea altering the past, several things struck me as pointless within the original timeline:
      - What was the purpose of Aisa's death? The whole build up with the Caden? The training?
      - What was the point of revealing Mace's backstory? Cleaning out the Creche had no larger significance.
      - Why bother having Pen break emotionally from Kelsea if literally Nothing Is Changed. Pen doesn't mope, Kelsea doesn't mope, the conflict is raised and shunted off to the side because of other important things going on.
      - Other emotional letdowns: the Queen's death, Javel returning to the Gate Guard, what even were all of those historical records that've been quoted throughout the series, since that future would never have existed???


      If you've already come this far, you might as well finish the trilogy. Some big questions are answered, so that makes it worth it.

      I guess the book and I will have to settle on a love/hate relationship.
    • 4/5
      The stroy opens with Kelsea in the dungeon of the Red Queen, wondering how she was going to fix things. Various powers in this workd are trying to gain overall control and at the same time Kelsea is seeing what happened in the first years of the society. where it all went wrong. She eventually has a choice to make and it will change things forever.The end felt a bt forced but did five hope and it's in some ways satisfying, it boiled down to one person making the change that affets everyone but I'd kinda have preferred that it was more people involved in the choice but the message that just one person can make a hugs change was satisfying too.
    • 3/5
      This book has all the threads tied up by the end. There are some surprises near the end of the book. She does find out who her father is and she does find a way to beat the Red Queen. But the final ending of the book is a total deus ex machina and if you don’t like those types of endings then this will irk you. If you don’t mind it then the last chapter will feel like an epilogue to a good story and leave you with the idea that the characters are in a good place in this story universe.

      Digital reveiw copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
    • 4/5
      Kelsea Glynn, Queen of the Tearling, is now a prisoner of the Red Queen of Mortmesne while the Mace has been left behind as Regent. The Mace is determined to bring her back. Meanwhile, Kelsea continues to get flashes of the past, this time learning about Katie, a young girl who knew Jonathan Tear and Row Finn.Well. This trilogy has been a roller coaster ride, let me tell you. The Fate of the Tearling challenges us to think about whether or not a utopia could really exist, given human nature. She also has some rather pointed things to say about religion that I very much disagree with. That being said, I really enjoyed the ride overall. The author makes some bold narrative choices and brings the various threads she's placed throughout the trilogy together in a satisfying way.
    • 3/5
      This is the final book of the series, it is very obvious that Queen Kelsea is only a conduit for telling a different story than the story of the first book. This book is about after crossing and the turmoil at the dawn of the new country “Tearling”. There are too many loose threads and the ending with Kelsea went back in time to change the history is not very convincing.
    • 3/5
      As the final installment f the Tearling trilogy, I was disappointed. I loved the first book, was not thrilled with the second, but hoping that the final one would tie everything together, which in a way it did, but I was confused at times by the back and forth in the characters mind (it didn't work as well as in the previous books. It was a nice series, I think it could have been better.
    • 4/5
      This series was great. I went into the library *on my day off* to pick up this final instalment. Loved it.
    • 3/5
      Okay, so that was WEIRD AF. Time travel's always a tricky business, and I feel like the last quarter, especially, cut the action off rather abruptly. Still, I really enjoyed getting to know the characters of the Town, the dissolution of their world was well plotted, even if it meant sacrificing Kelsea's end of things a bit. A good read if you're in the mood for an engaging political fantasy with a touch of dystopia. ★★★☆☆.
    • 3/5
      The Queen of the Tearling has been a creative sci-fi/fantasy series that has mixed together some time travel with a magical alternate universe making a very exceptional story that stands out from other new series in the Adult Fantasy world. I really enjoyed the first 2 books. They both had some brand new elements and a huge crowd of characters with a wide range of personalities. And they featured some amazing heroines who were spunky, smart and didn't need to be rescued by a man - I just loved it. So why the 3 stars? This is such an epic series that really would have been perfect with an epic ending. The type of ending where the good battle against the forces of evil, and even though they can't possibly win, their goodness, and teamwork (or insert something else, like the love of a mother's kiss, or mutant powers, or some deformed hobbit bites off the hero's finger) end up overcoming evil and all is right with the world. It doesn't have to be a completely happy ending. People can die, even the hero, but it needs to be EPIC. I felt the ending here was weak given how strong the rest of the series was. Still, I had to read it and I'm glad I did.
    • 5/5
      Rarely is a series finale better than the first book but I think 'The Fate of the Tearling' does just that. I enjoyed the first book but the second was so different I wasn't sure if I liked it as much until afterwards, I had to take some time to absorb the differing stories. But this book did a wonderful job tying the past, present & future together.

      For those that like a good action Fantasy this story had that in spades. It hopefully will make you think as well, especially the end which I did not see coming at all.
    • 4/5
      Note: No spoilers for this book, the third in the series.This book concludes the fantasy/post-apocalyptic series that began with The Queen of the Tearling and continued with The Invasion of the Tearling.In this future world, Kelsea Raleigh Glynn has just turned 19, and therefore is allowed to take over the throne of the Tearling (an area named for the person who established it several hundred years before). Kelsea is beset by challenges left to her not only by her mother, the former Queen Elyssa, but by her less-than-savory uncle, who was serving as Regent until Kelsea came of age. The evils of her own kingdom aren’t her only problem; the neighboring kingdom, Mortmesne, has a dictator known as The Red Queen who would like to destroy Tearling, and there are also some dark supernatural forces at work in the world.But Kelsea has a couple of aces in her pocket, or at least, a couple of magic sapphires, which she inherited when she became queen. They give her magic powers, and are highly coveted by The Red Queen. When a war started by Mortmesne threatens to overwhelm Tearling, Kelsea, determined to save her people, gives herself up to The Red Queen and turns over the sapphires.As The Fate of the Tearling begins, Kelsea is on her way to prison in Mortmesne. Although she no longer has the sapphires, she still continues to see visions from 300 years ago during the time of Tear’s founding. From these visions, she hopes to solve a number of mysteries, the biggest one being: how does she fix the problem of so much evil in the world? Will finding out what went wrong with the original settlement show how it could have been averted? As the story unfolds, Kelsea - locked in a cell - has plenty of time to contemplate the nature and nurturing of pernicious thoughts and behaviors. But when she finally has the chance to do something about it, she only has a short time to decide if she can pay the very steep price necessary to save her kingdom. The ending is definitely bittersweet.Discussion: Like other trilogies of this ilk, this one has plenty of overused tropes and caricatures. And in case you noticed the similarities to Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, eventually a third jewel even shows up. Not all the questions are answered - in fact, few of them are. We never learn, for example, what is the source and extent of magic in the Tear. It's an interesting strategy; one must simply accept it as given. The story includes other unique aspects, and is often engrossing and entertaining, perhaps explaining why it has been optioned for a movie and is set to star Emma Watson as Kelsea, the main protagonist.Evaluation: This series has its faults, but it makes for irresistible reading. The books are definitely not standalones.
    • 4/5
      Spoiler Alert: I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in this third installment of the Tearling trilogy. Although I liked where the story was going as far as providing more backstory to the early Crossing exiles and the development of Row Finn and Gavin Murphy (The Fetch), I thought there was way too much going on that was sort of just left. The last 50 or so pages read more like a screenplay for a film, complete with "everyone's about to die" climax that then...becomes a Scooby-Doo ending. While I enjoyed Johansen's take on timelines and time-play, too little was given about William Tearling's attempts to travel into the future (as indicated in the final conversation between he and Kelsea), and not enough about where Kelsea's manipulation of her timeline leaves everyone else. Can we just assume all of the New World just becomes this new thing--this dream society? Or was any thought given to the notion that while Kelsea escapes her doom, no one else really does--in that time line? What about Row's Crown? Caitlyn did bury it and whether it was retrieved after Kelsea-Lily-Katie kill Row we're left to guess. Could it be used once more by a Row-like character to create chaos? Does this leave the storyline open to possible alternate stories outside of the "new" Kelsea timeframe? My other "complaint" is that although throughout the novels Kelsea carries a deep love of reading and books, and while it is indicated at several points that the members of Tear's Crossing brought books with them and even created a library, none of the titles reflect much that one might consider important to setting up a socialist democracy--not once does Kelsea mention Marx, Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi, MLK, or even Helen Keller--people known in the pre-Crossing world for their fight to make "a better world"--which was after all the predominate theme. In fact, fiction dominated the repertoire of Kelsea's reading "diet". One might think that as a would-be "savior" she might want to study up on people who wrote and thought deeply about what a "good" society might look like. Perhaps even a bit of Socrates or Thomas More? A group of 2,000 people who cannot even consider taking works by many of these thinkers or others (where's Zinn, Chomsky, Sharp?) seemed doomed from the outset. The "utopian" world Tear wishes to create just doesn't cut it without some significant materials to evoke deeper discussion or thought. Superficiality seems to be the real culprit for why Tear's utopia disintegrates in less than a generation--without serious debate and materials from which to draw ideas to debate...people are left pretty empty and open to what Row Finn eventually offers, regardless of its despotic nature.I fear that b/c the first novel has been slated for a motion picture (I'm guessing shortly after the second book came out) Johansen might have been pushed to make this final book more movie-like. Hard to say, but it does strike me as more in line with a Hollywood plot sequence and ending. I'd advise to forego the movie and stick with realigning the rest of the series or any subsequent novels with the first one, which was by far the best of them all.
    • 4/5
      Wow, what a ride this has been! The Fate of the Tearling is the third of the series, and DEFINITELY, read them in order and read this one last! Erika Johansen has plotted this series with incredible detail and the plot expands and grows, but not exactly chronologically. Queen Kelsea grows into the role quickly as she is forced to make decisions that effect the lives and futures of her subjects. She is not always sure of what is best, but the fact that she must act decisively is a given.She has acquired some magical powers but is not always sure if the magic is good or evil. Sadly, some of the most despicable evil is brought on by the church, or organized religion in general. We certainly see that even today, as evil people shield themselves and their selfish purposes behind their religion. As I read this, I remind myself that evil is not sent by God, but evil people can distort religion in such a way that evil prevails.Kelsea also has acquired the power to mentally move back in time to watch history unfold, revealing just how the kingdom has gotten in the untenable situation it is in. So the plot moves forward in multiple time periods, following the original settlers who came with William Tear, and their children who reinterpret the dream that William Tear had for the Utopian settlement he had envisioned.Kelsea also learns far more about the evil and very powerful Red Queen of Mortmesne, when she becomes a prisoner in the dungeon that is part of the Red Queen's formidable castle fortress. There are lots of secrets revealed, and no easy answers, but Kelsea is growing wiser, even as she suffers.And while she is imprisoned, her faithful Regent Mace and the Queen's Guard who remain in the Tear Keep are under a siege they may not survive. Twists and turns and narrow escapes occur with great frequency, and I still didn't see the end coming!This is a good series, and this is a good time to start it, since all the books have now been published! (Fate is due out Nov. 28, 2016) Should be available at your favorite bookstore or the local library...check it out!