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    Into the Bright Unknown
    Into the Bright Unknown
    Into the Bright Unknown
    Audiobook9 hours

    Into the Bright Unknown

    Written by Rae Carson

    Narrated by Erin Mallon

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The stunning conclusion to Rae Carson’s New York Times–bestselling Gold Seer trilogy

    Leah Westfall’s journey has been one of ever-present peril, hidden magic, harsh realities, loss, life, determination, and love. She has searched for a place to belong and a place to call home, and people who can accept a girl with magical powers that prove to be both blessing and curse.

    Rae Carson has been lauded as one of YA’s best writers of fantasy, and fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sarah J. Maas, and Westworld will be riveted by the conclusion of this remarkable historical fantasy trilogy.

    Leah is poised to have everything she ever dreamed of on the long, dangerous journey to California’s gold fields—wealth, love, the truest friends, and a home. Thanks to her magical ability to sense precious gold, Leah, her fiancé Jefferson, and her friends have claimed rich land in California Territory. But their fortune makes them a target, and when a dangerous billionaire sets out to destroy them, Leah and her friends must fight back with all of their power and talents.

    Leah’s magic is continuing to strengthen and grow, but someone is on to her—someone who might have a bit of magic herself. The stakes are higher than ever as Lee and her friends hatch a daring scheme that could alter California’s history forever.

    With a distinctive heroine and a unique interpretation of American history, Into the Bright Unknown strikes a rich vein of romance, magic, and adventure.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 10, 2017
    ISBN9780062688408
    Author

    Rae Carson

    Rae Carson is the author of two bestselling and award-winning trilogies, as well as the acclaimed stand-alone novels Any Sign of Life and The Empire of Dreams. Her debut, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was named a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Andre Norton Award finalist. Walk on Earth a Stranger was longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award and won the Western Writers of America Spur Award. Her books tend to contain adventure, magic, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. Originally from California, Rae Carson now lives in Ohio with her husband. www.raecarson.com

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    Reviews for Into the Bright Unknown

    4/5

    59 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A satisfying conclusion to an amazing series. Glory, California has become a hub of people looking for a place to call home. Leah had been promised an official charter for months but hasn’t received one so she and a group of Glory townspeople decide to head into San Fransisco to ask for it. James Henry Hardwick a rising politician and the financier to Hiram’s mine operation in the previous book has threatened Leah and her friends to end their hopes of making their town an officially recognized city if they get in his way. By staying in the city, Leah and her friends discover Hardwick’s schemes and plans on ripping people off to make the money circulate directly back to him and maintaining all the power of the city for himself.This book had a very different feel than the other two but it didn’t make it less enjoyable. Leah, more like Becky, is planning a wedding. Jefferson just wants to marry Leah period (which was disgustingly cute). All of the college men just want to practice their respective degrees. Hampton, a newly freed slave, is waiting to receive his emancipation papers and hear word about if the person who owns his wife has received her payout and how soon she can be sent to him. A lot of Leah’s friends had something they needed to do and this book tied up their loose ends. There was much at stake for all of them but it wasn’t as intense as it was in the other two books. While there were still losses and setbacks nothing kept me on the edge of my seat but it wasn’t a bad thing. At one point it became a sort of caper/heist story which was kind of interesting but because I was invested in the characters I found myself more interested in the parts where they had to deal with personal situations. I really didn’t know what to expect going into this book so I think that played a big part into those feelings.It’s clear how much research Carson put into this series. It never occurred to me that the reason San Fransisco is so dang expensive is because inflation was a thing since the beginning of time. It’s a really cool place with a cool scene but you really do have to be a freaking millionaire to live in the middle of the cool action. This series is one of the better ones I’ve read all year. I kept grabbing the next one right after finishing the last page of the previous one.
    • 4/5
      The conclusion to Rae Carson’s young adult trilogy set during the Californian gold-rush. Leah Westfall and her friends arrive in San Francisco in 1850, hopeful that their various goals will be straightforward to achieve. Instead they discover complications and obstacles -- and a city in which laws can be circumnavigated if those who have the right combination of money and connections. I like how this builds on the previous books: Walk on Earth a Stranger was about the journey to California, Like a River Glorious was about life on the goldfields. Leah’s magical ability with gold also has an even more prominent role in the story, as she continues to explore, and make use of, her unusual talent.Leah’s voice is engaging, her story is tense and eventful, the writing is vivid and lovely, and the historical details are fascinating. Carson continues to thoughtfully highlight abuses of power and raise questions about land ownership, privilege and injustice. It would be easy to have a story in which Leah, with her supernatural ability to acquire wealth, gets to sweep in and buy her friends free from trouble. But instead she is confronted with the fact that the solutions her money can buy have limitations. To be effective, to attempt to change the system and not just rescue one person, requires teamwork.I was expecting a slightly more explosive ending. However, I like that Leah’s journey -- in spite of its hardships and difficult lessons -- ends so positively. She has friends she can trust, friends who love her and who know her secrets, and that is wonderful. Gold has been singing a muted song for our entire journey here, sometimes from far away, sometimes buzzing in my throat. But this, when my feet touch ground here.. this is like hearing a chorus of a thousand voices.
    • 4/5
      The final book of the Gold Seer trilogy finds Leah Westfall and her friends in San Francisco at the peak of the Gold Rush. The new city is full of people eager to make their fortunes, and those who want to swindle it away from them. One of those men, Hardwick, is the worst of the lot, and of course Leah and the others find themselves caught up in his trap. It takes all of their wits (plus Leah's power to sense and control gold), to rescue the city's downtrodden and ruin Hardwick for good. Once again Rae Carson proves she did her research, and does not shy away from depicting the harsh realities of life in early California (especially for everyone who was not a rich white man. The more things change...). I'm always sad when a series comes to an end, and this was no exception. I hope that Rae Carson has some more stories to tell!
    • 4/5
      This is one of my favorite series so obviously, I'm sad to see it end. I'm not sure what I was expecting with this final book, but it definitely tied up all the loose ends and gave me a completed feel. It was action packed like the others with hints of romance. It definitely needed more sweetness though. I craved more of Jackson and less politics. There were times when this one seemed a bit dull. Not technically in an uninterested way, but more of a... I wish something else was happening way.I still love Lee and her grit. She will forever be one of my favorite heroines. The paranormal gift just added to the complexity that made her amazing. The last chapter really made me swoon. It was nice to see a wedding finally take place. I enjoyed the humor laced with southern charm. All in all, this series is one I will recommend to all YA readers. It brings romance, fantasy, western feels, and mystery. The covers are breathtaking and the writing is top notch. If you are on the fence, just one click it.
    • 4/5
      This is the third and final book in the Gold Seer trilogy and was a good conclusion to this series. Once again there was less (almost no) adventure in this book; this book was more about the politics happening in San Francisco during the Gold Rush and Leah’s effort to make things better and protect her friends.This book ends up having a very Ocean’s 11 type of vibe (as crazy as that sounds). Each of Leah’s friends ends up coming up with part of a scheme to take down a powerful villain; the full scheme isn’t revealed until the end of the book.Carson’s writing remains incredibly easy to read and engaging. I enjoyed seeing where all our characters ended up. The story is also tied up nicely.Overall I was pleased with this conclusion to the Gold Seer trilogy. I am always impressed with how effortless Carson is to read and how quickly I am drawn into her stories. I had hoped for more adventure and less politics in this book; so I was a bit disappointed by that. However, I am happy where our characters ended up and am excited to see what Carson starts working on next.
    • 4/5
      I have loved reading this trilogy about Leah Westfall. Her adventures are fascinating to read, just a little bit suspenseful with a pioneering 19th century setting that incorporates discussion of several intersections of discrimination and what it means to be a minority in that time and place, all the while featuring a young woman who resists the things that try to tie her down and instead tries to make her own destiny.One of the weird things about the series is that it can be clunky and preachy about the discrimination and prejudices it tries to depict, and it comes across as a little bit tone deaf in places. I've figured that it's just the author trying to do extra good in response to previous criticism, and I admire the attempt, but in this third and presumably final book in the series, it got to be a little too precious for me. This time, in addition to general 19th century misogyny and racism, Leah and her friends come up against a very wealthy man who controls all of San Francisco through dirty dealings and cheating the people (he sells future land multiple times, for example), and who aims for much more political power. He felt like a caricature, even though I know this kind of person existed and still exists, and the very 2017-tone of the characters' responses to his robber baronry felt out of place. Plenty of folks protested similarly 150 years ago, but something about Leah and co. never quite felt like it fit the setting.Now that I've complained about what should be an admirable attempt at highlighting the injustices of 1850, I have to admit that I still read the book cover-to-cover in a single afternoon because it was that engaging. As with Like a River Glorious, Leah and her friends get caught up in a terrible situation and scheme to save themselves. This time, the house that Becky Joyner's husband had disassembled and shipped to San Francisco has finally arrived, but they can't claim it because he has died and Becky can't lay claim to property herself. Meanwhile, James Hardwick, the millionaire who had conned Leah's horrible uncle, refuses to fulfill his side of a bargain to get a charter for their little town in the mountains, and he uses his wealth to also hurt her friends. Since Becky refuses to give up her own house and the college men want to gain employment in the city anyway, they all settle down for a bit to work out how to get the house back and take care of Hardwick.The gang is split up again and the narrative takes pains to keep certain plot elements a secret without making it obvious, so that the final stand-off against Hardwick is exciting and full of tension. I think it worked really well - I certainly couldn't put the book down because I needed to know if Hampton was okay, if Tom had really sold out, and what exactly Hardwick's "associate" Miss Helena Russell was up to, among other things. There were strong suggestions throughout of what was going on, but it isn't until nearly the very end that all the moving parts are revealed and confirmed.This was a very satisfying conclusion to Leah's story which maintained the tone and adventure of the other books. Some of the social justice elements, while presented in good faith, were a bit clunky, but that aside, it was great fun to read. I will keep an eye out for Carson's next book.
    • 5/5
      When Becky gets a letter telling her that the house her husband had disassembled and shipped through the Panama Canal has arrived in San Francisco, most of the group decides to go along. The bachelors are looking to advance their careers and Leah and Jefferson want to see the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco is a bustling, lawless town. They find Becky's house but without her deceased husband she has no right to it. She can attend an auction and try to buy it back. Leah discovers that Hardwick, who offered to get her a charter for her town of Glory, is one of the biggest crooks around. He is paying off people to get access to land which he sells over and over again. He is amassing a huge amount of gold which he intends to take back East with him to buy his way into the political power structure.Leah and her crew want to destroy his plans and they plan an elaborate con to ruin his reputation and take his gold away from him. Leah develops new abilities in this one. Not only can she find gold but she can pull or push it too. I loved the historical detail in this series. I also loved that Leah was a smart, honorable person who wanted to help those less fortunate than herself. This was a very satisfying conclusion to the Gold Seer Trilogy.