Quintana of Charyn

Book Title: Quintana of Charyn

Author: Melina Marchetta

Series: The Lumatere Chronicles #3

Date Started: March 27th 2019

Date Completed: April 12th 2019

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

Quintana of Charyn is the final instalment in the Lumatere Chronicles and one that satisfyingly wraps up the narrative of the previous book. For me, I wasn't as much of a fan of the last two books in this series, but I'm still glad I continued on with the series after loving the first book.

The biggest turn-off for me was how grim the whole thing was. Things have gotten far more serious as we go and it isn't balanced by much else like the first book was. I guess that's fine, it's there for a purpose (most of the time), but it's just not as enjoyable. The characters are too hit and miss for me to be able to feel tension constantly for, what, 400 pages? For me, these books are about entertainment and adventure, and this just became torment, suffering, anguish. Personally, I think it was a bit too interested in being dramatic and lost some of its heart because of it.

Since the first book, these have been told in multiple perspectives, necessarily because there's action happening all across the continent. But I'm not sure there need to be quite as many perspectives as they are, I think it limits some of the mystery and suspense that I remember in the first book. You also, inevitably, feel like the author is favouring certain characters - and believe me, the book may be titled after Quintana, but it still feels like it's about Froi. I'd say about half of the book is following him, and the other half looks at various people including Quintana, Isaboe, Finn, Lucien, Phaedra etc. Which is totally fine, I'm just not the biggest fan of Froi, so I always felt like I was waiting for his parts to be over.

What has to be commended, though, is how nicely Marchetta finishes the trilogy off. A lot of authors seem to have trouble wrapping up a story with enough room of the characters to have lives after it ends; they want to give you every detail of how they all feel and how they all move on when it's just not necessary. Marchetta definitely gives us a lot of run-down time after the final climax, but it's relevant, it's interesting, and you don't feel like she's trying to cram every possibility of a sequel. She's doing justice to the story. I have to say, it felt a bit like this series was a stand-alone novel followed by a duology, and I think you could absolutely read Finnikin of the Rock on its own and be satisfied, though other people seem to enjoy the final two books more than the first, so it depends what you enjoy, I guess.

I really liked the arcs of the characters throughout these books, especially since they're allowed to be flawed. As grim as it is, the tough decisions they make mean more because we know they've really had to find something inside themselves to get there. At first, I was quite defensive of Isaboe and her actions (thinking that she was being far too mean for Isaboe) but actually, her retribution was all the more powerful for it. Similar things happen with other characters, but she struck me the most. You definitely get to see characters 'grow up' in the course of this trilogy.

This was my least favourite book in the series, but I did still enjoy it. I think reading on past the first book definitely offers more to this world - and not just for the sake of it. Ultimately, I just preferred the tone and direction of the first instalment above when it turned later on, but I know lots of other people think differently.