Y'all, I have been waitingggggg for this finale. This trilogy has been the hilarious queer magical YA King Aruthur retelling escapism of my dreams and I was so ready for this last book. 

 

The Goodreads blurb: "Everything is finally going right for Emry Merlin. Now that Arthur is the king and her wayward magic is under control, she’s enjoying life as Camelot’s official court wizard—and as Arthur’s girlfriend. But when an unexpected visitor arrives at court, Emry finds her hard-won position threatened. And Arthur is torn between listening to his advisors and following his heart. Even more troubling, war is on the horizon, with King Yurien’s access to dark magic ensuring Camelot’s doom. That is, unless Emry, Arthur, and Lance can find a way to defeat the evil sorceress Bellicent with magic from her own world. But undertaking a quest to Anwen is perilous business, and our young heroes will face many obstacles on their journey—from dangerous beasts to suspicious nobles to cursed maidens determined to find someone to marry.Can Emry and Arthur save their kingdom and fix their relationship, or will they have to choose between their future and Camelot’s?" 

 

Well, let me get the iffy thing out of the way first. If I'm being honest, the writing is pretty choppy, bouncing from scene to scene and chapter to chapter with less smoothness than in the last two. It's not bad writing, it's more like, bad cuts between scenes? Like there is so much to get into this final book that it's almost rushed. And there were lots of great elements! For real, there were maybe too many of them. I do feel like the flow started settling by about a third of the way in (or perhaps I just got accustomed to the choppiness by then). But the pacing remained just a little off throughout (in particular, the journey to Anwin in this one felt...slow, and maybe unnecessary, to me?). Overall, solid, but just lower quality writing and pacing than the previous. 

 

Character-wise, SChneider continued to crush it with this YA cast. Oh, the Arthur-Emry angst is so real! Guin is awesome (and really comes into her own here) and the juxtaposition of her and Emmett happily trading "traditional" gender roles is a favorite aspect of mine. I love love Gawain. Like, I legit forgot how much I love this rewriting of his character. And speaking of rewritings, I love the remake Lance gets as well. They all kept their personalities and joking fun, balanced with increasing responsibility and stress that comes with age. The newest addition in this last book, Sir Tor, plays a phenomenal quiet, outside-the-institution, different-POV, advisor role that does a gorgeous job illustrating the importance of even just one trusted adult in a young person’s and the effect that can have on their life/mental health/resilience. Even the "bad guys," like Morgana and Mordred got really creative remade character arcs. I thought they were dynamic and fresh and I liked them a lot. 

 

On the other hand, I'm going to be honest here, I just hated Emry’s dad so much. Every part he was in gave me UGH feels. He was the worst as a parent and role model. While he was written in well, and it gave space in the narrative for a really mature development in parent child-relationships (the younger realizing the older will not change, the older accepting the younger has surpassed them in many ways, and both working towards acceptance of that), I just wished he wasn't there. I felt like his presence really took away from some of the lightheartedness of the first two books and wished he could have stayed disappeared and Emry/Emmett could still have had coming of age arcs in other ways. Personal preference. 

 

Anyways, despite my hatred of the elder Merlin, there were overall fantastic character growth and story arcs. All the realizations and growing-ups that happened were spectacular. Plot-wise, I wasn’t sure how this was going to be to wrap (the ending isn’t really a happy one in the traditional tales), but it was so perfect! Some magical pieces that were "convenient," of course, but the mix of original and predictable was done well. And the ultimate finale was an absolutely hilarious twist on the most famous quest in western history! Loved that. Way to keep the fun vibes to close the series. 

 

In the end, this series was just SO much fun, so good. It was lively and diverting and entertaining from start to finish. 

 

 “She could feel herself becoming smaller. Lesser. [...] The negative space in relation to powerful men, rather than her own person.” 

 

“They both held themselves arrogantly, like men who had the kind of power that couldn;t be taken away. Like men who expected the whole world to respect them, and bend to their will. The worst part was, it too often did.” (it’s not subtle, but it’s YA...and it’s not wrong) 

 

“He’d just have to learn. He was good at learning. Besides, no one was born knowing how to do a job they’d never had.” 

 

“How will we learn from our mistakes if we don’t make any?” 

 

“You defend those who cannot defend themselves. And you inspire others to do the same. This world you dream of, where anyone can earn their place regardless of gender, or station, or whom they love is one that I would very much like to help you build.” 

 

“He should have decided sooner that he didn’t care what people thought. It wasn’t worth exhausting himself trying to live up to everyone else’s impossible and exacting standards.” 

 

“I’m saying that whatever is haunting you isn't you. It's just your fears. And you can be fearful and brave at the same time. You don't have to be only one thing.”