Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles #3) - Melina Marchetta

Review: Quintana of Charyn
Author: Melina Marchetta
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Fantasy
Recommend To: fans of the Seven Realms, A Game of Thrones

This series has been a true roller-coaster. It was going up and down, upside down, and the end was nearly impossible to see. Over the course of this book, dozens and dozens of characters were introduced, and their stories were so entwined that it was almost impossible for the book to have any sort of happy ending. 

I first met the majority of characters in Finnikin of the Rock, and it was impossible not to love all of them and just want them all to be happy. When I learned that there would be a sequel I was thrilled. When I learned it was told from the point of Froi I was a little put out, but by the end the book completely changed my mind. I NEEDED to get hold of Quintana of Charyn. I had fallen in love with a completely new set of characters and it looked like they were being pitted against each other. 

It was stressful. 

Honestly, it looked as if they would all end up killing each other, or never finding their true loves and it was just awful. But Melina Marchetta is some kind of fantasy book goddess and managed to wrap it up. When books say they're satisfying they're usually wrong, but this one was deep, complex, confusing, at times humorous, at other times (the majority of the book actually) heartbreaking, and very very satisfying. 

The countries of Charyn and Lumatere will forever be making repairs after the years of struggle they went through, and there will always be problems with neighboring countries, but I loved these broken lands with a passion fueled by the inhabitants. Each inhabitant had a story (usually a painful terrible story) and they created the overall story of their nation. 

The story wasn't always pretty, it showcased some ugly sides of human nature, it addressed mature topics such as rape and genocide. It forced you to put every inch of your soul into the book and care so much that you thought you would self-implode at times. And that's what makes it one of the best series I've read.