Let it go, let it go . . . Oh, Elsa, I wish you were real.

I apologize for the Frozen reference (except that I don’t). “Let it go,” except in a different context, is really the main theme of this book. And it’s not my fault that Frozen has now co-opted that phrase for all time (point of interest: I am not yet sick of the song or the movie because I have carefully limited my exposure, and also I don’t have any children).

Faerie After is the final book in the Bones of Faerie trilogy. This review will probably not make much sense to people who haven’t at least read the first book.

Faerie After picks up six months after Faerie Winter. Even though spring has returned to the world, mysterious and terrifying crumbling patches of the wilderness hint of something disastrous on the brink. It seems that the realm of Faerie is officially wasting away into nothingness as a consequence of humans blasting it into a nuclear wasteland, and it’s threatening to bring the human world down with it. The remaining faeries steadfastly refuse to leave, despite suffering from acute radiation poisoning that is claiming their healers one by one (they call it the fire fever or something, I can’t really remember — I basically zoomed through this book and remembering details wasn’t really that important to me).

Caleb’s father (who HATES ALL HUMANS) gets the bright idea to bring Karin (who is the Lady’s official heir) back to Faerie in hopes that she can somehow connect to their plants and help them heal the world, but to get her there he has to kidnap Liza and Allie (who happens to be along for the ride). But as soon as she enters Faerie, the screams of her dying world drive her to madness, so that plan was a bust. Then a whole bunch of shit hits the fan all at once, and stuff that I won’t spoil ties everything all up into one neat thematic bow. Janni’s not afraid to pull punches, either. She kills off a significant character, whom due to circumstances in the plot, probably everybody believed safe.

Overall, it was a good ending to the series. At times it was a bit confusing in terms of logistics, but it makes sense emotionally and thematically. I’m glad I read this series, even if it turned out not to be a favorite, and I’ll probably continue to read Janni’s books.