Glass Coffin by Gabby Hutchingson Crouch

The tyrannous Huntsmen have declared everyone in one village to be outlaws, since they insist on supporting the magical beings of neighbouring Darkwood. Why won’t they accept that magic is an abomination?

Far from being abominable, the residents of Darkwood are actually very nice when you get to know them, even Snow the White Knight, who can get a bit tetchy when people remind her she’s a Princess.

In order to stop the Huntsmen from wiping out all magical beings, Snow and her friends have to venture into the Badlands of Ashtrie, and seek the support of the Glass Witch – but she has plans of her own, and let’s just say they’re not good ones.  

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I'm struggling to think of some superlatives I didn't use on the first two books in this series! I may have to reuse the same ones ... this is clever, it's stonkingly funny, the character arcs are wonderfully rounded off and everything makes sense, in the end. (I am a little disappointed that Gretel didn't make one connection I did, but it's always easier from outside the story, isn't it.)

Some parts of this were so unexpected, but they make perfect sense in retrospect. I'm so sad this series is over ... I really thought it could go on for a good while yet ... but at the same time, I'm glad it stopped before the quality went down. This could easily have been overstuffed, with cameos thrown in just because they could be, and I'm glad they aren't. Everyone here is necessary. (Especially Trevor.) There's some clever ideas around power and morality, but they aren't shoved in the reader's face; we're allowed to draw our own conclusions, which is much better. These would make a great classroom read, there could be some fabulous discussions on them.

 I'll miss this series very much, but I'm looking forward to seeing what else Gabby can come up with. It's going to be great, whatever it is.

 

Glass Coffin publishes on the 3rd June, 2021. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.