OF ENEMIES AND ENDINGS

Finally 14, Rory Landon gets to complete her own tale, taking on the Snow Queen and all her evil allies with the help of her classmates at the Ever After School.

In this fairy-tale world, first introduced in Of Giants and Ice (2012), rising ninth-grader Rory stands out at Ever After School: her tale is unwritten. She only knows the beginning, the part that says that in the month she turns 14 she will meet winter, death, and despair and hold the fate of magic in her hands. There’s plenty of all that in this action-packed fantasy. The special relationship Rory thought she had with half-Fey classmate Chase seems to have evaporated; he spends all his time with Adelaide and misses important fights. The Snow Queen is amassing allies; she invades the formerly safe area of the school and threatens the world of humans. Rory teaches her special brand of fighting and goes out on one mission after another, skirmishes that lead up to the climactic battle. Bach balances 21st-century adolescent angst with self-aware fairy-tale tropes for a fizzy if formulaic read. Readers new to this fairy-tale world may find it hard to catch up, but those who’ve followed this sword-wielder through three previous volumes will be as pleased to read the end of her tale as Rory is.

A satisfying conclusion to a sword-and-sorcery series with a feminist fairy-tale twist.