This is the final book in the Keeper of the Tales trilogy. I have read these three books as they have come out starting in 2013 and if you have not read them yet you are so very lucky to be able to read them back to back to back. If, like me you have been awaiting this book – well, your long wait is over. I so want to start from the beginning now and read them ALL over again. Can you tell I love these books? And I am not usually a fan of this genre of book.

In The Plague Diaries Secret Riven learns of her destiny. She has free will and can choose not to follow the path laid before her. She has known all her life that she is different but her mother treated her poorly and her father saw her as a means to an end. As she gets older she longs to go to the Higher Academy but girls don’t usually attend. She does not get accepted on her first try so she accepts a job with the wealthy magnate in town, Fewmany. He is a man who knows what he wants and what he wants is everything. He welcomes Secret and slowly seduces her to a life of having everything you could want before he reveals himself.

This is a hard book for me to describe and to write about as it is a book that takes place on many levels. I’ve long written of my difficulties with books that present like this. The brilliance of Ms. Domingue is her ability to create her worlds with such brilliantly written sentences that even someone as literal as me can get lost in a a realm of fantasy and magic and believe.

That is not to say I grasped all that was going on. I know I did not. I do know that in this last book I understood more than in the first two. Perhaps because of the world we currently live in – much of what is written seems to relate to the turmoil of today.

I will note that I found my emotions all over the place in reading The Plague Diaries, even to the point of crying at points. It is a powerful book with characters that will stay with you. It will make you think. About yourself, about your life and about the people around you. It can be read on its own but it is a far richer experience to read the whole trilogy. All three books are outstanding. If you don’t read fantasy take a chance with these books – you will not be disappointed. If you do, you will be doubly rewarded. ( )

This is the final book in this trilogy. I am a little sad to see it end. Yet, excited to see what the author comes out with next. When I first read, The Mapmaker's War, I could not read the book fast enough. The main character was great; yet, it was the world that I enjoyed the most. That did not change in the second book, The Chronicle of Secret Riven, and it did not stop in this final book. A location can help bring a story together and transport a reader.

The second book kind of sets the stage for this final book in the trilogy. It is where readers were introduced to Secret, Fewmany, and the mysterious manuscript. In the prior novel, Secret's ability to "speak" with animals was introduced. I was happy to see Secret's abilities featured again in this book. What added to the aire of mystery were the diary entries from Secret's mother. They slowly revealed the past as well as what the Plague of Silences was about. There is a bit of a slow build up to the story. However, be patient as it is worth it. The story can't really be rushed as that is the beauty in the book. A nice ending to this trilogy. The Plague Diaries will have readers spellbound by this wondrous book and conclusion to this trilogy. ( )

Blog post due: September 27, 2017