What a finale to an utterly stunning series! Full of surprises, a desperate struggle to make things right, betrayal, unexpected support, magic, and characters who need to figure out what it is they really want. Princess Sleeping Beauty Taylor and huntsman Corentin have their hands full trying to save the world of Enchants from Atticus, Taylor’s brother with the scary powers of Snow White, rewriting their entire history and editing out anyone he does not like. Idi the Witchking has had a change of heart – or is he still up to no good and making everyone’s lives impossible? Then there is The Library, a secretive organization that first appeared in the previous book, who is ready to end Atticus’s life by any means necessary.

Even though Taylor and Corentin are still hunting Atticus, and failing again and again because the evil man is too powerful and slippery, the tone of their quest has changed and is now much darker than ever before. The reasons for Taylor’s guilt over what Atticus has turned into becomes clearer as some of their family details and back story emerges – and it’s a whopper. Taylor is as determined as ever to help Atticus get better – but it seems less and less likely that he will be able to stop the inevitable – his own brother’s death.

‘Urban Fairy Tale’ is a story of changing allegiances and betrayal. It is also a study of how “good” and “evil” can be relative and depend on someone’s perspective, not necessarily some “absolute” principles. Taylor and Corentin face almost impossible odds and tremendous pressure and have to decide what is most important to them. In the end, they are the ones deciding who they will become, and I loved how skillfully Lex Chase kept up the suspense until the last second and managed to tear a brilliant ending from the wide-open jaws of utter defeat. I was emotionally drained by the end of it, but very happy about the result. This series, in fact, has more than one Happy Ever After, and all of them are unusual, unexpected, and about as far removed from the “fairy tale standard” as is possible.

If you want to know how this amazing trilogy brings its multiple story threads to a very satisfying end, if Taylor and Corentin are as close to your heart as they have grown to mine, and if you’re looking for a read that is imaginative, fantastical, overflowing with magic and curses, and very, very intense, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s a brilliant final installment in an amazing trilogy that I won’t soon forget.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )