Literary Merit: very good
Characterization: very good
Recommended: yes
Reading level: high school

Third book in a series. The author did a good job on keeping the reader up on what had happened in the previous book. The story itself was very interesting with a slightly different take on fantasy. Readers hope for the main character, Madeleine, to achieve her goals. ( )

A Tangle of Gold is an immensely satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. The first two books involved some very unexpected twists, yet I was still surprised that A Tangle of Gold manages to pull together the pieces of the story so cohesively.

Because when the trilogy begins, it feels a bit like two separate stories running alongside each other. Two teenagers discover a way to send letters between their worlds - between Cambridge, England, the World, and Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello - and the focus is on what's going on in their lives. (Which is a lot less mundane than it might be, because Moriarty's writing is gorgeous and zany and poignant, and because neither Madeleine nor Elliot's lives are very ordinary.)

Since their first letters, Madeleine and Elliot have learnt more about themselves and their families, about science, history, the political situation in Cello and the nature of cracks between their worlds. The narrative threads tying Madeline and Elliot's stories together creep in over time - in disguise, often hiding in plain sight until something something forces them to jump out at you.

More of those threads are already out in the open by A Tangle of Gold and that amps up the pace and the intensity of the story. I couldn't put the book down. And when I reached the end, although I wished I got to spend more time with these characters - to see what happens next - it absolutely felt like the right sort of ending.

I also, somewhat to my surprise, really loved the subplot about Keira staying in the Farms, undercover as one of Elliot's friend's cousin. The problems she's dealing with are quite different to the ones Elliot and Madeleine are facing - some of what those two have to deal with is bleak and heartbreaking - and the story needed that balance.

Madeleine was wearing her mother's coat under her own. This seemed to be making her even colder. Each coat assumed the other would do the work of warming her, so both just hung there thinly, filling up with cold. ( )

A fantastic end, to a fantastic series.. Rtc ( )

Sequel to A corner of white and The cracks in the kingdom.. ( )