I can’t put into words how much I was waiting for this book to come out after reading the second part of the Rosenholm trilogy. You can find my review here. The series built up a lot of tension and the ending of part two was so damn promising that I was burning to read part 3. Yet, I had to wait for a bit before I could finally dive into the book, because my bookstore got two (!) faulty copies for my order and I was seriously bummed. Every day I had to wait for the book was a day too much.
As soon as I finally got an unharmed copy, I started reading. Here’s what I thought of the book. And so much can be said: I cried my eyes out.
Before I start, I want to mention again that this is a review about part 3 of the series, so if you haven’t read the first two books and don’t want any spoilers, don’t read on. Also, I am not sure if I’ll be able to write this review without including any spoilers.
First of all, this book is much longer than the first two parts. And also I can already say that quite a large part of the book is focussing on Malou, who stands out in this book as the main character out of our four protagonists. Quick flashback to part two: The second part ended with the girls discovering that the school’s new principal Jens murdered Trine during her time at school. They found out with the help of Trine’s sister Leah, who used to be in a relationship with Zlavko, the teacher of blood magic (sorry if I mess up any terms, I’ve never read an English copy. I’m just praying that the names are the same). At the end of the book, Leah dies. And Malou parts with the group as she joins Zlavko’s group of crows, who are supposed to guard the school – and Jens.
The plot of part 3 doesn’t take much time to evolve. Kirstine, Victoria and Kamille confront Jens with their discovery and, when Jens doesn’t respond to it at all, decide to make it public during an event organised by Victoria’s rich, influential parents. What they do not know: Jens is invited, too. He’s giving a speech on his plans with Rosenholm and the entire magic community and when Victoria is supposed to give her on talk in which she wants to expose Jens as a murderer, Jens manipulates her.
In consequence, the three girls decide not to return to Rosenholm. They retreat to the place of Kamille’s mother, joined by their former teachers Lisa, Thorbjörn and Jakob and Victoria’s ex-boyfriend Benjamin. They need proof for Jens‘ actions – and they want to defeat Jens. To their big surprise and shock though, it turns out that Jens is well protected through an item he got in possession of during the last school year. And it turns out that one of them is in serious danger.
In the meantime, Malou is the only one of the three protagonists who is still at Rosenholm. The school is changing massively, Jens first introduces a new rules, the crows are being trained to protect school and students and they also coach their fellow students in self-defense. The school’s also introducing more and more safety measurements throughout the school year because Jens is well aware of the fact that he’s being chased by those who know about his big „secret“. He’s also preparing everything to put his visions into practice when it comes to how the future of magicians is supposed to change. Hence, there’s a lot of brainwashing happening at school.
It takes quite a while until these two plotlines are led back together – and that’s basically when stuff becomes really interesting, because at some point you don’t really know who’s on whose side anymore.
I like the way the plot and the characters develop. And while in the beginning I was worried that the sapphic romance that was introduced in part two was about to fall apart, it later gets a revival – in a different form than expected. There’s a lot about love and friendship, trust and cautiousness, values and beliefs included in this book. The characters still develop further, discover more about themselves and their families and our four protagonists as well as their friends (and foes) have to face new, hard challenges.
The book is mostly quite dark, but there are lighter parts as well. Yet, if you’re sensitive to e.g. graphic descriptions of injury or violence, be careful with this book (then again, after the first two parts of the series, this part is no longer surprising). There are a few more content warnings I’d include, but I’ll hide them because they might contain spoilers.
Content warnings (Spoiler alert)
- graphic description of injury and violence
- kidnapping
- descriptions of (more or less) mutilated bodies
- murder
- major character death
Generally, the grand finale of the book reminds me in some parts of Harry Potter and the Battle of Hogwarts. I am very sorry, but a story that revolves around a magic school has to live with comparisons to Harry Potter, although I personally have part ways with this story due to the ramblings and views of the author. Anyway, there is basically a big battle towards the end of the book. And another thing that reminds me of Harry Potter is the very ending of the story, that to me is absolutely unnecessary. I am seriously sorry to anyone who thinks those kinds of endings to a maybe slightly more grim fantasy story, but I am sick of kitschy „several years after“-narrations that show how happy and peaceful everybody is these days. But at least being pissed off helped me get over the fact that I was crying like a baby due to how the story ended in general.
All in all, the Rosenholm trilogy might not be a big masterpiece full of innovative world- and storybuilding. But it entertained me well and I really liked the characters. Actually, recently me and my girlfriend discussed the representation of female teenagers in books (after looking at our bookshelf and noticing that somehow, in our opinion, John Green is not able to write sympathetic, likeable teenage girls) and I honestly like the way Gry Kappel Jensen portrayed the four protagonists. All of them are individual, all of them come with their issues, all of them are likeable (to me, personally). And I also like the fact that her book shows that you don’t need to be very much alike to maintain a great, lasting friendship. Sometimes it’s our differences that make us match. (Says a person without any friends at all, lol.)
I highly enjoyed reading this series. And I’m very sad that it’s over now.