The Gemma Doyle Series by Libba Bray

I originally had this pegged as a YA series and I'm not sure why. I think I read an article that mentioned the second book in passing and the title stuck in my brain as such do. I picked up the second book, Rebel Angels, first because of this and had to backtrack the beginning of the series.

The first two books, A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels, were very quick reads. Gemma Doyle finds out at age 16 that her mother has hidden secret magical powers from her and that Gemma has inherited some of them. Gemma is packed up by her family and moved from India back to Victorian England where her family sends her off to boarding school.

At boarding school, Gemma learns how catty and awful girls can be while discovering the use of her powers to enter "The Realms." There are a lot of sinister overtones and I found a lot of the girl drama tedious, if accurate.

The third book was nearly 800 pages long and it dragged on quite a bit. It took me about three weeks of on and off reading to slog through it. The only reason I didn't put it down was that it was the end of the series. Ultimately, I got through it, and it wasn't terrible, just in need of an editor. The wrap up was a solid completion of the story lines but I found several aspects of it irritating. The romantic subplot in particular was particularly unsatisfying.

The first two are well worth the read and it's an interesting world.

1. A Great and Terrible Beauty
2. Rebel Angels
3. The Sweet Far Thing