+Alas! Gabby Hutchinson Crouch warned us that her Darkwood books would be a trilogy and that would be it. No lovely long series of books like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld or Balzac’s Human Comedy, where we meet various characters multiple times in forty-odd books. The third and final novel – Glass Coffin - is here.

I really enjoyed the book. There aren’t as many laugh-out-loud dentures-across-the-room moments as there were in the first book, but there is still plenty of humour. And an alternative view upon fairy tales. I bet you don’t remember reading a fairy tale that starts with the heroine having her first period, do you? Snow White admits to having them too and tells Gretel “You’ll soon get used to +them.” After all, periods happen in real life. Dealing with them might be inconvenient and awkward, but it’s what real women do.

There was only one aspect that I found unconvincing. One of the climaxes of the book involves two witches battling. One survives because their magic “automatically” protects them. Not because they have a sneaky trick or because they’re morally better; their magic just kicks in automatically to save them. That seemed a bit of a cop-out.

Don’t misunderstand me: this is an excellent book and I had to read it in a single sitting because I was desperate to know what happened next. It’s a worthy climax to the trilogy and is very satisfying in the way it concludes various plot-lines. I would strongly advise you to read the books in order: Darkwood, Such Big Teeth and then Glass Coffin. It’s not just that they’ll make much more sense that way, but that you’ll enjoy them a lot more.

I’m heartbroken that we’ve seen the last of Darkwood but I can start again at the beginning. Unless, Gabby, we can persuade you to write another Darkwood book? Pretty please?

#GlassCoffin #NetGalley