Right around the time when my blog was more than just a past-time, or needed respite, from a busy lifestyle, Ronlyn Domingue's The Mapmaker's War came into my life in serendipitous fashion. It was just around a certain time in my life where I was desperate to read a fantasy book more enmeshed in the fabric of meaningful myth, more-so than tedious exposition. I wanted to read something not just mystifying, or engaging, in the way good fantasy transports you outside the confines of the mundane, but rather something I could be deeply-impacted by without my realizing. Both books in the series, prior to this one, were impacting in ways instantaneous and easy to articulate, whereas  The Plague Diaries, the complex culmination of so many seemingly disparate narrative and allegoric threads, is quite the nebulous read, when you're reading it for the first time.

And sometimes too close for comfort, when it comes to books. And I think more than the complexity of the structure of Ronlyn Domingue's novel (which can feel daunting at first, this is a complex work of literature), the reasons the book is so tough for me to speak about is because I quite honestly don't like the self-conscious discomfort and unease of self-examination that these kind of books demand. I mean this in the best possible way, of course: this book forced me to stare deeply into my own neuroses that plague me much in the way the literal plague in this book practically forces an entire community's repressed vices to the surface. These vices, or neuroses (fears and sins are interrelated) come by way of dreadful mortification and injuries, of course, an actual physical manifestation more-so than the subtler sublimation we're more accustomed in our own reality.

  Through the medium of fantasy storytelling, our anxieties that dog us, put us in a fraught state, have corporeal forms, and in this story, nature is made into an anthropomorphism in true mythic fashion, wreaking revenge on humanity's overweening pride in trying to control and manipulate nature to the extent of doing it harm, destroying the delicate balance needed for all live in its myriad complexities to somehow coexist.

    This story is structured very much in an alchemical scaffolding. Basically, The Keeper of the Tales trilogy, like many other modern works of fantasy fiction/literature, entrenched with roots in mythic archetypes, has a literary alchemy template. Rather than explain through my own words, I am including here words from literary scholar of Harry Potter, originator of the literary alchemy theory applied to JK Rowling's books,  about the essential structure of the literary alchemy storytelling. In trying to explain to his readership, before applying the theory to concrete examples from Harry Potter, he first retells the template of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet  while applying the stages of literary alchemy:

       "This play you’ve all read and probably seen on stage or screen has a black and a white and a red stage that ends in gold. You remember Romeo’s melancholic beginnings, and the strife and division in the streets of Verona. The white stage begins when the young lovers meet. The division between Capulet and Montague is joined when this couple is bound by the sacrament of marriage. The story is essentially over when they’re married in the church service and the marriage is consummated. But the accomplishments of the white stage that are hidden have to be revealed on a larger stage in the crucible of the red stage. Through the deaths of Romeo and Juliet in the Capulet tomb, greater life comes to Verona. Juliet’s parents and Romeo’s father promise to erect golden statues of the star-crossed lovers and the city is at peace at last." (John Granger, hogwartsprofessor.com)

The plague itself is a vehicle of the alchemical change ushered into the series, all of which coincide with a deeper revelation for not just the characters in the story, but ourselves, that all of us is "gold," at least spiritually speaking, meaning unique/waiting to be shaped and  molded by our life's trials and experiences. And it is this deceptively simple message that unites all the characters and pieces together, leaving one in a state of solemn meditation over their own experiences, decisions in life, how we've affected others, or whether or not we've properly forgiven our past vices, etc. to the point where we have not let them fester in our subconscious like shadows.

I don't want to speak too much more about the specific ways that this book works subtle magic in such deft ways, or just how it leaves the reader in awe like the great works of either Ursula K. LeGuin or Octavia Butler, involving examinations on feminist gender politics in the traditional male-dominated template of fantasy storytelling, and how time is ripe for more egalitarian-minded stories to utilize classic storytelling tropes and archetypes to tell an important story that resonates deeply in our psyches.

This was the perfect book to end my book blog with because it symbolizes all the things I love most about books, in that they don't just transport us away from the drudgery of the mundane, but rather force ourselves to meditate on our own burdens, or things we've never confronted ourselves. Most important, Ronlyn Domingue's book is a work of fantasy literature that excels in the refined art of literary alchemy or more commonly known as deeper magic. The books I remember most, sometimes the ones that elude my ability to fully comprehend them, are the ones I routinely can return back to, again and again, gleaning new meaning each and every time. I read The Plague Diaries now twice through, and I still feel I have so many more things to gain in terms of interpretations, things for myself to take away, etc. So many tears were shed throughout both readings of this book, so many moments of the deep frisson of familiarity/deja-vu when I could relate to Secret, and the trials and tribulations of others, throughout the book, or just the ineffable awe of wordplay or magnificent working of allegorical writing. Simply put, I highly recommend this book to readers of all preferences, eclectic, or even stubbornly cloistered/fixated on one genre. It is a series to treasure, and return to occasionally, to soak in the edifying prose of Ronlyn Domingue's artful, mesmerizing writing.

Ronlyn Domingue has taken me on a wondrous adventure with her Keeper of Tales Trilogy. Not only is the story interesting, but Domingue’s writing is expressive in such a unique way, each book taking on a different voice and unique point of view that you do not see often in a lot of books. It’s been a few years, but this epic trilogy concludes with The Plague Diaries, a conclusion I was anxious to read.

Things start kind of slow; Secret is determined to carve out her independence and find her own way by continuing her position as archivist for Fewmany, who seems to warm to Secret and bring her under his wing. This first part of the book felt a little bit like Jane Eyre to me, with the strange dynamic between employer/employee and how that sort of blossoms into a form of respect and then admiration. He wants something though, of course, and that’s the pivotal point that changes the course of the book. Secret is sent on a mission on his behalf and finds much more than she anticipated.

This journey was prophesied in the last book, The Chronicles of Secret Riven, and vaguely included Secret’s childhood friend, who also happens to be the prince, Nikolas. There’s something I love about seeing prophesies come together and how the cryptic knowledge that the characters start out with starts to all fall into place. This journey unleashes the titular plague and delves deep into the darkness that lives inside of us all.

I don’t want to give anything away, but I want to mention that this plague was such an interesting concept for me. I’ve read about some similar processes in the wellness world and the fact that this plague is actually something that can be seen as therapeutic and kind of a beautiful thing, while at the same time basically creating a living hell, is a bittersweet thing that I am pretty fascinated with. I didn’t fully grasp the depths of this while I read through, it wasn’t until a conversation after I finished the book that what this could all really mean finally settled in fully. That is what I love about books, how they stretch out long after you think you’re done.

I recall I wasn’t totally taken with Secret originally when I met her in the last book. She was a strong and fierce heroine, but I didn’t have the same feel from her as I did from Aoife in The Mapmaker’s War. Well, Secret really came into her own in this story and was a welcomed addition to this trilogy. She was put upon and put upon, she held a lot of darkness and carried a lot of secrets, she had a passionate love that she couldn’t fully embrace. There were so many layers and complications, she was a beautifully flawed and well rounded character that I quite enjoyed spending time with.

There are so many beautiful things in this story. So many themes that are very prudent to our day today, including gender equality and focusing on people who are different. Domingue wrote with a sensitivity and knowledge that made these passages very moving without turning them into a loud political statement.

What I love most about this whole trilogy is that Domingue has built a relatively normal world, with regular people, but she’s breathed some magic in between the cracks and really lets her characters come alive with it. Her writing is absolutely beautiful and the way she describes regular things like trees and plants and nature is so colourful that they become their own characters. That’s where the magic lives, in the writing, in the descriptions, beyond the magical abilities the characters possess.

As this is the last in the trilogy, loose ends are tied up. But Domingue saves us the plight of tying it all up with a pretty bow just to end things off on a high note. I found it very satisfying, the way things came together in the end, and thought it fit really well with the tone of the rest of the book and the series.

Ever get to the end of a really great series and desperately want to read the last book, but not want to at the same time because you don't want it to end? That was me with this book. I knew it would be great, and it was even better than I thought, but I feared turning that last page because I knew once I did I would feel a bit lost. Now what am I going to read that will be this good?

In this final book of the series, a lot of things have happened that will make the reader want to find out more. There's magic and mystery, events from the past that surface and change the outcome of the future and at the center of it all is Secret, a perfect name for a character that must deal with just that--many secrets. I loved the genre boundaries that this book pushed. It is the kind of story that will make you think, make you question what you know about the world of the characters and their lives and even your own.

The writing is clear and concise, the best words chosen to help the reader see the surroundings through the character's eyes at all times. There are lines in this novel that are so flawlessly beautiful that you want to print them and tack them up on the wall and that, to me, is the sign of a very talented writer. I loved the descriptions of the library, the grounds and the overall atmosphere of this book. I was able to get lost in it and forget that anything else existed. if you enjoy books where you are never quite sure what is going to happen to the characters you have come to care about, this book will be a great addition to your collection.

I was pleased with the ending, finding myself satisfied (if a little misty-eyed) with the way the author chose to conclude her series. Loose ends were tied up nicely and I walked away happy to have had the opportunity to read this final book and hoping for more from Ronlyn Domingue in the near future.

This is a wonderfully imaginative series and "The Plague Diaries," is the perfect conclusion. You would be remiss not to read this book. Recommended to everyone that wants a good, strong story to get your mind's cogs turning.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thanks Atria Books and netgalley for this ARC.

This book just wasn't what I was expecting. Its more a young adult book.

Needed better execution and world building. I felt like the plot was strained due to incomplete descriptions and arcs.