“These are unhinged times”

That’s putting it mildly Dawson…

Well reaching the end of this trilogy absolutely devastated me. I finished Human Rites last night [Wednesday] and I sobbed for the last 80 pages or so? I’m still not ok as I try to gather up my thoughts to write this review.

The end of The Shadow Cabinet feels like a lifetime ago; not content with the catastrophic cliff-hanger at the end of HMRC, Dawson of course treated us to another one of equally epic proportions at the end of SC, so the first order of the day for Human Rites was dealing with the fall out as once more, our heroines need to re-establish themselves.

I’m doing my best to avoid spoilers for the trilogy, so suffice to say, HR very much felt like a book of two halves. The first half we see the characters coming to grips with the new situation, where the aftermath has placed them, walking on eggshells around certain broken relationships and deciding whether or not to patch up others…

These books confront huge themes and politics, but they also cover the individual human dramas of life – a husband of twenty years having an affair, whether or not it’s time to have a baby, battling the guilt of letting someone new in after the death of a partner… These stories may have huge scope but it’s the personal level that brings you close to these characters and Dawson balances both perfectly. These women feel so real and even as I started Human Rites I could already feel myself preparing to grieve their loss when I reached the end. It’s the mark of the best kind of story.

“Because you loved each other the most”

But this is the final instalment of the trilogy, so of course everything that had been building of the course of these stories had to come to a head. The prophecies, the demons, the cracks in the relationships were all leading in one direction, and as much as I’d been wondering how this final battle was going to play out (the Battle of Hebden Bridge but on a bigger scale? With more X-Men-like fight scenes?), Dawson takes us on a trip I did not see coming at all. In my previous reviews, I spoke about how the preceding two books were satisfyingly concluded stories of their own whilst contributing to a wider arc. What we have this time round is an evil-genius level of meticulous planning to bring together threads from the previous books that you wouldn’t have even realised were important. I’d already marvelled at how clever Dawson’s storytelling was, but in this epically proportioned conclusion she demonstrates just how skilful she truly is.

In terms of themes, Dawson has brought us full circle in this regard also. Our witches may be battling the forces of Satanis, but Dawson also teaches us the tools to use to battle the true villain of each book – fear. HMRC saw Helena make dire choices out of her fear of what she didn’t understand. The Shadow Cabinet took that further and explored the myriad ways fear can control peoples lives and ruin them. Human Rites teaches us, and not to sound My Little Pony levels of corny here but, love has the means to conquer fear.

This series is hyped and it’s had rave reviews from some massive names which, contrite bugger that I am (I know which of the Five I am) would usually put me off. If you’re the same, I cannot urge you strongly enough to pick up these books. They are compelling, they are devastating, they are relatable and yet unpredictable. They deal with magic but are themselves a feat of sorcery.

Human Rites is available now. You can order your copy from Bookshop.org