Emily’s Quest by L.M. Montgomery is the third and final book in the Emily series, preceded by Emily of New Moon and Emily Climbs. Emily Starr has just gotten out of high school and is determined to pursue her career as a writer. Life is quiet at New Moon farm, especially since all her closest friends, Ilse, Teddy, and Perry, have gone to pursue their respective ambitions in faraway places. While struggling with feelings of loneliness, self-worth from her writing, and a very complicated love life involving many suitors and dramatic events, Emily’s innocent eyes are opened to the harsh realities of the world, but she learns to take them in stride and mature into a woman.

I found Emily’s Quest to be much more serious, quite unlike L.M. Montgomery’s characteristic style of flowery, lighthearted passages and plucky heroines. Emily is a young adult who undergoes many depressing episodes and dramatic setbacks that shocks the system out of its predecessors. She is skillfully characterized with “the Murray pride” that ultimately precludes her from getting together with her childhood best friend for most of the book. Really, just a little bit of communication skills would have gotten Emily out of every single conflict, but her pride gets in the way of it. Without Emily’s pride, she would’ve lived a pretty good life, but the book wouldn’t have any plot.

The brief chapters of Emily’s romantic misadventures with eccentric suitors were thoroughly entertaining and provided lighthearted, comic relief from Emily’s usual dreariness and writer’s woes. However, her melancholy spells were equally interesting to read, and I feel like many people can relate with these moody, passionate feelings. As someone who likes to write, I also enjoyed watching Emily’s journey as a writer and related heavily to many things she went through, such as learning to harness her creativity, learning not to care so much about what other people think, and, most importantly, never letting anything stop her from writing. It felt very authentic; my guess is that the author took some of her own experiences with writing and instilled them into Emily.

I loved the family at New Moon; these static characters with their lovable personalities maintained some semblance of familiarity throughout the turbulent tale of Emily’s Quest. Rambunctious Ilse was entertaining as well. I wished Emily would have just been honest, authentic, and upfront with her; that would’ve solved a lot of problems, too. The way each conflict was resolved was so abrupt and dramatic that it felt like the author rushed her writing in this book.

There is also the matter of one of her suitors, Dean Priest. Originally her father’s best friend, Dean mentors Emily throughout the trilogy. However, it becomes apparent that he is obviously romantically interested in her, even from when she was a teenager, ultimately culminating in Emily’s Quest. This may make some readers uncomfortable, as he’s twenty-two years older than her, but nothing explicit is done and he remains mostly respectful, if not passive-aggressive. Their relationship is cultivated in a Hades-Persephone style that sets a stark and interesting contrast between the possessive, worldly Dean and wild, innocent Emily. I personally found that thoroughly interesting.

I feel like Teddy was characterized poorly. He was too flat and one-dimensional to be the person that dynamic, fiery Emily pines for and has unrequited love for. All of their moments together aren’t impactful or sweet. I seriously don’t know what they see in each other.

Despite everything that happens, the ending is predictable, anticlimactic, and is wrapped up in literally four pages. I was disappointed in this, especially after enjoying the first two books in the series.

I’m not really sure what to think of Emily’s Quest. The writing style was beautiful, old-fashioned and captivating but not hard to understand. However, the plot was inconsistent and choppy. I feel a little sad now that Emily’s adventures are over, but relieved that I got through Emily’s Quest. Furthermore, I’d only recommend Emily’s Quest if you’re curious in finding out what happens to Emily of New Moon and putting her story to rest.