I wanted to write a review for the original series once I got to the end, but then it had 3 sequels... And I loved all of them! And I want to talk about all of them, but I don't want to write 4 reviews! The tone and overall thematic presentation has changed quite a bit, and the protagonist is no longer one of the main characters from the beginning - but I still see this series as the conclusion to the original story.

***Slight spoilers if you haven't read up to this part.***

If the first saga - Witches of Welland - is about finding happiness in who you truly are on an internal level, the second - Tales From the Witches of Welland - explores more complicated themes and acceptance on an external level, or within community. It's hard to pin these down into simple concepts, because they're anything but. The third, Brotherhood of Diomedes, deals with the inevitable conflict that arises from telling the world who you really are, and living your life how you want. While all of the main characters from the original story seem to take passive stances - self defense, working behind the scenes, protecting their family - there is now an anti-hero who represents the opposite of that. Cindy has to stop the threat from attacking herself and her loved ones, in the only real way that it can be stopped - complete annihilation.

Cindy is very much the protagonist of Scenes From a Changing World, as she causes most of the events within it, and its ostensibly about her. I very much enjoyed this, as she was my favorite character from the past few parts. Her mischief, sense of humor, and rebellious attitude was always fun to read. I think there's only really one missed opportunity in all this, that the characters who oppose Cindy never really had a resolve to understand or accept her. Kara was a dynamic character when first introduced, and they allowed Jessica to play off of their personality well, but ever since they became the Champion - the only relevance they really had was hating Cindy. The Goddesses are also shown as pretty one-note. Aeronwy though, is definitely my favorite of the bunch! She's wonderful!

I think these stories can be seen as an exercise in scale, from changing one person to the entire world. The stakes get higher, and the results are sometimes more ambiguous. The tone of the last part sort of retrospectively influenced the way I saw characters introduced in the beginning. People who I thought of as mostly good, such as the trinity, are now shown to be only neutral or even slightly evil. I was surprised how much my opinion had changed just from the emotional reactions of the characters in-universe... More or less, that means the writing is really good.

Since it's probably not likely to stumble onto this part of the series first, this review is more of a letter of appreciation. I couldn't stop reading once I was hooked, I even pulled a couple all-nighters because I didn't want to put it down. I'm very happy that I read to the end, and I hope the best for these fictional characters in their wonderful lives!

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Eight chapters in. This feels like the longest epilogue for an epic story trilogy ever. Not boring-long, but full of plotyarn getting wrapped up and people being gay. We get to see many old faces again and see how they end up in life after their respective confrontations with the coven and Cindy. As always, it's a big joy. And much more light-hearted than the Brotherhood arc.

***

Update:

When I started reading this story, it really "just" felt like an extensive epilogue to the Welland Saga. Something to tie up a few loose ends. But it quickly grew into so much more. An epic adventure for my favorite sorceress.

If you liked reading  the first two stories of this saga, definitely read this one too!

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