Review of "The Pentacle" by Marieke Lexmond

Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)

The Pentacle is the sixth and—as it stands now—final installment in the award-winning Madigan Chronicles series by Marieke Lexmond!

Where does a series go once it has lost its big bad? Whether it's Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Voldemort in Harry Potter, or Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, stories often face a new challenge after defeating their central villain: how to evolve beyond the looming shadow of evil. The Pentacle answers this question with grace, maturity, and a surprising dose of emotional complexity.

Rather than introducing a new external enemy, Lexmond turns inward—exploring the aftermath of trauma, the weight of legacy, and the cost of magic. In doing so, she shows us that not all battles end with a vanquished foe. Some continue quietly within families, within memory, and within the choices that ripple across generations. The villain may be gone, but healing takes time. Justice demands reckoning. And peace—true peace—requires sacrifice.

By shifting focus from confrontation to restoration, The Pentacle transforms the conclusion of an epic saga into something more intimate: a meditation on forgiveness, responsibility, and what it means to carry on after the war is over. In this way, the series doesn’t just survive the loss of its villain—it transcends it.

So... where does a series go once it has lost its big bad? In the case of The Pentacle, the answer is: surprisingly a lot!

In this series, we got really caught up to the build up to a climactic showdown with Queen Mab that we kind of took for granted that this was more than some melodramatic epic about good versus evil. It's actually more nuanced and complex than that.

The Madigans themselves, despite being the good guys (for the most part), are not purely good nor purely evil. They have members in their midst like Lucy who have the potential to be as savage as they come.

And the Madigans, despite being the good guys (for the most part), are also largely responsible for the disruptions and imbalances in the magic within this fictional universe. It was their mishandling—and often hoarding—of the elemental power objects that contributed to the world's magical instability in the first place. Their personal grievances, betrayals, and emotional immaturity were just as responsible for the chaos as any external threat (like Mab). Lucy’s descent into darkness didn’t come out of nowhere; it was enabled by years of family fractures, secrecy, and judgment. Even Tara, once a pillar of wisdom, made choices that endangered everyone, driven more by loyalty to her twin than any sense of justice.

And let's not forget that Tara and Seamus both interfered with the natural order of death: Seamus lingered as a spirit bound to a tarot card rather than passing on. Oh, and by the way, we're reminded that Cal stole the magical tarot deck at some point, exacerbating the problem.

Speaking of problems, we do get one added dimension to this book—another magical object, if you want to call it that: the Pentacle of Growth.

Symbolically (and per the elemental magic system of this book), it completes the quartet of elemental objects:

Wand (Air / Wisdom)

Dagger (Fire / Consciousness)

Cup (Water / Plenty)

Pentacle (Earth / Growth)

In our opinion, the Pentacle acts as a kind of tether—anchoring the other elemental forces (Air, Fire, and Water) to the Earth itself. It doesn’t overshadow or outrank the other elements, but it provides a necessary point of balance. It grounds them, both literally and symbolically.

The best way to understand it is by comparing it to the human body: if the Wand (Air) is like your brain, the Dagger (Fire) like your immune system, and the Cup (Water) like your vital organs, then the Pentacle is your central nervous system. It’s what integrates everything, relays signals, and keeps the whole system in communication and alignment. Without it, the other elements might still exist—but they would drift, disconnect, or spiral out of control.

So, the Pentacle isn’t more powerful than the others—but it’s what allows all the other powers to function as a cohesive, stable whole. It’s not just about growth in the physical sense; it’s about integration, maturity, and completion.

Despite the Pentacle being the namesake and ultimate culmination of the book, the Cup of Plenty is of special interest in this book as it becomes the central object of conflict, betrayal, and pursuit—setting much of the plot in motion. Stolen by Lucy and Tara, the Cup not only represents the elemental force of Water—abundance, emotion, healing—but also acts like a living entity that responds to its rightful Guardian, Snowflake Berthelsen. Its presence stirs deep magical currents, amplifies danger, and draws all sides into a race to reclaim or protect it.

Oh, and by the way... remember Snowflake from book #4 (The Cup)? Well, she's back and plays a pretty major role in this book as the Guardian of the Cup.

Speaking of the Cup... More than a magical artifact, the Cup symbolizes the emotional undercurrents within the story: grief, generational wounds, longing, and the overflowing consequences of unhealed pain. It literally refuses to stay hidden, resonating with Snowflake across distances, betraying its location, and causing magical disruptions. As such, it becomes both a coveted prize and a liability—forcing the Madigans and the Berthelsens to confront not only each other, but their own family legacies and the consequences of hoarding power.

In many ways, the Cup is the emotional and spiritual heart of the story—its instability mirrors the fractured bonds between families, and its rightful placement becomes essential for restoring magical balance.

And, perhaps most importantly from an entertainment standpoint, the Cup sub-plot highlights the relationship between Tara and her twin, Lucy, our favorite character in the whole series. If you need to be reminded about how much we love Lucy, she was named "Best Villain" of our 2023 Spring Contest. She has been a nominee for "Best Character" in numerous contests. She is essentially the Vegeta (from Dragon Ball) of this series.

Anyway, The Pentacle is the Lucy and Tara show, and we're on board with that!

And they do have some really touching and interesting moment together. Keep in mind: these two were mortal enemies and arch-rivals for years. Lucy caused havoc and was the main villain of book #1 (The Dagger). This book constantly reminds us of Lucy's dark past and the terrible things she has done. In fact, even Set talks about how she was a terrible mother who could never be trust or relied on.

Oh, and we're reminded about the fact that Lucy even went so far as to torture Bridget once upon a time. However, don't forget that she also allowed her body to be used in an astral-projection attempt to defeat or hold off Queen Mab, causing Lucy tremendous pain and suffering in an act of self-sacrifice, achieving some redemption.

Lucy and Tara actually have some interesting and even beautiful moments in this book. Perhaps our favorite is when they laugh together.

They even have a cute moment in which they joke about how old they are. That whole exchange is gold:

Lucy follows her sister’s movements as she bites in the blood-red raspberry jam. “You’re right. I always had this enormous drive, and lately—I don’t know.”

Tara smiles knowingly. “Welcome to old age.”

“I’m not that old,” Lucy snaps back.

“Exactly as old as I am,” says Tara with a wink.

We were a bit bothered by the ultimate fates of Lucy and Tara (at least for now). It was upsetting that it seemed like their own family had to turn against them to complete their ultimate mission and that Vhumut, who really seemed to adore Lucy and even helped her (and the Madigans) against Mab, turned against her like this.

We have a feeling that this was supposed to be upsetting. This can't be the way that these two characters, especially Lucy, go out. They're too important and they're too cool!

Anyway, the book features a lot of callbacks to the previous books.
We also return to the Land of Fairy for a little while and follow all the recent changes under Ceri, the new queen (because Mab never had kids). There's some good world-building here. For example, we learn that the fairies love to keep their memories in these holographic memory-box things.

Diane's seeress power come into play.
Also, Maeve's siren powers still continue to emerge in spurts.
Cephalop is also still in here, tentacles and all.

If there's anything that negatively impacts this book (and others in the series), it's the fact that it often seems stretched thin. There are so many characters and so many things going on. Not only is it difficult to keep track of all of them, but—more importantly—it's difficult to maintain tension and focus when the camera wants to keep switching perspectives.

Nonetheless, we were overall happy to have read and experienced this book (and series)!

Check it out on Amazon!