After searching so long for a place to call home, the daring teddies–clever Buddy, shrewd Sunny, fearless Nothing, and wise Reginald–find few answers at the place where they were created, Furrington Industries. But with a new friend―a teddy of legend!―the teddies head back into the dangerous world to seek the secrets of their creation.
Soon the teddies find themselves surrounded by people who hated them, and discover that the founder of Furrington Industries, known as the Suit, is on trial for an unknown crime. Left reeling but determined, Buddy leads his friends–those that survive–through the protestors that line the streets outside and into the bowels of the courthouse . . . where they’ll find out the true, incendiary reason the teddies were thrown away.
I’ve gotten to a weird place where there are certain things I almost…hesitate to finish, because I really don’t want them to be over.
Yes, I know. I can always reread a book, rewatch a show, etc. But you do only get to experience the last episode of a show or the last book of a really special trilogy for the first time…just once. And for whatever reason, I’ve been doing that a bit more often lately.
I watched the last episodes of two shows that have meant so much to me (in very different ways) recently, Superstore (a show I started in the early days of the pandemic, and very, very slowly chipped away at, which only made approaching the finale even more daunting), and Somebody Somewhere, a show I found to be almost unbearably special & deserving of a much bigger fanbase.
So endings can be tough, right? There’s all this anticipation & expectation. You want it to feel perfect, but so few things ever are. So you just say “fuck it,” and dive in. You read the book, you watch the show. You made it this far, it’s time to see how it ends.
Those were just some of the thoughts going through my head when I decided to start THEY SET THE FIRE, book three in Daniel Kraus’s middle grade horror/fantasy trilogy, THE TEDDIES SAGA.
These books have been so special & important to me, and in some ways that are really only occurring to me pretty recently. Without getting too far into it again, I read the first book, THEY THREW US AWAY, when one of my dogs was going through a really rough stretch. Having that book to escape into each night meant more to me than I can express.
But also? I think reading THEY THREW US AWAY really opened my eyes to reading more middle grade horror (I do think this trilogy skews a bit more towards fantasy, but there are certainly many horror elements at play!) Prior to that, the only MG stuff I was reading was Star Wars, so it’s really cool when one book can kind of open a big door for you, and that’s definitely what happened with THEY THREW US AWAY.
But on to the finale!
The story picks up right where THEY STOLE OUR HEARTS left off. Buddy, Reginald, Sunny, Nothing, and Proto are now determined to solve the mystery of why humans turned on the Furrington Teddies. Why people react in horror & anger & rage at the mere sight of a Teddie.
One of the biggest themes in this trilogy is Buddy struggling with what it means to be a leader, and he gets tested here now more than ever. Because Proto? Well, Proto is definitely the type of guy (and we’ve all met this type of guy) who starts talking before he starts thinking. Who thinks the plan must be good, because he came up with it.
Meanwhile, Buddy has been out in the world surviving this whole time while Proto was just locked in a glass case, undisturbed. So yeah, there’s some friction between the two, but Proto proves to be (like all of the Teddies) a deeply complex character in his own right, and I loved getting to know him & seeing what he ultimately brings to the team (spoiler: it’s a lot!)
Their quest will bring them answers, and I just…don’t know how to describe the gut-punch of these revelations without getting too spoilery. I will say that the story goes to darker places than I imagined & I think Kraus is really bold here with some of his choices. For sure, there is some deeply upsetting content here.
There are several new characters we meet here in the finale, most notably Kidd & Missy, a couple of teenagers linked to the big protest against the Teddies. Kidd’s story really swung things in a much more mature direction, as we explore some abuse in his life. As well as some sweet/awkward teenage romance between Kidd & Missy. Kidd is actually a really complex figure in this story, as the Teddies struggle to determine whether he’s a friend or a foe.
This was such a brilliant end to a really magical trilogy! Even though these are books about sentient teddy bears, they have a whole lot to say about humanity, about love, about friendship, about being brave.
The first book in this trilogy will always have a special place in my heart. It’s tied to a really difficult, impactful time in my life, and was one of those books that just made me so thankful to be a reader. But this whole trilogy is outstanding & I hope it continues to find its readers, of any age. I think I mentioned it in one of the other two reviews, but Daniel Kraus mentioned in a newsletter (his newsletter is typically great, highly recommend signing up if you’re a fan!) that he would love to someday see a deluxe omnibus edition of THE TEDDIES SAGA & I really would love to see that happen. There’s just so much magic & joy & darkness & weirdness in these books, and I’m so happy to have finished this trilogy!
Grimdark Dad 