Ha! Post number 10!

Anyone who doesn't check this blog daily and wants to know what's happening may have a lot of reading to do.

There really isn't a happy ending for anyone in this book.

King Olin is well and truly dead. Despite what lies underneath, he is buried in the family crypt after several days of mourning.

Briony will soon be crowned queen. She has refused Prince Eneas's marriage proposal, in part because she does not want Southmarch to trivialized under the larger Syan's king, but mostly because she has realized that she loves Ferras Vansen (I never really mentioned this, but believe me, there was a suitable amount of thought devoted to this).

Ferras Vansen (having loved Briony for the entire series and having been resigned to her marriage to Eneas) is now Briony's lover, but, due to his low birth, this fact must be kept secret. Being unable to marry him, Briony instead makes him the Lord Constable.

Barrick, distanced from his home and family after the events in the shadowlands, will return to Qul-na-Qar (capital city of the Qar) to be their king. He was only briefly present at his fathe's funeral.

Qinnitan is comatose, but has received the Fireflower from Saqri. Able to communicate with Barrick (her lover) at times, both of them are likely to spend the rest of their lives trying to get her back to the land of the living.

Saqri died from wounds received in battle.

Yasammez died in the deluge in the depths, causing the Shadowline, the physical barrier between the Qar lands and the rest of Eion, to disappear. With no way to remain secluded, how long will the Qar last?

Chaven died at the hands of Vo.

Chert is now hated by many (but not all) of the Funderlings, due to his plan destroying their holiest site and will live with his wife, Opal, in the castle to raise Alessandros.

Flint, actually well over fifty, has resolved to wander the world in order to learn more about himself. Earlier in the story, part of the essence of Kupilas fused with him, so that he is no longer entirely himself. This devastated Opal.

Scotarch Prusus, a brilliant mind despite his disabilities, is the temporary autarch. With Vash at his side, he will rule Xis for five years (at which point an autarch from the insane royal family will take the throne), attempting to bring peace to his own land.

Merolanna will die within another year. She is, however, happy that she was able to see her son.

Sister Utta will create a new, larger shrine to Zoria (who may or may not be dead).

Shaso has been cremated and brought to Southmarch by Dawet, his old enemy in life (for having raped his daughter [maybe]).

Dawet has been Briony's ally through the other three books and will remain in Southmarch in order to perform Briony's dirty work. His first act was to kill Queen Anissa, Olin's second wife and mother of Alessandros, but also indirect murderer of Kendrick. Briony's plan had been to have her imprisoned. It seems likely that he had been in love with Shaso's wife.

Elan M'Cory, not returning Tinwright's love, will attempt to nurse Gailon Tolly, her lover, back to health (it is much more likely that he'll die).

Tinwright, having been saved from death by a prayer book in his pocket, will write a play of the events.

Like I said, the best anyone really gets is a bittersweet ending. Ferras and Utta seem to have ended up better than the others, but neither are untempered by sadness. Ferras will have to keep his love for Briony secret, while Utta will watch Merolanna die a slow death.

I'm not really sure how much I like the ending; everything seems so unfinished. None of it really feels like it's over. There almost seems to be enough loose ends to write a book off of (not that Williams will).

Hmm, I was going to write about how unusual it is to have such an unhappy (meanint "not happy but not really sad") ending, but then I remembered Lord of the Rings. And Dune. And Moby Dick. And War and Peace. What's so hard about letting a hero end up happy? With that said, I'm not sure that I really want an absolutely happy ending; a more ambiguous one tends to be more interesting, as nothing really gets too predictable.

If everyone had gotten the girl/boy and lived out a happy life, those last hundred pages would have been horribly boring. An ending like this keeps you on your toes the entire way through.



Regardless of how well these characters' lives went, remember to have a Happy New Year, everybody.