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The End [DT Spoilers]


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I finally finished the book. The end. Spoiler (not really), the ending of this book will make you very, very sad. But to make up for that, the real spoilers are down below.

Spoiler

The very last pages of the book show it isn't the end. Not expecting that. I really thought it was. But Grandpa is still alive and Bastille will write the last (or more) alcatraz books.

All i all, I really enjoyed the book although I called the ending about who the traitor was (but not who it really was) and how Attica snuck into the Highbrary. The ending is a little ambiguous about what the ritual actually does and exactly how the mechanics of the whole smedry history came to be. But when carefully reread, it made more sense.

But a question arises: What was the method to create the smedry line? Was it the ritual? 

The talent circle isn't further explained.

We don't know what the dark talent actually was. Do we?

 

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I loved this book and I loved all of the explanations it gives about the magic system.

So I'll try and answer some of your questions:

So it's important to understand that there were two distinct processes that "made" the Smedry Line. First making them energy sources for glass and a bit later giving them the Smedry powers to absorb the excess energy, that was destroying their city, in a ritual involving the dark powers.
I think the ritual at the end of the book was neither of those (who would he bestow those powers upon?) but Biblioden seems to want to redo the first process for the whole world!

Yup, the talent circle (Incarna Wheel?) hasn't been expanded upon in this book.

And yup, we don't know what the Dark Talent was. Probably the biggest mystery still standing, with the mysterious shadow in the mirror, etc. Attica seems to think there's not a lot special about it, but I suspect that's just misdirection. Perhaps the Breaking Talent has something to do with those Dark powers.

That's also why I didn't think this would really be the last book: there's still a lot left unexplained (Dark powers, Breaking Talent, Worldspire, ...)

PS: Can we put spoilers here without them being hidden?

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Just finished reading. I freaked out for a good five minutes. My throat is quite literally sore now. I expected that there would be more books after he said, "Oh this would be foreshadowing if my autobiography were going to go beyond this final book. But it's not." But I did NOT  expect this ending!! Even through the author's afterword and copyright info, I thought it was all a ruse, that the story would continue in secret past all that. In a way, I was right, but not how I thought I'd be.

 

Okay, let me break it down into manageable pieces.

First, Grandpa Smedry. So glad he's not actually dead. Yet. Was really worried for a minute there that he might be.

Second, Attica. Wow. Didn't think they'd actually kill him. I mean, he was a crappy father (really just a crappy human being) no matter what the Shaper's Lens showed Alcatraz. If I had to choose between him and Alcatraz being sacrificed, I'd choose him. But still.

Spoiler

Aside from Mistborn,

we usually don't see the books end in death like that. It was extremely jarring. Great scene, very powerfully written. But horrifying at the same time.

Third, Bastille. So we'll get at least one more book in this series, this time from Bastille's perspective. Should be great. Also, did anyone notice, in her letter at the end of the book? She signed it "Bastille Smedry". I think we all knew that was coming, I'm pretty sure even Alcatraz referred to "our house" at one point when talking about Bastille, implying they lived together. But that's a pretty big confirmation regardless. Also, I theorize that, in the same way as becoming a Smedry gives you a Talent, now it also makes you an Oculator, given what we've seen happening to the Smedrys who weren't already Oculators. Which is of course what Bastille has always wanted.

 

All in all, I loved this book. It made me laugh hysterically, made me shout out in shock and excitement, and almost got me to tear up a bit. Can't wait for the next one.

 

mind-blown.gif

Edited by Sand Master
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I was in a bit of a hurry when I first posted here, so here's some of my less important reactions:

Footnotes are genius.

Freeza might run the Librarian military (as it's mentioned that they have the attitude of, "if we can't have it, we'll just blow it up").

"You're not my mother, you're merely the woman who gave birth to me - and I'm surprised you didn't find a surrogate for that endeavor!" --> You're going to need burn heal.

I didn't know how much I wanted to see Alcatraz wearing a tuxedo until it happened. So suave!

This may be the first time an inanimate object has been guilt-tripped into self-destructing.

Entire paragraph that makes sense but is written without the letter E? I... I don't even know what to say. How do you even DO that?

"This place was odder than a river-dwelling species of mammal from the mustelidae famiy." Odder. Otter. The puns, man.

"Puns are obviously the highest form of literary genius that an author can display."  I'm starting to agree.

"'...we did have Douglas eat the M section in the fiction archive. That might sow a little chaos.' 'Honestly,' Douglas said, 'sparkles? Hasn't she ever met any undead?'" Fiction. M. Undead. Sparkle. Stephanie Meyers. Twilight. Brandon Sanderson Alcatraz is so clever!

The not-triceratops that keeps saying things over and over in different ways? It's a Thesaurus.

 

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I have literally just finished the book and am now attempting to figure out when the 6th book will be released. I've looked at everything Brandon has released about this book, and he has expertly used phrases such as "... I am at last able to get the fifth book (and the final one Alcatraz will write) out to you fans." from the 2015 State of the Sanderson. My only guess is that the Bastille books will be the new YA series he plans on writing? It would also be wonderful if anyone who has finished the book will be at his signing tonight/on the 10th and could ask him covertly about the continuation of this series...

Sorry for the blockpost, I literally made this account a moment ago so I could ask questions

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We finally got the altar!

 

Finished it a bit ago. Alcatraz was my second novel published under Sanderson's name after WoK so I've been anticipating this a bit more worried about how he would end it all. Getting to that last page, it was just so perfect. So very Alcatraz.

And then going past the discussion guide just out of pure habit for any last tidbit from a good book and seeing the note. Two perfect endings. I'm running out of shelf space and I'm okay with that.

 

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I finished it and thought it was a sad but good ending. Then I read the note and couldn't stop laughing. Oh what fun Sanderson must have had making everyone think this was the last book.

3 hours ago, Sand Master said:

The not-triceratops that keeps saying things over and over in different ways? It's a Thesaurus.

Ha! Didn't catch that!

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I just want to say, Brandon had me fooled. 

I read the end, read the afterword, then read the acknowledgements, then Brandon's acknowledgements, then even part of the writing and analysis prompts before giving up and realizing that it was the end. Finished. Kaput. 

"But how?" I asked myself. "There are way more than usual loose ends. Why is there a Freeland left to write to? But both Attica and Grandpa's death! Man, Brandon wasn't kidding when he said this book was dark." 

And then I come on here to talk about the sudden and complete ending of the series. And I see others talking, and realize. 

There's a last page. 

I scrambled to my book, tearing it open, and see the sneaky little inserted folded paper on the literal last page. Made so that I would only see it if I was looking for it. 

I read it. 

And I let out a sigh of relief. Of course Grandpa's not dead. And of course Bastille's married to Alcatraz. And of course it's not the end. Brandon wouldn't want to have to answer all 500 questions that the ending leaves at every single signing! 

Bravo Brandon. You had me fooled.

It was a really enjoyable read. I think I might have to reread it to catch on some of the jokes I didn't see the first time around (Thesaurus. Man, that's awesome.) I did catch Dif being Biblioden about halfway through. He really was trying too hard, and I think his name's similarity to Dilaf had me watching him closely anyways. Bastille's book will be interesting to read. I'm looking forward to it. 

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Oh. My. Goodness. That was great. Since I was at the signing I know what he said about the book in advance. I am truly amazed he didn't burst out laughing with all the foreshadowing he was saying! He basically said to not read "the last page" this time. He said it as Brandon not Alcatraz. Now I know why. The REAL last page. Ah you are a true genius Brandon.

The puns man... Best thing ever! Maybe reading this book will make people realize how great it is when I wax punny.

Footnotes. Good stuff. It was confusing on those couple times when they crossed over into another page, though. The sentence shouldn't have ended to let us know or something.

Overall excellent. Easily the best of the last four. I need to re-read book one to decide on that count.

Good on Hayley Lazo. It fit the book quite well.

So many people are going to be pissed off by the end before they find the Bastille note.

I wonder if they celebrate Bastille saving the day on July 14, since France doesn't exist ;)

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6 hours ago, Djarskublar said:

Oh. My. Goodness. That was great. Since I was at the signing I know what he said about the book in advance. I am truly amazed he didn't burst out laughing with all the foreshadowing he was saying! He basically said to not read "the last page" this time. He said it as Brandon not Alcatraz. Now I know why. The REAL last page. Ah you are a true genius Brandon.

The puns man... Best thing ever! Maybe reading this book will make people realize how great it is when I wax punny.

Footnotes. Good stuff. It was confusing on those couple times when they crossed over into another page, though. The sentence shouldn't have ended to let us know or something.

Overall excellent. Easily the best of the last four. I need to re-read book one to decide on that count.

Good on Hayley Lazo. It fit the book quite well.

So many people are going to be pissed off by the end before they find the Bastille note.

I wonder if they celebrate Bastille saving the day on July 14, since France doesn't exist ;)

I loved both endings. I actually would probably prefer there was just the first, though, because it's interesting to end a book this way.

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My favorite part of the whole book was watching the interactions between the adult characters around Alcatraz. Throughout the first four books, we've seen a lot of interaction between adults and Alcatraz/Bastille but very rarely between just the adults themselves. The conversations between Grandpa, Draulin, Shasta and Kaz while in the glass penguin made me laugh out loud because I was so excited to see the different types of interactions. Draulin didn't feel like she had to be the adult figure like in the Scrivener's Bones and her and Leavenworth' s "bickering" gave the two characters a history and a 3D feel. And when she punched Shasta in the face, that was priceless. 

Shasta has always been one of my favorite characters (besides Bastille of course) and I've always wanted her to be more present in the books. She's a character with so many secrets and so much power that I wanted to read and see. The interactions between her and Alcatraz were something that I had been wishing for since Book 1. When Alcatraz looked into her soul, my heart melted. The crying child in the back just killed me. 

The final piece of the book that hit home for me was the final scene with Attica. I really honestly thought he was going to change. I thought we were finally going to see a form of relationship within him and his son and wife. But he changed for the best at the very end, it was just a little too late. 

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Oh. My. GOD. that ending. I was actually crying. I didn't even notice Bastille's letter until I saw it mentioned here.

1a7u0c.jpg

A proper reread is definitely needed. I have no words.

1a7t6v.jpg

On a brighter note death by Avada Kedavra and being sued by J. K. Rowling would be quite awesome I think. Now being chased by sparkly vampires should have defiantly been number one on that list! B)

 

Edited by lookingglass
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Finished it.  Enjoyed it.

 

I was skimming through the earlier books today, and I stumbled across a section in book 3 in which Alcatraz talks about flying using a rocket-propelled penguin.  There's even an illustration of Alcatraz with a penguin strapped to his back.

 

Lo and behold, what do we learn about penguins in book 5?

 

Now I'm curious - has Brandon Sanderson been holding that little item in reserve since book 3?

 

 

I picked up the e-book format of the book, so there was no little scrap of paper to tip me off that I might be missing something on the other side of all of the educational aids stuff.  I'm glad I looked past it all anyway!

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So I stayed up later than I should have last night, but I finished the book and Satirizing Sandersons did I enjoy it.

The puns were puntastic, I did catch the otter and thesaurus ones. The Twilight one I also sort of caught, I knew it had to be a Twilight but I couldn't remember her name (so I was like "I'm pretty sure it starts with M?").

I did get a weird vibe from "Dif" but I totally didn't see him being Biblioden coming. I also didn't catch Attica disguising himself as a Curator (and to be honest I was momentarily confused as for some reason when Alcatraz started explaining I thought he was implying that Attica was always a Curator and was just pretending to have returned to being human, which obviously isn't the case).

Also I don't know if anyone else noticed, but if you go back to the illustration of Shasta reading the fantasy novel in prison with the wall blown open beside her and look closely at the book it's actually the first Mistborn book!

As for the end, it was definitely unexpected but I wasn't entirely surprised. By the time I started I had seen Brandon and Peter asking people if they had read to the very end and referring to a secret ending, and when I got my copy I did find the folded over page (though I resisted the urge to open it and read it, thankfully). So going through I was definitely wondering what was going to be in that little flap and I'm happy to admit more books was my main theory (I just thought they were going to be more books in the world and not a direct continuation like this). By the time I got to the part where they were on there way to the Forgotten Language room I was definitely thinking "there really isn't that much more book how are they going to do everything they need to do? Alcatraz foreshadowed the Worldspire when are we going there?" but I still didn't think there was going to be another book in this series.

When Leavenworth "died" I kept waiting for his Talent to engage (because it had to, he couldn't /really/ be dead... right?) and when we got to the first ending I was definitely in shock. And then I very quickly turned to the secret ending and was inordinately pleased. I saw that it was written by Bastille when I first opened that page but didn't catch that her last name was Smedry until I had was in the process of setting the book aside and was like "Wait a minute!".

And thinking back I'm highly amused about how Brandon always said book five would be the last the Alcatraz would write, which is true but it's an Aes Sedai statement if there ever was one. I am curious though how many people actually knew there were going to be more books. Like @PeterAhlstrom did Brandon tell you ahead of time or where you blindsided by it when you first read the draft?

If I'm being frank though, this sort of stunt is something that I would be inordinately annoyed about in practically any other circumstance. But it is so totally in character with Alcatraz and the metatextual nature of the series that it just works.

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I very much enjoyed it. 

I did not predict who Dif was. I thought that Biblioden would be revealed to be Alcatraz the First who had turned his back on Talents and Silimatic technology after the destruction of the Incarna. Breaking a language fits the controlling knowledge idea. And breaking time could let someone live forever. It seemed to make perfect sense. Unfortunately, I think there was enough evidence in the books to disprove my theory. 

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58 minutes ago, WeiryWriter said:

I did get a weird vibe from "Dif" but I totally didn't see him being Biblioden coming.

I went back and forth on Dif a lot, I initially thought he was introduced as the weird guy trying to fit in so that Alcatraz could use his Shaper's lens on him, but when that never happened and when he kept exaggerating everything so much I knew he was a Librarian spy. Especially after he knocked the Truthfinder's lens into the fan. I missed a lot of the hints about him being Biblioden though, like the Librarian Oculator being terrified.

1 hour ago, WeiryWriter said:

I also didn't catch Attica disguising himself as a Curator

I was totally surprised by that one too, great disguise!

I'm still not sure what to think about the Talents though. Was Attica right and Alcatraz the First wrong? But then why all the "Dark" stuff?

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*finishes the book* *screams internally (and a little bit externally)*

Spoiler

Yeah that's pretty much my reaction. :lol: When I got to the fist ending I was in shock. And denial. And other words that mean I couldn't believe it. 

And then I read the second part and literally skipped around saying, "yay." 

Also, after reading this, I think I'm going to pull out Actaraz vs the Meming Librarians again. 

 

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2 hours ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

I very much enjoyed it. 

I did not predict who Dif was. I thought that Biblioden would be revealed to be Alcatraz the First who had turned his back on Talents and Silimatic technology after the destruction of the Incarna. Breaking a language fits the controlling knowledge idea. And breaking time could let someone live forever. It seemed to make perfect sense. Unfortunately, I think there was enough evidence in the books to disprove my theory. 

I was SURE that either Dif or Attica would turn out to be Biblioden by the end of the book. By the time Dif broke Alcatraz's Truthfinder's lense, I was absolutely sure it was him. Plus, his behavior seemed outragously insane while on the penguin, and then later he's...well...sane. Non Smedry-like.

So I FINALLY predicted something in Brandon's books! Yes!!

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5 hours ago, WeiryWriter said:

Also I don't know if anyone else noticed, but if you go back to the illustration of Shasta reading the fantasy novel in prison with the wall blown open beside her and look closely at the book it's actually the first Mistborn book!

 

I didn't notice that! Just checked and you're absolutely right. That's awesome.

 

5 hours ago, WeiryWriter said:

By the time I got to the part where they were on there way to the Forgotten Language room I was definitely thinking "there really isn't that much more book how are they going to do everything they need to do? Alcatraz foreshadowed the Worldspire when are we going there?" but I still didn't think there was going to be another book in this series.

I was reading the ebook version, and all the footnotes were sort of "stored" in the back of the book, so to me it looked like it was about fifty pages longer than it really was. So I was really surprised when it ended when it did, since I was also thinking about the Worldspire reference and how it couldn't be close to done yet.

 

5 hours ago, WeiryWriter said:

And thinking back I'm highly amused about how Brandon always said book five would be the last the Alcatraz would write, which is true but it's an Aes Sedai statement if there ever was one.

That's a great way to describe it. I wonder if the Aes Sedai were the inspiration for phrasing it that way, or if he's always been that devious.

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He's been this devious since Elantris, honestly. I was certain Dif wasn't what he said when his backstory was explained. Only survivor in a Sanderson novel? Yeah right. Not unless you're a Radiant. I didn't see him being that important in advance though.

Every time I think about that ending I rage a little though. Holy (insert several expletives of choice)!  I never saw the ending being that dark. I was even warned...

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Things I missed or didn't anticipate:

Dif being Biblioden, Thesaurus, Sparkles, Otter/Odder, Attica as a curator, Attica dying.

Things I caught or expected:

The Mistborn book, the last page, Alcatraz being really smart and figuring out a lot of things but being fooled at least once.

Thing I really want to now know about:

Biblioden's backstory!  I mean, sinking an entire continent of followers?  Killing your brother?  Berserking Brandons, I can't wait for book 6.

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So grateful for this topic. I completely missed the hidden end page until I saw it here. I was shocked at the end but figured it was just the author messing with conventions so while I wasn't happy I accepted it. I did breathe a sigh of relief afterward lol

Edited by Racrilen
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That was great! The first half of the book was.... Not my thing. I struggled with how abrupt and SO very full of jokes it was. It got better though. I loved the references to other authors, I caught Abercrombie, Naomi Novik, and obviously Rowling. The Mistborn cover was great. I knew Dif was a traitor. I like that Brandon is stealing Pratchett's footnotes. 

Im really glad I found Bastille's letter.... I'd be pretty ticked if I hadn't....

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First off, totally missed Bastille's letter. I was in shock. Like, serious shock. Could not believe it. I mean, I could, it sounded like Alcatraz, but seriously. Cruel. Then I thought to check with all of you wonderful people. So relieved. 

Awesome puns, great meta, loved the footnotes, so many great references. The chapter four wanting to add an extra o to his name was great. Bet Brandon had to fight his editors on that one. 

List of ways to die was amazing. Anyone else catch balefire on there? 

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