The End [DT Spoilers]

[Meandbooks she/her]

I finished it last night and wow... I was not expecting the ending on any level. It just got so dark so quickly, and my heart was breaking for Alcatraz and then it was just over and I couldn't believe it. I didn't believe Brandon would go there. I flipped through the acknowledgements and stuff desperately, but I didn't see the note. I practically slammed the book down on my bed, and hurried 17th Shard to see if this was all a big joke or something. And then when I saw a mention of a note in the back, I ran back and got it and read it so fast and then everything was okay again.

Seriously, though, what an ending. I didn't really believe Alcatraz - I thought what he thought was cowardice would actually turn out to not really be his fault, and then... Also, I feel so sorry for the people who don't notice the note.

[Mark Adrian]

I'm surprised they put the list in there. 

I liked the puns too. 

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

I'm late to the game here... I loved the book, the whole series. I was not a fan however of the last chapter. I get it from a character standpoint. it is perfect in that way... but it was really a lurch of an ending. It left me hanging in a brutal way that the Bastille letter at the end couldn't really help. 

I can't wait for the next book in this series as I really want to know how everything ends!

[king of nowhere]

I'm a bit confused here. In sacrificing Attica, Biblioden supposedly made a ritual that would have deprived the smedrys of their powers. That would also have killed granpa, who is only kept alive by his talent. so what about the ritual? did it not work? did the talent take a life of his own and defy the ritual? or maybe sacrificing a smedry was only the first step, and more stuff needs to be done, and they will have to stop him in book 6?

 

EDIT: now I also read the blog post where brandon explains all the behind the scenes. Damnit. Planning to throw a punch like that to your readers, and getting away with it? Brandon, you evil genius! We are lucky you are content with writing, instead of trying to take over the world.

And I'm now so sad I got to meet him in person one month ago and still hadn't read  the dark talent. I could not properly congratulate him on it.

Edited November 29, 2016 by king of nowhere

[Capt. Goradel]

Im late to the game, but I loved this book!! My thoughts are as follows:

Dif was a little obvious IMO

I love the connection between oculator powers and the talents

The ending turned dark absurdly fast

The characterization of Shasta is awesome. Her complexity and motives are one of my favorites of any Sanderon book.

Having Bastille call herself Bastille Smedry was definitely worth the first ending, which I wasnt a huge fan of. 

[Argent he/him]

10 minutes ago, Capt. Goradel said:

The ending turned dark absurdly fast

Honestly, that's the thing that worked absolutely best for me. No slow descent into darkness. It's all "business as usual, business as usual, business as usual, DEATH, MURDER, SADNESS, DEPRESSION"

[king of nowhere]

yeah. it felt like a slap. and i was all "oh brandon, how could you do that to your readers?" and then there was the true ending.

And I almost risked spoilering it. I saw the wrapped page with "open only after finishing the book" on it, and I assumed it would be a joke on those who read the last page first, like there was in the previous four books. Almost read it there and then.

If you're wondering why i was looking the last page, i wanted to see how many pages the book had to judge if i could finish it overnight or i should put it back and leave it for the next day

[Noblehunter]

I just finished listening to the book.

Bloody Bujolds that was painful. After the Dif reveal, I took a break to listen to Penric's Demon because I knew it was going to be bad. I did not expect it to be that bad. I knew I should have downloaded the other Penric books before work.

[Faceless Mist-Wraith he/him]

I was reading it, and I remember thinking to myself "Any second now. There's going to be a pivot and Alcatraz will come out and say it was a joke. Any second now." But it didn't.

Dif surprised me, I thought something was up with him, but I never expected him not to be a Smedry, much less Biblioden.

[SylphrenaHonorSpren]

My library only just allowed this book to be on order, so I'm really late to this topic. I swear my copy of the book doesn't have the ending you all are talking about, but I'm so relieved to hear that the series will continue and Grandpa Smedry isn't dead. I definitely laughed more while reading this book than I have with any of the other Alcatraz books, so props to Brandon for that! When I get home tonight, I'll scour my book again to see if I can find that hidden ending.  

[Estevan Smedry]

@SylphrenaHonorSpren

Must me the librarians trying to hide the information from you.

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Just finished tonight.

The greatest gotcha of all was that Alcatraz Smedry was not a liar.

He tried to warn us. Over and over.

I should have taken his word for it.

[bluefoxicy]

On 11/28/2016 at 7:29 PM, king of nowhere said:

I'm a bit confused here. In sacrificing Attica, Biblioden supposedly made a ritual that would have deprived the smedrys of their powers. That would also have killed granpa, who is only kept alive by his talent. so what about the ritual? did it not work? did the talent take a life of his own and defy the ritual?

The indication throughout the later part of the series was it's annoyed, not evil.  It complains Alkatraz doesn't like it, always complains about it, etc.. The last thing he does is release it.

With all the speculation that he broke the entire earth in the process, you'd have to wonder how he could fix something on a massive scale.  The little gremlin seems to be disruptive…to time, space, knowledge, and matter.  Fixing things that are too massive to fix is also disruptive.  Hell, everything here seems disruptive:  Alkatraz states the LIbrarians's laws of physics aren't wrong, just incomplete.  They're right about the entire natural world—all of it.  The sands, lenses, and talents all add to that…or disrupt it.

The talents came from a desperate attempt to stop an immense amount of uncontained energy from destroying the city, as if someone somehow tapped into something they shouldn't have and couldn't control it.  Biblioden is speculated to be from the same era, which would be an interesting explanation for his behavior:  tying down the physics to avoid that entirely would seem the kind of thing someone might decide is necessary after watching the whole world almost get destroyed.  The unending war would be necessary, since if it happens on the other side of the planet, it'll eventually destroy the world.

So apparently that thing's been tied down and forced to perform for 2,500 years, and is suddenly free, on purpose.

Maybe it was feeling generous.