Oh. My. God.

[monkeyscorpion.livejournal.com]

I just stayed up WAY past my bedtime (considering I have to work tomorrow), to finish the book.

My reaction: Holy crap!

I have more to say, but all of it's spoilery, and as I mentioned, I should be sleeping.


When I finished reading the last paragraph of the epilogue, this is what I said:

Well, talk about manifesting a fury. If you were in doubt before, there's your birthright Tavi.

Comments

[moryssa.livejournal.com]

ARGH!!! Can't read your post yet, since I've got about 20 pages to go... but I wanted to comment and say that the part I just read before bed last night made me openly weep. I love this series so incredibly muchly!

[professorjulia.livejournal.com]

Yes... I stayed up til 1 AM to finish... it was DEFINITELY worth the sleep deprivation. And then I was so psyched about the ending I couldn't sleep anyway! :D

[priscellie.livejournal.com]

Now can you see how the final page had me writhing with glee on the M14D bus? And each time I reread it (in the beta process, I generally do 4-5 thorough reads) or even thought about it, I couldn't stop grinning. I can't imagine what my friends thought. :D

[monkeyscorpion.livejournal.com]

LOL. I filled 2 notebook pages babbling about the book today while avoiding doing work because the book kept running through my head.

And yes, I can definitely understand the writhing. :)

The question(s) I keep asking myself is: Does Tavi realize Alera spoke in the past tense about Gaius when she said who she was? What is it going to do to him to learn he was away when his Grandfather died?

[priscellie.livejournal.com]

We had an increasingly silly discussion on this point on the beta list, identifying potential grammatical loopholes in the "she used past tense, ergo Gaius has snuffed it" conclusion. I observed that though there could be a less fatal alternative: "Your grandfather called me Alera, but now he calls me Butch."

[monkeyscorpion.livejournal.com]

*snorfle*

Well, he did have a discussion with her in Ceres. Sounded like she was going to do him a favour and that was the end of their 'relationship'. Possible he was 'setting her free' to go to Tavi?

[charlieoben.livejournal.com]

where's the post wiv all the spoilers?

[monkeyscorpion.livejournal.com]

lol I never made one. :)

Alera

[(Anonymous)]

So . . . possibility that Tavi is actually a descendant of Alera?

Seems pretty clear that while she worked with Gaius she was NOT the junior partner. Recall the conversation Ebren heard between the two?

Also, I see hints that manifesting furies (elementals) is actually a mental crutch for the caster. It may have been necessary at one time but a really strong crafter should be able to bypass all that and draw on the powers directly -- becoming incomparably more powerful than someone limited to using the powers by proxy via imaginary playmates.

Four different races and four entirely different magic systems is interesting. Kitai's magic is perfect for an emerging First Lord's wife. Wondering what the lifespan of Marat animal friends is. Seems likely it is not the same as ordinary animals.