Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapter 5 and Epilogue

[regshoe]

Better loved ye cannae be...

The final chapter.

I'm planning to do a sort of wrap-up post in a couple of days' time for any last thoughts, and to recommend some Flight of the Heron fic and some other books that may be of interest. I will say goodbye and thank you properly then!

Comments

[friendofthejabberwock]

aaaah noooo!!

Sobbing aside, I do feel like the ending worked well for me. In a way it retroactively makes the rest of the plot more believable -- there have been a number of incredible-verging-on-unbelievable escapes already, and the way that this one doesn't work out makes the stakes in the book a little more real. The main characters (or Keith, at least) don't have plot armor.

Deaths that come out of the blue (or at least this one did for me -- I'm not usually so trusting, but I really thought this would work out okay for everyone) are also really easy to do badly and turn into something that feels cheap. Maybe it's just because I'm extremely partial to a good bleeding-out-in-someone's-arms, but this was handled very well.

But, I mean, vaguely more intellectual thoughts aside: KEITH NOOO.

I liked the way the epilogue returned some to Alison's perspective, and it was really lovely to see them reunited.

Finally, I'm already reading The Gleam in the North!

[regshoe]

I do think the way Broster structures the whole thing around the prophecy gives it shape, coherency and meaning in a way that—no matter what issues I may continue to have with the unexplored possibilities—works very, very well. I think when I first read this chapter I did not predict Keith's death exactly as it happens but I was pretty sure something was going to end in tragedy for someone, and it felt both creatively unexpected and elegantly inevitable.

more intellectual thoughts aside: KEITH NOOO.

I agree :D

I hope you enjoy Gleam in the North!

[friendofthejabberwock]

Yeah, using the prophecy as the structure is really effective. And hey, at least we have fanfiction to explore the unexplored. :D

I am so far! I'm about seven chapters in and especially enjoying getting to know some of the characters who were more on the side in The Flight of the Heron.