The Sword and Laser discussion

Not wanting to hijack the general discussion thread, I thought I'd ask what people's opinion of the end is.

My take on it, which I suppose may be considered minorly spoilerish.
(view spoiler)[Obviously, we're happy that our hero, January, has prevailed, but for my taste there was just a bit too much Happy-Ever-After in the mix. I mean, she gets to be with the boy she finally decided that she did love, and with her faithful hound. She appears to have acquired some or all of Mr Locke's wealth. Her parents are finally and happily reunited. Could things have been more perfect? I think I might even have been happier without the Epilogue chapter at all, leaving things a bit more to the reader's imagination. (hide spoiler)]

Colin wrote: "Not wanting to hijack the general discussion thread, I thought I'd ask what people's opinion of the end is."

(view spoiler)[ I think I would have been OK with a bit more of a bittersweet ending, but I wasn't too unhappy with it. It was important to me that the dog wasn't harmed any further - I was prepared to be extremely upset by that - but having something else go a bit wrong would have been fine. (hide spoiler)]

Yep, that ending was a bit too (view spoiler)[sickly sweet as a coda. "I'm so powerful, I'll open doors from the house now! I'm rich and that guy I've always known I'm in love with is coming back to his senses!"

I can just see it all falling apart within the first two paragraphs of the sequel, if there is one. It's like a too-happy wrapup with all the loose ends tied up - so of course they would be in disarray shortly into the second book. (hide spoiler)]

I found it to be anodyne, so I was fine with it.

I really like the way the pieces came together at the end. It felt like a puzzle where getting to place that last piece is so satisfying. It was nice that it didn’t appear to leave you hanging or needing a sequel. I quite enjoyed the wrap up!

I feel like once you (view spoiler)[made the connection between January and Yule Ian (however early that was) (hide spoiler)], the path was laid bare for you to just follow through to a neat conclusion.

It was really quite pedestrian, and that's absolutely fine in my opinion. I enjoy the lack of obvious sequel, because it's highly unlikely I'd pick it up anyway.

Trike wrote: "I found it to be anodyne, so I was fine with it."

What Trike said.

Sometime you just need a Coke and smile.


NO, no, no, not that kind of Coke, the sweet, sugary kind.

Nvm.

i had the exact same thought ending was very happily ever after. fairy tale wrap-up. but hey it's fantasy. we wanted to escape with this one that why veronica chose it (i think)

agree with Alex and others no sequel required!

i also agree with Elizabeth storyline was very pedestrian compared to our normal reads. but counterargument do we really want a black leopard, red wolf so soon after that endeavor. i know i don't!

Author got her social message across and made me forget my troubles for a while so i had a favorable reading experience reflected by the feel good ending.

I liked it, and it kind of made me want a cartoon show about January's adventures in (view spoiler)[door opening (hide spoiler)]. Sometimes it's just nice to have things be nice, you know?

I do agree (view spoiler)[ perhaps things are too neatly tied up at the end (hide spoiler)] - I would have preferred (view spoiler)[ a little more dramatic destruction of the villain, perhaps the items disappear as the doors disappear (ooh wouldn't that have been cool) or he is killed by the items he stole from others or he is more haunted.... (hide spoiler)]

As for that other topic (view spoiler)[ two parents still alive feels rather greedy considering she spent most of her life as an orphan. Couldn't they have tried a little harder? I think one would have been enough. Haha. (hide spoiler)]

I finally finished (it's hard for me to find audiobook listening time but I really wanted to listen to JANUARY read a book about a character named JANUARY) so this is the first thread I've read. I feel better now.

Lee wrote: "i also agree with Elizabeth storyline was very pedestrian compared to our normal reads. but counterargument do we really want a black leopard, red wolf so soon after that endeavor. i know i don't!"

To clarify, I meant pedestrian in general, not in comparison to our normal S&L reads. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being good enough! My preferred mystery genre is "let's plod along gently until we get to the end, where's wrapped up nicely", no hard thinking or deep message to take away.

Even though this is an ending thread and so you've likely finished the book already, spoilers:

(view spoiler)[ I loved that Yule Ian spent his whole life looking for his wife, rather than hanging out with his kid. Devoted, hands on parenthood is not for everyone. It's not an ideal way to parent, obviously, but absent, non-malicious parents dedicated to their own, non-kid goals is a nice contrast to other parents I find in fiction and IMO it's a nice reflection of real person behaviour. (hide spoiler)]

Re: parents -

(view spoiler)[This over-scheduling thing parents indulge in these days is a recent development. I grew up in the 70s and my folks were mostly hands-off. If you weren’t actively bleeding or vomiting, they didn’t pay attention to you every second of the day. That’s not to say they didn’t care, just that they had a balance between their stuff and their kids’ stuff.

I spent my summers on my aunt & uncle’s farm and there we were *really* left to our own devices. We had access to horses, minibikes and guns, and as long as we did our chores they didn’t care where we were or what we were up to. My cousins were mostly older, so we did stuff at an earlier age than kids today. I was nearly six feet tall by the time I was 11, so my cousin Mark put me to work driving the truck so we could feed the animals quicker and then could get on with our day.

So that aspect of the book feels accurate to me, alien as it might seem to the under-30 set who didn’t grow up that way. (hide spoiler)]

Trike wrote: "Re: parents -"

(view spoiler)[I come at it as a parent (and specifically, a mother) subject to external and internal guilt trips. A character who is a parent but running off to do their own thing, both for and despite their child, resonated with me. (hide spoiler)]

interesting points there Elizabeth. I going a bit off topic here. the one thing I believe this diverse group of people can agree on is literature can be oddly personal. you Usually don't know the author but by reading they can touch something unexpected in you that resonates. the more I sure the more it resonates true. like your saying about parenthood elizabeth.

I for connected with january on the "in between" parts. where she described people guessing her ethanticty. this happens to me all the time living in georgia you feel people staring trying to figure you out. but my brother just move off the reservation in oklahoma and let's just say I'm not planning on moving there giving his experience!

jesus christ more typos. suppose to say the more obscure the more it resonates.

autocorrect and trike are killing me here!

Trike wrote: "I was nearly six feet tall by the time I was 11"

I still hadn't hit 5 feet by that age :-?

(Lots of spoilers but I'm not hiding them because this thread is about the ending)

My biggest problem with the ending was that January's love for the boy hadn't felt that intense throughout the book. Or, more precisely, her romantic love -- he was her earliest friend and she cared for him deeply, but she hadn't been all that quick to jump on his "let's get married" plan. But then when his memory is gone the whole frame is this story is written as an attempt to get him back? It felt almost like she saw how much her parents loved each other so she felt like she should have the same thing, even though she hadn't lived it.

Well, there is your sequel. (view spoiler)[He is not as infatuated with her as she is with him now, so now they have to re-build a relationship, while jumping through doors. Doesn't have to end with marriage, may end in friendship. (hide spoiler)]

So this book is just a prequel to He's Just Not That Into You?

Trike wrote: "I found it to be anodyne, so I was fine with it."

Learned a new word thanks to this post! "Anodyne" great word! I learned "temerarious" from the book, so that's 2 good words this week.

Dominik wrote: "I liked it, and it kind of made me want a cartoon show about January's adventures in [spoilers removed]. Sometimes it's just nice to have things be nice, you know?"

Yes! January's adventures through different doors! I would up for that comic book.

I still had a few questions about the book:
(view spoiler)[Yule's last note to January in the book was DO NOT TRUST. Do you think this means don't trust anybody (except Jane) or that he had run out of time and he was going to write some specific people?

In Chapter 10, January strongly implies to Ilvane that she can open doors. Why? Just to gloat? Surely she knows it is key information that her enemies could benefit from. It seems to me an awful idea to reveal that.

Any speculations as to what rules govern how difficult doors are for January to open or close? The one from Brattleboro to the cabin took a lot out of her, because there was no natural rift. Reopening the rift from Arcadia to Earth was almost costless, because there was a natural rift. She incurred a moderate cost locking the bathroom door with Ilvane inside. And what cost was there to opening the final rift from Earth to Nin?

Why didn't January just kill Ilvane? She had the opportunity to at least twice. Was it just lack of a killer instinct/not wanting to be a murderess? I couldn't see any other reason.

After January went to her mother's house to meet Lizzie, why did she rush to the location of the gate she discovered when she was 7? She was saying she didn't want to be "too late" - for what? The door had been closed long ago. There was nothing to indicate Locke could have closed it so permanently January's abilities wouldn't be able to reopen it.

What happened to January's hip? Was she shot there? (hide spoiler)]

Seth wrote: "Colin wrote: "Not wanting to hijack the general discussion thread, I thought I'd ask what people's opinion of the end is."

I agree with what Seth wrote(view spoiler)["It was important to me that the dog wasn't harmed any further - I was prepared to be extremely upset by that.." (hide spoiler)] I would add (view spoiler)[I appreciated the harm that did occur was "off camera". What is the literary equivalent? I was happy with the ending and didn't think it was too saccharine. I would read a sequel if there was one. Maybe January's descendants or a story about Jane. (hide spoiler)]