Ally’s Reviews > The Waste Lands > Status Update

And here I finally revisit the finale that haunted my childhood.

See. Richard isn't so much a Merlin as a really fucking cruel Loki. Which I totally love, in a wonderfully skin-crawly way. My mind just spliced Tom Hiddleston with Howl from Ghibli's Moving Castle. With a touch of rabid intelligence. TickTock/Andrew is of course a horribly scarred version of Chris Hemsworth. Because I'm all for shits and giggles on this wild ride.

OH MY GOODNESS. BLAINE IS THE BUTTERFLY FROM THE LAST UNICORN BUT ON CRACK AND MUCH MUCH CRAZIER.

I love riddles. Never been good at them but whether they are an element of importance within a book i near shiver with delight. Just as with Gollum in LOTR and the Sphinx in Harry Potter's Goblet of Fire, so it is with Blaine the Train and his terrible games. The scariest battles for me, are those of will and wit.

Blaine terrified me as a kid. Now I'm filled with a sort of staggering awe.

I have no memory of this place.

I 'bout wept along with them when they were forced to leave the old ones. Teared up truly.

Roland and Jake finally reunite and get some relief

I have read this book... a long time ago when I was just a child. The details that left such strong impressions on me then seem so infantile to the resonating truths I'm feeling now. Bloody hell I love these books.

It's all just so magical and oh so real.