The resolution of the Coldfire trilogy--spoilers

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

So, a good place to start is at the end.

The way I read, I'm constantly trying to figure out where the plot is going, and how it might resolve. One of the things I so liked about the Coldfire trilogy was that it was very hard for me to figure out how she could bring it to a satisfying conclusion. I like it when someone is able to really surprise me. So when I first read Crown of Shadows, I looked forward to seeing how it would end.

Well, most of us know how it ends, and my first response was to nearly throw the book across the room. It felt so...unfitting. I had the impression that Friedman had written herself into a corner, and that she had left plots dangling. I mean...Damien, just standing there? Surely he would've done something. Everything in my reading experience said that you don't simply leave a character standing there at the end, with nothing left to do and nowhere to go. Isn't that a story in itself? And Tarrant...egad, what happened with Tarrant? It was weird, and jarring for me. I felt terribly let down that this was how it would all end after everything that had happened.

In subsequent reads, it came together for me a bit. Or maybe I just learned to live with my disappointment. I can get behind Damien's mixture of joy and despair now. I can snicker at Tarrant's parting one-up on the ex-priest. I can look forward and wonder what Tarrant, in his new body, might be going off to do; what Damien might find to do with the rest of his broken life. Wondering what could possibly come after for them both has become part of the story for me.

But I still wonder...is that what she was trying to do? I mean really. What was the point of that ending?

Comments

[trobadora]

The way I read, I always look at the ending first, and I shudder to think how I'd have felt if I hadn't known it was coming.

I've no clue what she actually wanted to acomplish with that ending myself, I can only offer my own reaction. And that is... if he had to die, I'd rather he'd have died on top of the volcano. That was a brilliant death scene, and bringing him back after that seemed somewhat anticlimactic, as did everything else afterwards. It seems she opens up a whole new world of possiblities for their new journey, just for a second there, and then kills him off again, only to again tell us, oops, no, he's actually not quite gone. Sorry, but it does lose its power the second time around. As you say, there is a lot much potential in it all, but it's still a rather weird ending.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

I actually liked that second death. After the first time it seems like they'd get away with it all, but then reality catches up with them. But the second resurrection... that's where it gets repetitive for me.

Btw, can I link to your fic index from the community page?

[trobadora]

Yes, exactly - you can let him off the hook once, but if the second time he isn't really, well and truly dead I'm not sure what the message is supposed to be. Other than the fact she doesn't want him dead any more than we do, I suppose...

As for linking: anywhere and everywhere you please. If someone else can benefit from my obsession it's almost a justification. ;-)

[alice_montrose]

The message? The man just won't stay dead - what do you think the message is? That his spirit will live forever. He might have picked up a trick or two from the Undying Prince, you know.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

He'd have to modify those tricks, though, because they're clearly not foolproof.

[alice_montrose]

Well he obviously did. I don't think he'd ever share a body with another soul, for example. And besides, what is he if not an example of self-improvement and adaptation? *pets Gerald's hair* So smart...