Upon finishing The Thirteen Gun Salute

[kate_nepveu]

Dear Patrick O'Brian:

Comments

[oracne]

That's not the only cliffhanger--I go nuts between books.

[kate_nepveu]

This is the worst I remember so far, though I'm groggy today--I shall have to brace myself for more to come.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, I recognize the phrase, but I have no idea what it _means_.

It is a great luxury, reading a series after there will be no more, though there is something fun about the anticipation too. (Just not *that* much anticipation.)

[pnh]

(Confused American onlookers may need to have it explained that Clarissa Oakes was published in the US as The Truelove.)

[rivka]

O'Brian was really writing one long book, divided up into separate volumes for publishing purposes. In fact, the omnibus set of hardcovers has continuous page numbering across the volumes.

[kate_nepveu]

Whatever O'Brian's intentions, this is the first really bad cliffhanger I can recall; and while it does round off the diplomatic mission, and they're not likely to die tomorrow, still, arrgh.

[jonquil]

Yup. That's the most brutal one I remember.

[agrumer]

How is this a spoiler?

In fact, it seems to me the very opposite of a spoiler. If someone had warned you in advance that The Thirteen Gun Salute ends on a cliffhanger, so that you could get a copy of the next book and start it immediately, you'd be better off, wouldn't you?

[kate_nepveu]

Probably it isn't, but the comments were almost certainly going to be, so I was playing it safe.