What did you guys think of the last book?

Oct 25, 2009 00:57

Hi! I'm so happy to have found this community, as I've rediscovered my love for this series because of the movie coming out, and also because I *finally* finished the series a few weeks ago (I had never finished the last book, kind of put it down after the climactic bit and never picked it up again until now, since I wanted to know the end before ( Read more... )

discussion : the saga of darren shan, # the saga of darren shan

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stitchfrequency October 25 2009, 08:05:40 UTC
I'm not so much "torn" about the ending as I'm just...not sure what to think about it, haha.

The whole circle of destiny thing is still a bit of a mindfuck for me. I just can't wrap my mind around how even if Darren did manage to break out of his destined path, the universe would still replace him with someone else who would do the same exact things. He did reject his destiny, but in doing so, he just passed that burden off to some other poor soul--how is that any better? Isn't that actually kind of selfish? I got the sense that the whole doomed cycle would still repeat itself, just with different characters, and to me, that's not really a "happy" ending because nothing has really changed ( ... )

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sleepall_day October 25 2009, 09:01:15 UTC
also the scene where he watches Mr. Crepsley perform and feels totally helpless. I was not expecting that scene to hit me as hard as it did :(
Oh gosh, I cried at this part :( It was so tragic. He even brings up Mr. Crepsley's being illiterate which made me sad because it's like he was running through all kinds of different possible ways he could try to reach out to him.

So the ending, I feel like... because the story gets replaced by other players, it does make a difference. If Darren just ended up dying and/or staying in the Lake of Souls, maybe the war would have continued, especially with Mr. Tiny pushing the characters along the way. But since he cheated and got those journals into the hands of Mr. Tall, they got published and people read them. They realized what a manipulator Mr. Tiny is if they didn't already, and somehow the telling of that story was enough to prevent a war.

....I think. At least that's how I kind of remember it.

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stitchfrequency October 25 2009, 09:34:48 UTC
Oh wow, I forgot about Mr. Crepsley being illiterate. That...really paints another layer of sadness to that scene ;_ ( ... )

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sleepall_day October 25 2009, 09:46:37 UTC
Hmmmm, I guess the way I thought of it was - someone would find it. Maybe even more than one person who knew that this had to be truth and not fiction. There might be readers who are against the vampire-vampaneze war. And then again even if they aren't, maybe some of those involved would just end up so pissed off at Mr. Tiny that they do the opposite of what he wants - and have peace between the clans. Uhh, maybe? Hahha, that's about the best I could think of!

You don't really get a definitive "where are they now" at the end--just Darren (the character)'s subjective belief/hope that the books will change destiny.
That's true. I guess you just the knowledge that he tried his best.

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sleepall_day October 25 2009, 08:57:42 UTC
I actually LOVED the ending for some reason. Even though I felt like part of it was a bit of a cop-out, like the whole "it was just a dream" cop-out. Somehow I loved it.

About him passing the burden onto some other kid - maybe it makes sense, because in doing so, he gives the world a chance for those journals to be published? Maybe if he just went on living that life he would have just died without anyone knowing the truth of what happened, etc etc, and... I don't know, I kind of justified it by saying that this way, those events still get to unfold, but in addition to that, the journals get published.

and I felt all tingly and sad and nostalgic when I read "The End. The Saga of Darren Shan" and the dates at the end!
I love this, I feel like it really makes it feel like the author Darren Shan LOVED writing this series. It was totally his baby.

and I really hope that he will be reunited with Mr. Crepsley in Paradise, and Shancus, even though now the way things are the earth-bound Mr. Crepsley won't remember him.I WAS SO SAD. I ( ... )

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stitchfrequency October 25 2009, 09:43:03 UTC
I was thinking the same thing--I don't know if it'll ever happen, but I'd really love to see how they handle that part where Little Person Darren watches Mr. Crepsley in the movie. It has the potential to be an AMAZING scene.

YES that was another question I had about the ending...so if there's a Mr. Crepsley waiting in Paradise, what happens when the earthly Mr. Crepsley who is no longer involved with Darren dies? If Earth-Crepsley dies nobly and gets to go to Paradise, would there be two Crepsleys chilling out in heaven? Or would the ~*Paradise Version*~ of Mr. Crepsley not be complete until the split part of his soul that remained on earth joined him up there too? fdsfgs *head explodes*

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atraphoenix October 25 2009, 12:40:11 UTC
That bit always confused me as well. I tried not to think about it too much, but I'm a big sci-fi fan so I just went with the standard 'parallel worlds, anything can happen' sort of explanation. I want the happy ending. Why shouldn't there be two Mr Crepsleys?

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sleepall_day October 25 2009, 20:01:40 UTC
Yeah, same here, because I'm such a sucker for happy endings! And it was so confusing that I just sort of went, "Well... okay, let's just say that's what happened," and then that was that.

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atraphoenix October 25 2009, 12:36:40 UTC
I was very torn about it myself, so I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to say something persuasive and convince you either way.

I thought it was a great idea - and a great explanation for using a pen name that is the same as the name of the protagonist - but I didn't necessarily think it was a happy ending. For a start, I felt very sorry for the person who would have to take over Darren's role in the stories. He (or, yes, she) would have even less free will than Darren did, and would simply be living out a life somebody had already lived for him.

I definitely loved the fight with Steve, though. It seemed like a fitting end to their relationship. And the way that Darren had to rob Steve of his chance of redemption in order to kill himself and gave the world? That was a pretty powerful moment.

I'm a little sad we didn't get to learn what happened to the others, but, at the same time, I quite liked it. It made it seem less of an ending, somehow. Their fight was still going on and would still go on, that sort of thing.

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rocketkatze October 26 2009, 01:16:55 UTC
Even though I was sad it was over, for the most part I loved the ending. I love how everything came full circle, I thought it was brilliant. And I cried at the end, when our Darren died. I usually don't cry for books, so that says something right there.

I can understand why some readers may be put off by the ending. It did irk me a little at first but quickly grew on me. But it was a satisfying ending, I didn't really feel cheated or anything. I'm not sure this ending will have the same effect in film format though...

I am excited Shan is revisiting this world though next October with the new Crepsley series! He was my favorite character in the whole series, and I was so crushed when he died. I'm glad we're getting more of his story. :]

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