Ah. Really? Then I will marshall my thoughts. I read it late - Sunday, I think - so all the dust had settled and I didn't really see that adding my thoughts contributed to a discussion by then over. But okay.
I would say, on the whole, I felt dissatisfied by it as an ending, and I think that is largely down to the bit about Mary Sue noticing Rollo loosening David Tennant's bonds; we'd been playing so many guessing games all along as to who Rollo was, who David, etc, and in the end it came down to a piece of information that we were not privy to. Sure, it's Agatha Christie's modus operandi, but I guess the difference is that this was really, really close to the final line - whereas Christie has some chapter or at least several pages of the characters picking up the pieces after the denouement. If there had been something we might have seen but failed to observe fully, something to make me thinking "Damn, of COURSE!" or "So THAT'S what that was all about," it would be different. All there was was the "Rollo struggled to his feet, gripping onto David Tennant’s shackled body" and then the pummelling, which really isn't enough to make me think I might have paid more attention to it.
I mean, one doesn't HAVE to be able to work it out, but it feels frustrating that it all ended in an "I saw something which I didn't tell you about at the time"
I liked the fact Billie was the Master. I thought that was great. I wonder if it would have had more impact had we met her even just a little earlier, but there. I did think that an excellent choice.
The Rollo being her dad bit puzzles me since he was having sex with Calloway. Would she have known he was a demon? What if they'd had any kids? Why would he do it? Etc.
Oh, and the other thing for me was the "And now, at long last, she finally took three enraged steps towards me" with Victoria... I just didn't see where the 'at long last' came from, since she'd only been taunting her for a couple of sentences.
Fair enough. Rollo and Cathy - when I started that, I wasn't sure who her dad was; and the issue of kids, as you rightly pointed out, is one of the many that makes basically no sense at all. 'Finally': yes too. If I was being sophistic, I would say that it FELT like that to Mary Sue because she was at such a heightened pitch, but I would definitely use another word next time round.
I agree about cheating endings, and I hadn't thought of this like that, and I am irritated to realise that's how it came accross. In my head, it was more one of those filmic things when you don't see a piece of action, which is different from not having seen the clues to the who did the killing. Mary Sue had worked it out before that, when Rollo was talking to her.
Hi. This story has it all - love, laughter, glamour, shocks, hope, tragedy, dreams, et cetera. I’ll post a new chapter every day, five days a week, until it's finished (guessing 60 chapters). They're 1000 words long, I've tried to make each one a complete little unit, fun in and of itself, and I've prepared by getting some days ahead. 'Why are you doing this?' I hear you cry. Well, I want to write novels, and I've been trying for five years, but right now I'm very busy with non-novel stuff. Coincidentally, I had this idea, which I think is funny, and which I can write in quick snatches, which I hope will also be a good way to read it. Moreover, none of my friends has ever seen what I've written, because I don't want them to read novels that aren't good enough to get published. It’s nice, for a change, to have an audience. So here is Mary Sue, and I hope you like her, whoever you are. [Update, update fans - am having novel published May 2008. It is called The Kilburn Social Club. Rock and roll.]
4 comments:
I will keep coming here until James Casey posts a comment saying what he thought of the final episode. Yea verily, and I will not sleep until he does.
That's also why I keep coming.
Ah. Really? Then I will marshall my thoughts. I read it late - Sunday, I think - so all the dust had settled and I didn't really see that adding my thoughts contributed to a discussion by then over. But okay.
I would say, on the whole, I felt dissatisfied by it as an ending, and I think that is largely down to the bit about Mary Sue noticing Rollo loosening David Tennant's bonds; we'd been playing so many guessing games all along as to who Rollo was, who David, etc, and in the end it came down to a piece of information that we were not privy to. Sure, it's Agatha Christie's modus operandi, but I guess the difference is that this was really, really close to the final line - whereas Christie has some chapter or at least several pages of the characters picking up the pieces after the denouement. If there had been something we might have seen but failed to observe fully, something to make me thinking "Damn, of COURSE!" or "So THAT'S what that was all about," it would be different. All there was was the "Rollo struggled to his feet, gripping onto David Tennant’s shackled body" and then the pummelling, which really isn't enough to make me think I might have paid more attention to it.
I mean, one doesn't HAVE to be able to work it out, but it feels frustrating that it all ended in an "I saw something which I didn't tell you about at the time"
I liked the fact Billie was the Master. I thought that was great. I wonder if it would have had more impact had we met her even just a little earlier, but there. I did think that an excellent choice.
The Rollo being her dad bit puzzles me since he was having sex with Calloway. Would she have known he was a demon? What if they'd had any kids? Why would he do it? Etc.
Oh, and the other thing for me was the "And now, at long last, she finally took three enraged steps towards me" with Victoria... I just didn't see where the 'at long last' came from, since she'd only been taunting her for a couple of sentences.
Fair enough. Rollo and Cathy - when I started that, I wasn't sure who her dad was; and the issue of kids, as you rightly pointed out, is one of the many that makes basically no sense at all. 'Finally': yes too. If I was being sophistic, I would say that it FELT like that to Mary Sue because she was at such a heightened pitch, but I would definitely use another word next time round.
I agree about cheating endings, and I hadn't thought of this like that, and I am irritated to realise that's how it came accross. In my head, it was more one of those filmic things when you don't see a piece of action, which is different from not having seen the clues to the who did the killing. Mary Sue had worked it out before that, when Rollo was talking to her.
Stay strong.
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