The End

 Well, we got the death that we wanted. Jill being the sacrificial lamb of the story wasn't all that surprising, but in standard fashion for the book, the way that it happened was unexpected. Rather than her death being due to incompetence or inexperience in the wild, Jill dies saving the little girl from the pyromaniacs. That was interesting, however, it felt a little detached from the way the story has gone. The story has had a motto of "you can't be a hero," yet Jill's death goes against that. All the previous deaths have either been due to the harsh conditions on the move, or the destruction of the neighborhood. It just all felt a bit off.

I'm kind of surprised we never took Bankole's family into consideration. Regardless of the result, they were going to come into play somehow. They were either going to be surprised and confused (maybe resistant), which would've provided an interesting storyline as well, or were going to be dead.  

For the most part, we actually got the rest of the plot right despite the standard twists and turns Butler has taken. Maybe that's why it feels to fall a bit flat at the end. It felt a little too predictable. It wasn't hard to guess that the lot that Bankole owns would be their sanctuary and as mentioned, we expected someone to die. Given all of the surprises we've been given so far, to have the end be this predictable just makes it feel a little unsatisfactory. Obviously, there is a sequel so there needed to be some setup for that, but you'd think that Butler would spice it up a bit and surprise us. 

Comments

  1. L. MoffittMay 20, 2021 at 8:59 AM

    This is such an odd book. Some things were a huge surprise to me while others, as you note, seemed predictable. I have no idea what happens in the sequel, but in terms of this book as a standalone, maybe Butler wanted things to finally sort of settle down at the ending (i.e., no sudden crazy deaths).

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